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‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’: Creative Director Talks Game Animation, Abilities, Inspiration From ‘Destiny’

By Bryan Star
Published on: 15:59 PST, Dec 25, 2016

The Mass Effect series continues to grow with Andromeda being developed.

The latest from Bioware and Electronic Arts, Mass Effect: Andromeda, pulls players into a new story that will take place in a similar manner to previous games. We know that the protagonist is different, but it looks like there will be a massive overhaul to what we’re accustomed to. In light of this, creative director Mac Walters talks Andromeda and its animation.

An interview by GameSpot reveals that fans have concerns about the game and its animations. More specifically, fans have voiced concerns that the potential of Andromeda has not lived up to expectation. Taking to Twitter, Walters had this to say in response to the early impressions of the game.

“We’ll be polishing the game until they take it from our cold, dead hands.”

It certainly seems that Mac is determined to increase the game’s quality. In an interview, Walters goes into detail about how he plans to bring Andromeda up to par.

“Cinematics are very complicated, and have a lot of dependencies,” Walters began.

“The levels, characters, lighting… everything has to be at a certain point to allow cinematics to polish their work. As a downstream team, it means it’s one of the last things to get polished, and something we work on up until the very end.”

It’s no secret that games of this caliber have a similar process. Ports and remasters are especially critiqued by those who may have played previous versions. While this is a brand new game in the Mass Effect series, the same will be said about the new characters and their actions in the game.

Mac went on to discuss the Mass Effect: Andromeda trailer that was shown, commenting on the choice to release it for fans of the series.

“Ultimately, as this was a gameplay trailer, we made the decision to show ‘in-game’ footage–not pre-rendered. But rest assured, it will look great by the time we ship. And we’ll be sure to share more of the characters, stories, and cinematics before then.”

There’s even the statement that creative director Walters took some of his inspiration from Destiny, a game similar in how characters possess abilities and wield guns. When interviewed, Mac comments on what he drew from the first-person shooter.

“The fluid movement and very tight combat mechanics. Specifically, camera, controls, and character.”

While the titles are obviously different, we could see a nod to Destiny in how Walters and developers plan to execute Andromeda. Depending on your view, such a thought could be either positive or negative. There isn’t enough to rule in favor of either stance, leaving fans with nothing more than speculation as we await Bioware’s gradual release of more of the game’s content. A report by The Verge documents that Mass Effect has a gameplay trailer that appears to be the best yet, giving hope to those who are in high anticipation.

We get to see characters in action, abilities, and skills utilized to different effect than previous Mass Effect games. While Walters wouldn’t talk specifics, he mentioned that abilities such as a biotic shield will provide more than one function.

“We’ll get more into the specifics in the future, but if you look closely, you’ll see that it’s not just a shield, and that it actually deflects some of the enemies’ projectiles back at them. It’s great fun to master,” Walters stated.

If you’re wondering about exploration, Walters touches on this and talks one of the main points of Mass Effect: Andromeda.

“This is a game about exploration. The experience we wanted for the player was centered around freedom. Freedom of movement, freedom of choice, freedom in how you play the game. Verticality and the jumpjet are an aspect of that. But our skill trees, crafting, and environments were all designed to reflect that sense of freedom we want the player to experience.”

One can only hope that Andromeda is more than linear, as exploration and discovery are mainstays in the Mass Effect series. After all, the game is dipped heavily in space exploration. Mass Effect: Andromeda is set to be released in 2017.

How do you feel about Mass Effect: Andromeda so far? Do you believe that the game’s final polish will be worth the wait? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

[Featured Image by Bioware]

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