BioWare may be done with Commander Shepard, but there are plenty of other candidates for the role of Mass Effect lead. Speaking to OXM in
our new issue, on sale now, the developer's Casey Hudson, Mac Walters, Dusty Everman, Mike Gamble and Preston Watamaniuk have discussed a few of the spin-off games that might yet be.
You may want to skip this if you've yet to play the series through - there be mild spoilers ahead. Everybody clear? Right, on with the postulating.
The clear favourite for Shepard's replacement appears to be our old Turian chum Garrus, despite his insidious penchant for calibrating things. "There's so much that could be told in the Mass Effect universe," Hudson began. "It'd be cool to do something completely unrelated to the larger storyline, like a story about a private investigator on the Citadel. Or maybe something detailing Garrus' time in C-Sec."
Everman's also carrying a candle for the G-Man. "While being one of Shepard's most loyal friends, Garrus has also had some of the most driven personal goals. He's a hero in his own right, as Archangel and beyond. Who wouldn't want to see the further adventures of the bold, charming Garrus Valkarian (there's a lot of guns out there to calibrate)." Watamaniuk, however, reckons "a game centred on brutal Krogan combat with more of a melee focus could be pretty exciting". I'm sure Grunt would be up for it.
Walters can't make his mind up. "Aria. The Illusive Man. Kai Leng. Any henchman. The list goes on. I think most of them could have successful spin-offs of their own in some fashion." Aria, it's worth remembering, got storefront billing in
Mass Effect 3's Omega DLC - on the strength of your adventures together, would you say she's got leading lady potential? And what about Mr Illusive? I reckon he'd do rather well out of a
prequel set during the First Contact War.
Gamble, finally, thinks there's more to be told about Javik - the galaxy's sole surviving Prothean, introduced by the
From Ashes DLC. "Following the story of Javik a little bit more would be pretty cool. As the last remaining member of a lost race, I think that we could tell a lot of stories about his adventures in the Milky Way, and coming to terms with his place in the new Galaxy."
Plenty of scope for discussion there - and indeed elsewhere in the feature, which includes thoughts on
the playable characters and races that never were.
o) being so important to the game. And I think the combat system from 1 to 2 went from loose RPG type shooter to tighter high-quality 3PS. Doesn't really play like a FPS to me.
