Mass Effect details, trailer

By Ellie Gibson Published 5 October, 2005

X05: News of Bioware's RPG.

Jade Empire and KOTOR developer BioWare has revealed the first details of Mass Effect, the new Xbox 360 title announced at the X05 event just last night.

Billed as a "science fiction action-RPG", the game puts you in the role of Specter, the leader of an elite strike force. You and your team have been tasked with fighting off the advancing armies of a legendary agent gone bad, and your journey will take you across many hostile alien worlds. And along the way, you'll find out that there's a much greater threat to deal with than anyone could have imagined...

It's all about choice-based gameplay, apparently, which means your decisions and actions will end up shaping the destiny of all life in the galaxy. In short, it's up to you whether you follow the noble path of righteousness or blat everyone you meet round the face. You can choose your character's appearance, too, and there's a whole range of equipment, weapons and armour to collect as you progress through the game. Combat, we're told, is of the real time squad-based tactical nature.

Along with the main game there are loads of side missions to have a go at, should you be so inclined, and plenty of previously uncharted planets to explore. It's likely to be well worth the effort since said planets will often turn out to be home to untapped resources, new alien life forms, ruined civilisations and powerful technologies.

We're promised "photo-realistic, high definition graphics on an epic scale," and a huge cast of characters to meet and kill. Xbox Live features will include premium downloadable content and "recognition of achievement" (we think they mean a high scores table).

To see Mass Effect in action, head on over to the game's website where you'll find a short trailer. A release date for the game has yet to be announced.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Cadence_ #1 6 years ago

    looks sweet

  • Grunk #2 6 years ago

    Dammit I can't download it until mid afternoon, as I wiil ruin the ping for everyone else who is playing DoD. (which I can also not download for the same reason)

  • Derblington #3 6 years ago

    "photo-realistic, high definition graphics on an epic scale"

    Rubbish - they won't be photo real. Hopefully they'll give the 'evil' choices a few more shades of grey instead of complete and utter maniacal devotion.
    Edited by 1 at 05/10/05 @ 13:05

  • Blerk #4 6 years ago

    Combat, we're told, is of the real time squad-based tactical nature.

    Parp!

    /enthusiasm drains away

  • kangarootoo #5 6 years ago

    Was any of that trailer in engine I wonder? It sort of looked it, but was hard to tell. I'm not much interested in trailers that are just FMV. I can see plenty of good CG animation on the web if I wish.

    Thats said, Bioware have a pretty good record and I quite like their flavour of RPG (Jade Empire was mostly good fun, worth checking out if you haven't already).

  • space_ace #6 6 years ago

    looks too much like kotor

  • knif3r #7 6 years ago

    Bioware don't disappoint - this should be fantastic

  • #8 6 years ago

    KOTOR is amazing, Jade is pants.

  • Derblington #9 6 years ago

    Both KotoR and JE were good fun, but also both fairly shallow, imo. I'd like this to have a bit more depth but I don't think it will judging by the outline of the game. I'll be getting Oblivion for that fix I guess.

  • space_ace #10 6 years ago

    and i misread it as miss effect... hmmm

  • Ryuken #11 6 years ago

    "looks too much like kotor"

    Word. The way they describe the plot with 'the ancient evil' makes me wanna puke.

  • Thamuhacha #12 6 years ago

    >Word.

    What the hell does that mean?

  • Blerk #13 6 years ago

    Excel.

  • Thamuhacha #14 6 years ago

    Blerk - I'd laugh at that, but you are still under joke sanctions after your very bad taste swipe at western RPGs. So I won't.

  • Blerk #15 6 years ago

    PowerPoint, dude.

  • Xerx3s #16 6 years ago

    JE was ace. kotor too, but not as much as JE imo

  • Yossarian #17 6 years ago

    JE was hampered by bad combat, but every other aspect of it was very strong, from the storyline to the characters to the art design and general feeling of it. it's just a shame the brute mechanics of how it played left a bad taste in people's mouths, because I found it one of the more compelling experiences of this gen, whatever about one of the best games. KOTOR was to a certain extent similar, but I was willing to forgive any battle system that reminded me of Baldur's Gate.

  • Thamuhacha #18 6 years ago

    Yossarian - I pretty much agree.

    Although I found the combat in Jade to be quite fun for about 30 mins. And very shallow after that.

    KOTOR was essentially a 3rd person Baldur's gate set in the Star Wars universe with a brilliant story (and twist). And while it didn't have quite the depth of BG2 - what's not to love about that concept? :-)

    Bioware are pretty much my favourite developers right now - and have been for a while.

  • Inigo #19 6 years ago

    Mass Effect, NWN 2, Dragon Age, Jade Empire 2, and Elder Scrolls 4 are all due out over the next year or so. I'm really excited. Its interesting to see that its designed to be a 3 part story, how will your actions in part one effect the next parts?

    Imagine if a evil deed you did in part one came back and hit you in part 3.

    \o/

  • Ryuken #20 6 years ago

    ">Word.

    What the hell does that mean? "

    That I agree with the quote above it. It's some kind of internet-slang, you've come across it already and you know it. :)

    The game just looks very sterile. Put a lightsaber in that trailer somewhere and you would have thought Bioware was working on a new KotOR game.

  • Blerk #21 6 years ago

    Internet slang? It's street-speak for 'I agree', short for 'word up'. You never heard Cameo? :-)

    Yo pretty ladies around the world
    Got a weird thing to show you
    So tell all the boys and girls
    Tell your brother, your sister and your mamma too
    We're about to go down
    And you know just what to do
    Wave your hands in the air like you don't care
    Glide by the people as they start to look and stare
    Do your dance, do your dance, do your dance quick mom
    Come on baby tell me what's the word

    Word up up up everybody say
    When you hear the call you've got to get it underway
    Word up it's the code word
    No matter where you say it you know that you'll be heard

    Now all you sucker DJ's who think you're fly
    There's got to be a reason and we know the reason why
    You try to put on those airs and you act real cool
    But you got to realize that you're acting like fools
    If there's music we can use it
    Be free to dance
    We don't have the time for psychological romance
    No romance, no romance, no romance for me mom
    Come on baby tell me what's the word

    Word up up up everybody say
    When you hear the call you've got to get it underway
    Word up it's the code word
    No matter where you say it you know that you'll be heard

    Word up up up everybody say
    When you hear the call you've got to get it underway
    Word up it's the code word
    No matter where you say it you know that you'll be heard

    Word up up up everybody say
    When you hear the call you've got to get it underway
    Word up it's the code word
    No matter where you say it you know that you'll be heard

  • Thamuhacha #22 6 years ago

    That popped up no my MP3 player this morning! I love putting 17gb of music on "random".

    /presses play

  • Blerk #23 6 years ago

    The Internet's a bad place. When I searched for the lyrics I discovered that most people think that the song was written by Korn.

    Korn.

    FFS.

    :-(

  • Thamuhacha #24 6 years ago

    >Just like some people think the PlayStation was responsible for popularising CDs as a gaming medium then.

    Eh? What a strange time to go all fanboy.

  • glaeken #25 6 years ago

    Well did'nt Korn cover it? There was certainly an indy/rock version of it a few years back. For me though the absence of a purple leather jock strap ruined it.