EA is Making a Mistake with Mass Effect on PS3
So it was announced this week that Mass Effect 2 will finally be coming to the PS3 in January 2011. EA also clarified that they have no plans to bring the original Mass Effect to the PS3. It is great that PS3 owners will finally get to play Mass Effect, but EA is making a huge mistake by not releasing the first title in the series.
EA has the opportunity to deliver the entire Mass Effect experience to PS3 owners, but they are squandering it by skipping the entire opening chapter. Mass Effect 2 is a great game on its own, but the first game adds much more depth to the characters and overall story. Skipping straight to Mass Effect 2 would be like watching The Empire Strikes Back without having seen A New Hope.
Aside from giving PS3 owners the great story of the first title, they could have also used this as an opportunity to update the original game. Mass Effect 1 is great, but it definitely isn’t without its faults. The most obvious updates would be with the visuals. By brining the original up to date, they can have the game look better than ever, have faster loading times, solid frame rate, and no texture loading issues.
On top of that, they could tweak the game itself to make a better overall experience. The shooting mechanics of the first game were less than great, so those would need to be updated to match the precise controls of Mass Effect 2. I think they could also streamline some of the early parts of the game during the first trip in the Citadel by making it more obvious what needs to be done, and require less running back and forth everywhere. I know a handful of people that want to play Mass Effect but don’t want to spend 2 hours wandering around the Citadel just to become a Specter and start exploring the Galaxy.
Ray Muzyka did say that they are “making sure there’s a nice introduction experience, that provides the back-story and the things that have happened up to that point in the universe.” They haven’t announced anything specific yet, so we will have to wait for details. Even if the introduction is interactive in some way, it can’t match what the full game offers. The character and story have to be developed over time. The player has to be allowed to shape the universe with their own decisions to get the full effect of Mass Effect 2. Spoiler Alert: the reveal of Archangel as Garrus is basically meaningless without having played the first. There are plenty of other examples, but I won’t go into them.
By releasing Mass Effect on the PS3, they would be able to build the franchise to even greater heights. Mass Effect could release in January 2011, Mass Effect 2 could see a possible summer release in August 2011, and I imagine Mass Effect 3 would see a simultaneous release on all platforms sometime in 2012. By having a release schedule similar to this, EA would have the most momentum possible leading up to the release of Mass Effect 3.
I am a gigantic fan of the Mass Effect series and I am glad that PS3 owners will finally get the chance to join in. I just think it is a shame that they won’t have the chance to play the series as it was meant to be played from start to finish.
