Mass Effect 4 could be built on Battlefield 3 engine

By: Musa Afridi

  |   November 14th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

EA seems to have identified its FrostBite Engine as its internal strength and BioWare will be using it when they begin developing the title, which could turn out to an MMO.

One of the biggest IPs to have hit the gaming world this generation of consoles, the Mass Effect series has established itself as one of the more popular trilogies. The previous game, Mass Effect 3, saw the end of the Sam Shepard story arc and EA are set to take the series in a new direction.

Yanick Roy, the studio director at Bioware, outlined the future of the series and explained that the next Mass Effect game would be handled primarily by the same studio responsible for the multiplayer component of Mass Effect 3 while BioWare Edmonton would still be on hand to oversee the development process and consult wherever it was appropriate.

However, Roy stressed on the fact that the next instalment would retain the essence of the previous games in the series and fans would not feel alienated by the Mass Effect 4.

“You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling.”

At the same time, the studio director also pointed out how they would be borrowing both technology and gameplay mechanics from other popular EA series and franchises to further enhance the upcoming, as yet unannounced Mass Effect game.

“There is really not much I can tell you about the game right now, except that it will be built with the amazing technology of Frostbite at its foundation, enhanced by many of the systems that the Dragon Age III team has already spent a lot of time building.”

Mass Effect 4 will not feature Sam Shepard as BioWare had confirmed earlier on in the year and if early indications are anything to go by then the game could lean more on the MMO side, which is where a number of studios, including Halo creators Bungie, are heading in the direction of.

Mass Effect 3 failed to satisfy a majority of fans as the game’s various endings underwhelmed. The response from fans was an outcry and petitions were signed by fans who wanted BioWare to fix the ending, which surprisingly enough, the game’s developer obliged. The studio released a DLC which saw new endings to the game be released in an unprecedented move.

It will be interesting to see which direction BioWare take when the game is announced but what do the readers think; is Mass Effect 4 going to be able to make up for the bad taste left in every gamer’s mouth with the Mass Effect 3 endings or should BioWare retire the series and work on a new IP?

Let us know in the comments section below.