Anticipation for Bioware’s Mass Effect Andromeda, the fourth entry in their venerated science fiction RPG series, and the first one in five years by the time it launches in 2017, are high. In general, fans are hoping for more of the same kind of enthralling interactive storytelling that made the original Mass Effect trilogy such a hit.
And now, according to some impressions that well known industry insider shinobi, who has been known for having the lowdown on Bioware games in the past, has shared some more information on the development of Mass Effect Andromeda on NeoGAF.
[The development is coming along] more than fine, they’re well on track from what I’m told,” he said. “The game’s playable from beginning to end. The delay is only by a few months for extra polish and there really hasn’t been any management changes. Chris Wynn was a senior development director and not really in charge of creative ideas, and he was only on the team for about 18 months. Schlerf was lead writer and his role was pretty much done before he left. They’ve brought on some good talent in the meantime too, including from Naughty Dog.”
For a lot of fans who found Bioware’s 2014 Dragon Age Inquisition disappointing, what shinobi said next will probably be especially encouraging- he confirmed that Mass Effect Andromeda will be a step up from Inquisition.
“Having seen a decent chunk of gameplay in action, I think people are going to love what they see. It looks fucking amazing. It’s a huge step up from DAI though, some things are comparable to Battlefront, and Bioware’s implemented things in Frostbite 3 that even DICE hadn’t yet, so they’re no slouch in the technical department. The explorable spaces in Andromeda are massive so it’s hard to compare directly to Battlefield.”
Graphically, fans can expect the new game to be a major step up from the original trilogy, too- especially when it comes to the animations, which is something that Bioware is specifically targeting.
“Character models look incredible. Animations are a huge upgrade too. They’re specifically trying to address the repeating animations in the last trilogy. It’s really to do with the limited memory of old gen. They’ve implemented a lot of new techniques for Andromeda.
And I was mostly talking about facial animation too. It’s a huge step up. Pleasantly surprised. Like I said in the other thread, I saw as many things to do and discover in one planet here as I did the whole lot of side planets on ME1 lol. The Mako is fast, hence the big environments.”
In the end, shinobi promised that Andromeda will be like the kind of next generation evolution of the original Mass Effect that a lot of fans have been wanting, rather than a continuation of the relatively more linear style that was used in Mass Effect 2 and 3.
We will be seeing more of Andromeda at E3 this year.
