14 DAY TRIAL // BioWare is hard at work on Mass Effect 3, the last piece in the very successful original science fiction series it has created, and it seems that in addition to making sure that the gameplay includes the best bits of the two previous installments the developer is also putting a lot of resources into creating a variety of art assets that are both beautiful and surprising.
Speaking to the magazine Xbox World 360 Don Arcela, who is a senior environment artist working at BioWare, has stated, “Mass Effect is all big curves and arching structures, and you don’t want famous landmarks to just stick out like a sore thumb in that sci-fi universe.”
He added, “That’s the kind of the balance artists are looking for – making it fit but still feel like Earth. Just putting Venetian blinds on the windows makes it more familiar to the player that this is Earth. You wouldn’t ever see that on an Asari planet.”
The artist says that one of the aims of the team he is heading is to make sure that all areas that the player visits and fights his way through, be they on Earth or on alien planets, feel varied and interesting, with the small touches that make them more than simple combat arenas.
Mass Effect 3 will take the players back to Earth for an initial sequence, just as the Reapers are invading the planet and Commander Shepard needs to get his crew back together and recruit allies all over the galaxy in order to stop the invasion.
I had a look at the game at the recent E3 2011 trade show.
Mass Effect 3 was set to launch during the fall of this year but Electronic Arts pushed it back to March of 2012.
The game is headed to the PC, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft.