14 DAY TRIAL // Mass Effect 2 is set to be released by BioWare and Electronic Arts on January 26 in North America and three days later in Europe, on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and on the PC.
The development team is quick to point out that the second game in the trilogy is set to fix all that was wrong with the first release, like the planetary exploration phase and the inventory while augmenting the science fiction experience with better dialog and with more fluid and hefty combat.
In creating this element of the new Mass Effect, it seems the team has drawn some inspiration from the top first person shooter experiences of the day, like Modern Warfare 2 from rival publisher Activision and Infinity Ward.
Adrien Cho, who is a producer at BioWare, told the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom “Look at Modern Warfare 2 – it looks great on the shooting side. Why not incorporate some of the mechanics of that with the RPG elements of our games?”
He believes that, in the future, the lines currently separating videogame genres will be more and more blurred, adding that “I see the hybridisation going further. Not just RPG games using features from other genres but the other way round too. So many games now have RPG features such as personalisation, customisation and XP.”
BioWare is flying high at the moment, with Dragon Age: Origins, its old school fantasy role playing experience released in 2009 taking home a variety of Game of the Year awards, and with Mass Effect 2 coming up shortly.
The team that also released hits like Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire and Baldur's Gate 2 is seen as one of the best developers of role playing experiences active at the moment. They are currently taking the concept of hybridization further by creating a MMO, The Old Republic, based on a Star Wars theme but close to a classic single player experience in many ways.