After the three-game Mass Effect trilogy came to an emotional end recently—part sadness at the closing of Commander Shepard’s storyline; part anger at the poorly executed ending (which was made much better by the release of an extended cut)—it seemed we’d be waiting a bit before any word of future titles in the franchise were spoken of. That said, we all knew that Mass Effect 4 would be arriving some day.
But while the game is still far off in the distance (next generation consoles, in the likeliest of scenarios), BioWare has already begun early development on the title, and they’re looking for feedback from we the players to help them decide where exactly they want to take the next game.
Executive producer Casey Hudson took to the Twitter recently to ask fans what they want to see in Mass Effect 4. A few folks have chimed in so far (some seriously; some joking), including this writer.
Someone mentioned exploration, which I could not agree with more. The ability to jump in the Mako in the first Mass Effect and explore various planets, finding side missions and mining for resources along the way, was crucial to my experience. I loved Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, but shooting probes or flying around at ludicrous speed just wasn’t the same. The actual planet exploration must have been sacrificed in order to put more into the quality of the levels and the worlds you visit for the primary storyline, so, if the next game is in fact on a next-gen console, hopefully they can restore that element of gameplay.
Another great suggestion is to open up multiple classes for you to play as. Sure, it helps BioWare to have a singule main character they can base the whole storyline around and have the one male and female voice actor for. But BioWare also made Dragon Age: Origins, and one of the best things about that game was the multiple origin stories you could start your game with. After the intros it all became the same game, but there’s no denying the appreciation fans have for being able to choose between being a human or a dwarf or an elf. Surely there’s a large group of fans out there right now who are dying to play a Mass Effect campaign as a Krogan or Turian or Asari, as opposed to just being able to use them for multiplayer.
Where do YOU want to travel for Mass Effect 4? Would you prefer a prequel or sequel? And what gameplay changes/improvements do you want to see included?
[Source: via Game Informer]
