Reasons to be (a little) concerned about ‘Mass Effect 3′

There is little questioning that Mass Effect 3 may be the most-anticipated title of 2012. All of we at VideoGameWriters are practically foaming at the mouth to see the last installment in Commander Shepard’s story. BioWare has delivered a set of hefty promises and if they have taught us nothing, historically, it is that they love the Mass Effect series as much as we, and they are probably going to deliver on these promises. Probably. I suppose I wouldn’t be a video games journalist if I didn’t maintain a healthy dose of skepticism about, well, everything, including Mass Effect 3.

Maybe I was burned by Dragon Age II, or maybe the rest of the industry has turned my once easily excited heart into a cold, eye rolling series of “meh,” but I have concerns. Yes, I said it, I have concerns. I’m pretty sure everything will work out and be amazing, but the voice in my head is telling me to be wary and cautious. Also, that I need to buy more cake mix, but the voice in my head tends to be fickle. So here are my concerns:

Tali or Miranda? Oh the decisions!

Marketing-based DLC

Do I want a Garrus action figure? Yes. Do I think throwing on some tick-tack, DLC along with my Garrus action figure is BioWare‘s way of rewarding my continued devotion and love? Hell no, it’s a cheap ploy to get me to buy that lame ass Miranda action figure. This reeks of BioWare trying to squeeze every last dime out of this franchise. It concerns me that their philosophy seems to not be “let’s make sure this game delivers for our fans,” but rather “let’s get them to throw us another $20 or $30.” Free-to-play games can get away with this, but an experience for which I’m already paying $80 (of course I’m buying the CE)? Is this really a trend we want to encourage in games? Tacky.

Multiplayer

When I first heard rumblings of Mass Effect multiplayer, I figured it was a joke. Conventional wisdom within the industry seems to be that games simply cannot survive without multiplayer, but surely BioWare was above this, yes? After all, we’re talking about a studio that has built itself upon a strong, single-player RPG experience. And then, it was confirmed. My reaction was, simply, “Why?” The cynical side of me instantly wonders what was sacrificed in the single-player so that this multiplayer could exist? If it’s tacked-on garbage ala BioShock 2, we probably lost about 5 single-player quests. If it’s good, then we probably lost about 50. One of the reasons I have so loved BioWare games is their deep, complex story that provides nigh infinite replayability. This was a franchise that didn’t need multiplayer. Does Cliffy B know you’ve been raiding his wardrobe?

Behold the horror of the wider audience.

Appealing to a wider audience

Every time a developer utters this phrase, I feel as though it should be accompanied by Lon Chaney on the pipe organ. A lot of good games have been crippled by this phrase — I’m looking at you, Dragon Age II. I feel like this is marketing speak for “You know the complicated lore you love so much? Yeah, we’re going to blow it up.” Or “you know that play mechanic that required a lot of thought and detail? Yeah, we dumbed that down a bit.” But lemme tell you what they’re going to add: ‘splosions. Lots of ‘splosions, rail-shooter role-playing, downloadable content and multiplayer. I don’t understand why this is a consideration now, on the third installment into a series. Mass Effect is one of most popular RPGs on the market, with huge sales, and fervent excitement for the next release. Why risk alienating those who have helped support this brand in an attempt to attract a “wider audience.”  How much wider does it need to be? Are you going to start marketing to cats, now?

I’m sure this is just me being paranoid. I certainly hope to be proved horribly wrong when the game releases. I still have a lot of love for BioWare, despite being unable to romance Grunt or Zaeed. Wait, that is an option this go-around, yes?

Written by Jen Bosier  (460 Posts)

Jen lives with her husband, daughter and super-villain kitty. An avid gamer since the Atari, she honed her skills on Doom 2, Daggerfall and System Shock. A bonafide 360-convert, she plays more than is humanly healthy and is determined to find a decent horror game this generation if it kills her.

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