LOS ANGELES — For the final entry in the Mass Effect trilogy, BioWare is taking a hard look at what’s gone right and wrong with its recent role-playing games.
2010’s Mass Effect 2 improved upon its predecessor to the point where the sci-fi game, centered upon the continuing adventures of alien-battling space soldier
Commander Shepard, garnered countless Game of the Year awards and rave reviews. It did this by removing many of the original game’s deeper RPG elements, like the ability to customize weapons and armor, making for a more streamlined, accessible experience. But for Mass Effect 3, available March 6, 2012, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, Canadian developer BioWare is bringing back some of the complexity.
“We got a lot of feedback from fans that [the customization options] were too cumbersome, so we totally removed them for Mass Effect 2,” producer Jesse Houston told Wired.com at the E3 Expo earlier this month. “We might have cut a little too deep with that.”
Houston says that rather than remove the customization feature entirely, BioWare will make it more intuitive. Instead of juggling a screen full of numbers, players will be able to alter specific, functional aspects of a weapon like the size of its ammo clip or the frequency of its firing rate.
Some fans have expressed concerns about Mass Effect 3 feeling too much like a shooter — or too much like an RPG, depending on which type of gamer you ask. BioWare’s goal is simply to balance both genres, says Houston.
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