In this new trailer for the fast-approaching Mass Effect 3, we get to see a lot of old scenes played out by a very new face.
This is your first in-game look at the new default female Commander Shepard, fresh off the public auction block and replacing the old standard model.
On the plus side? She looks older than she did in the promo material, and she also looks like more of a character this time around; I'd always felt the old default felt was an afterthought, looking so blank that she may as well have been an NPC.
On the down side? Loads of people got used to that NPC face, so this will all be quite a shock for them.
Mass Effect 3's less than a month away, but that span of time feels like an eternity. The relaunch of the website for BioWare's sci-fi epic isn't helping either. It's sporting videos that tease out elements of the upcoming threequel from multiplayer to narrative. It seems like they're there to help along people new to the series, but die-hard Mass Effect fans might spot some new details in there .
In Final Fantasy VII, there are two art styles at work. On the overworld, everyone is blocky, cute and deformed, but jump into a battle - or look at the game's promo art - and suddenly everyone's adult-sized and finely-detailed.
3D artist Nix has taken the same approach and applied it to Mass Effect. Not intentionally, mind you, but just like Destructoidpoint out, it's the first thing you think of when you see it.
Or maybe it's the second, after Final Fantasy Tactics.
Wrex, Thane and Liara are adorable. Hell, even the Reaper is worth a cuddle.
Let's get that first niggling thought out of the way: this Mass Effect iOS game isn't going to feel like that Dead Space iOS game.
While they're both spin-offs of successful multi-platform franchises, they extend the core experience in different ways, with Dead Space mobile focusing recreating the series' scares. Infiltrator won't be trying to emulate the character-focused branching plots of Mass Effect. Instead, it endeavors instead to deliver the combat encounters of the BioWare sci-fi series.
I got to see Infiltrator in action at this week's EA Spring Showcase event, as the game was demoed on an iPad that was connected to a TV via HDMI adapter. Graphically, it looks good, like a slice of the console Mass Effect games that just happens to live on Apple's tablet. Players will control a character named Randall Ezno, a Cereberus soldier who tracks down and captures extraterrestrial species for the humans-first organization to study. Ezno's allegiance to Cerberus starts to wane and part of the game's objectives will have players finding intelligence to send to Commander Shepard.
As far as gameplay, Mass Effect Infiltrator's cover-based firefights looked similar to the gunplay of Mass effect 2 and the snippets we've seen of ME3, too. The EA rep playing the game spent almost all of his time behind barriers, it seemed, and wielded a few different weapons on his mission. The objective of the level shown was to hunt down a Turian on a planet swarming with evil robotic Geth. Two shotgun blasts were enough to put down Geth juggernauts and anti-gravity grenades caused enemy soldiers to float in the air, making them easy targets for other weapons like a beam cannon. Parts of this level also saw Ezno using stealth with a cloaking kill.
While there aren't going to be hours and hours of narrative in Infiltrator, there will be Paragon/Renegade decision points. When Ezno reached the Turian he was assigned to find, two glowing options appeared on the bottom of the iPad screen. Mob rule decreed a Renegade decision, which ended up with Ezno kicking the weakened alien in the head and dragging him off. It seemed like the Paragon decision might have involved letting the Turian go, but that choice wasn't shown.
Most intriguingly, Infiltrator will link back to Mass Effect 3. The intel and collectibles you find in the iDevice game will increase your Galactic Readiness and War Assets as your Sheperd prepares for a final showdown with the Reapers. It was stressed, though, that you won't need to play Infiltrator to get the best possible Mass Effect ending. Console and iOS will be linked via an Origin account—which seems to indicate that there'll be some kind of login required for ME3—but Infiltrator won't be supporting Apple's Game Center social network.
There's no firm release date for Mass Effect Infiltrator yet but EA's reps said that the game should be out around the same time as Mass Effect 3.
Hard choices are going to have to be made in the final part of BioWare's sci-fi trilogy and the screen above seems to pose one such crossroads. The look on the male Commander Sheperd's face here seems to say "How do I choose?" Maybe he could just buy them both Twisted Metal and see what happens… But, before there can be any slo-mo null-gravity space love, there must be shooting. And lightning storms. Mass Effect 3: Space Opera for our times.
Theo Stylianides is a concept artist working in London for Opus Artz, a studio that's provided content for series like Dead Space, Infamous and BioShock.
Today, though, we're looking at Theo's personal project, Helldiver, which he describes as "pretty much sci-fi-inspired super soldiers selected from the best military forces in the world, brought together to fight against an enemy trying to exterminate humanity".
While for the most part Helldiver is a pet project, consisting entirely of Theo's own designs, there's been an occasion or two where he's dabbled in some fan art by blending their unique style with that of stuff like Mass Effect (above) and Star Wars.
Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists. If you're in the business and have some concept, environment or character art you'd like to share, drop us a line!
Theo Stylianides is a concept artist working in London for Opus Artz, a studio that's provided content for series like Dead Space, Infamous and BioShock.
Today, though, we're looking at Theo's personal project, Helldiver, which he describes as "pretty much sci-fi-inspired super soldiers selected from the best military forces in the world, brought together to fight against an enemy trying to exterminate humanity".
While for the most part Helldiver is a pet project, consisting entirely of Theo's own designs, there's been an occasion or two where he's dabbled in some fan art by blending their unique style with that of stuff like Mass Effect (above) and Star Wars.
Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists. If you're in the business and have some concept, environment or character art you'd like to share, drop us a line!
In addition to the the upcoming iOS game Mass Effect: Infiltrator, BioWare also announced an app called "Datapad" that would allow you to "stay in touch with all of the info in Mass Effect 3," check the status of the war in the galaxy map, and even get messages from game characters.
Okay, this kind of sounds like a slick way to tell us about newly released DLC, but I have to say I get a kick out of the idea of getting texts (or maybe even sexts!) from the characters in my game.
"Hang on a second guys, I gotta go sext some with Thane. Be right back."
At a press event in New York today, EA announced that BioWare's hit Mass Effect franchise will be coming to iOS as a new game called Mass Effect: Infiltrator, which will tie in with their upcoming game Mass Effect 3.
The game was described as a "fully featured iOS third-person shooter" which will showcase "stunning graphics and authentic weapons and powers from the Mass Effect series."
The story for Infiltrator will involve helping free prisoners from a hostile Cerberus base, and players will "receive rewards" for collecting evidence of Cerberus' crimes.
The aforementioned rewards play out in how the game will tie in with Mass Effect 3. According to EA, "Every completed rescue and intelligence discovery in Infiltrator will increase a player's Galactic Readiness rating directly through the 'Galaxy at War' system in Mass Effect 3."
However you define "Nerdcore," I'd say that once a guy is dropping rhymes about the ins and outs of Mass Effect, he probably qualifies. But let's not get caught up in labels—these tracks, which premiered over at Destructoid, are a goofy good time.
They feature Memphis hip-hopper Adam WarRock sampling everything from Jay-Z to Guns 'n Roses while rapping about Normandy love-triangles, moral-choice systems, and the awesomeness of Mordin Solis. (He does not, unfortunately, rap about scanning for minerals in the game.
WarRock told Destructoid that he was taking a break from rapping about comic books and TV shows (he also has a 3-track EP dedicated to my favorite show on TV, Parks & Recreation), and decided to rap about video games.
The tracks from his YouTube EP are in the gallery above. The first one is:
"Paragon | Renegade"
Well okay, WarRock, you win a lot of points just for sampling some GnR. Downside: This tune starts a bit in the "paragon" camp, which I don't really identify since I'm Renegade Shepard or bust. But his chorus strikes a chord with me:
Paragon or Renegade there's got to be a better way
You know, Mr. WarRock, I too feel that the binary nature of Mass Effect's morality system is flawed.
This one, of course, lifted from Jay-Z's "99 Problems." Outstanding lyric:
You used to have problems 'till the Spectre came, Special Tactics and REconnaissance, respect the name!
"Active Squad"
Sampling from Handsome Boy Modeling School, this track is very aggressive. Also fairly grating! But it does feature some quality sampling from Garrus—note, this newly badassed Mass Effect 2 Garrus, not whiny-butt Mass Effect Garrus. No rapper worth his salt would sample lame Mass Effect 1 Garrus, after all.
"Bizarre Love Triangles"
Oh man, this one is great. WarRock gets all romantical, trying to choose between the multiple love interests in the game. Favorite lyrics:
Together we fight
that's whether enemies or feelings
trying to find the time because your touch has got me reeling
and
You can do your weird dance for me
I don't even care
because I want to see you strip
from armor to underwear
HA.
"Mordin's In The House"
A tribute to everyone's favorite Mass Effect 2 character (right?) Mordin Solis, this one takes the beat from Cypress Hill's "16 Men 'Till There's No Men Left." Old school! Gotta hand it to WarRock for getting all this mass effect jargon to (sort of) flow, and double-props for getting in some good old Gilbert and Sullivan.
