The original levels ”worked really well” art-wise, he said, but ”weren’t so good” for gameplay. They aimed for ”grand vistas and stuff” but the engine was hard.
Despite these woes, like ‘texture-popping’, the original Mass Effect for Xbox 360 was hailed as a mighty success for the studio and has gone on to spawn an entire trilogy.
”Art-wise the original levels worked really well but for gameplay they weren’t so good… We had a lot of raised platforms and areas you could get caught up in - stuff we should have fixed right from the beginning,” said art director Derek Watts.
”Because it was our first next-gen game we were actually thinking we were doing a really good job. It’s just the challenge of trying to make that first next-gen game was huge. Everybody else had issues too.”
”Getting used to the technology made it difficult for us. We wanted those wide open areas, those swooping curves, the grand vistas and stuff, but it was hard to do with that engine,” he added. Planet exploration was a major gripe for the community as the MAKO vehicle could easily get wedged and force you to possibly reload.
Mass Effect 2 ditched planetary exploration for a mineral scanning mini-game, which was both welcomed and poured scorn upon. Obviously the MAKO had more lovers than haters. Did you enjoy BioWare’s Mass Effect, videogamer?