E3 2007: Mass Effect Hands-on

Jul 11, 2007

During a behind closed doors press conference in Santa Monica during this year's E3, BioWare's Greg Zeschuk and Casey Hudson gave IGN a detailed look at how Mass Effect is progressing, as well as the opportunity for us to get our hands on the highly anticipated game for the first time. After the half hour meeting, those of us present were so excited about the game we had a hard time concentrating on the next game's demo. Although there is still room for improvement in smoothing out the game, Mass Effect has once again vaulted to the top of our most wanted lists for 2007.

The demo we saw focused on Urdnot Wrex, a Krogan Battlemaster that comes to join your team. This beast of a bounty hunter has a deep sense of honor. So deep, that he ends up crediting and paying Shepard for a kill he was hired to do and then joining up to aid the Commander in what he sees as an important mission. The Krogans, for those who haven't been following the Mass Effect fiction, are a powerful race doomed to extinction as a result of a genetic cap put on their reproduction rates by other species worried about being overrun by the marauders. In other words, Wrex is a member of one of the toughest species in the galaxy.

After we witnessed the cinematics that introduced him to the party, BioWare gave us a rundown of how the talent and upgrade system works. Though experience is awarded on the fly during the real-time battles, once you level up you'll have to enter the menu system to distribute your points. Points can be dropped into any of the talents and skills, giving you the choice in how you'd like to shape your characters. Put enough into one talent and you can unlock new attack moves or entirely new talents. Each class of character also has their own unique set of talents, including one that only that class has. The Krogan Battlemaster class, for example, has the Krogan Battlemaster talent. Simple, eh?

Next we were taken aboard the Normandy for a look at the galactic map. This interactive list of everywhere you can travel shows the immense size of Mass Effect's game world. We started out at the solar system level, where a handful of planets could be visited. Not all of them can be explored; some will just provide clues when you scan them or have other minor use. Next we zoomed up to the star cluster level. The local star systems could all be viewed and warped to, with a blue flag over the destination where the main story continues. With one more zoom out, we saw the galactic level, with a host of star clusters to visit. Talk about vast.

After these slight detours, the Urdnot Wrex demo continued. The crew landed on a planet to show off some combat, both inside of the rover MAKO and out. Most combat areas will make use of both vehicular and foot-based combat, we were told. From within the MAKO, you can aim in the first person or just stick in the third and blast away. Most minor enemies don't seem to stand a chance against this metal beast. We also witnessed a comical hop move that the rover could perform. It seemed pretty pointless right up until we watched the BioWare guys hop over an incoming rocket. Apparently, it's a useful move.

The combat on foot hasn't changed since we last saw the game. Rudimentary commands and directions can still be given to the team while a GRAW-like cover system keeps you out of harm's way. Mods can be applied to your weapons (we saw one that froze enemies), you have unlimited ammo, and the dark energy powers still look incredibly cool.

Then came the end of our Urdnot Wrex story arc, which took place across several saved games with hours of gameplay skipped over. We won't give away what happened. We'll only say that as Commander Shepard, you're faced with a decision. A big one. The choice we saw made, and the resulting cinematic, left everybody in the room in awe. If nothing else, Mass Effect looks sure to have a story that everybody needs to witness multiple times to see just how many ways everything can play out. It's tough to describe what we saw without spoiling a very cool moment, so we'll just say this; it was mind blowing. And guess what? If you don't have Wrex in your party, that section of the game will play out differently.

With the demo finished, we got our hands on the game for the first time. We were offered a choice between a combat scenario and one focused on story. We went with combat. The area we played through was the same one we previously saw, but couldn't touch, at GDC earlier this year. It was a basic combat area, designed for tutorials, but it gave us a feel of how the game will play.

The game controls similarly to a standard third-person shooter. Pulling the right trigger will draw your gun. Holding it down will unload it. The left trigger is used for aiming. You have unlimited ammunition, so there aren't any worries about scavenging for hours on end (though we did find a few crates with mods and other items to use). Holding down the A Button will allow you to run, while the B Button cancels things or puts your gun away if it is out. The d-pad is used for quickly using items or powers. For our demo, the down button used a health item, while up and right used dark powers. If you hold down the X Button, the list of options on the d-pad changes to a quick weapon select. The Y Button is used to direct your squad to specific places or targets.

After getting our bearings, we tested out the cover system. Pressing against a wall or other obstacle will draw you into it for cover. From there, the left trigger can be used to aim around it. It feels quite similar to games like GRAW and Gears of War. The enemies we faced were pretty easy, so just staying behind the cover and sending out our two squadmates to fight was enough to get past the first section. For the next area, we pulled out a shotgun, readied the dark powers and charged in head first. Toying with the little enemies by doing dark energy stun or push moves is great fun, only topped by their screams when you blast a shotgun round through their chest.

Mass Effect looks just as good in motion as all of the screenshots that have been so preciously doled out over the past few months. A lot of what we saw has a grainy filter applied, giving the game even more of a sci-fi movie feel. Another visual trick that is more noticeable in this latest build is a depth of field effect that allows for the camera to focus in on key objects or people during story sequences. Though it looks good, it's clear that the extra months being put into the game before its November release. The game still has noticeable hitches that seem to occur most during camera changes and story sections. Characters will stutter or jump and the framerate occasionally drops.

BioWare's Greg Zeschuk explained to IGN where the game is in its development cycle and why the little bumps are still in the game. The content, he explained, is finished. However, since the game is entirely streaming, where you put the content on the DVD itself can effect how it runs. Placing everything in a place where it can easily load whenever it is needed is a tricky task and one the team is currently working on.

The sound, though, feels completely done. The voice acting is quite excellent from what we heard and the sounds and accents the enemies have are great. The music is fitting and adds to the overall feel without intruding on the important story sections that fill so much of what we saw (all real-time and in-engine cutscenes).

The time from now until the November release seems more than adequate to clean up the niggles in the framerate and transitional hitches we saw in our demo. With them cleared up, Mass Effect may very well live up to the lofty expectations we here at IGN have placed on the game. And that's not easy to do.