BioWare talks Mass Effect Andromeda jump feature
Mass Effect Andromeda developer BioWare Montreal has admitted that that it was difficult incorporating a jump feature into the hotly anticipated sci-fi RPG.
Previous Mass Effect games did not include the ability to leap around the battlefield at will, with Commander Shepard very much keeping his feet on the ground due to the series’ limitations as as cover-based shooter. However, with Andromeda, BioWare has injected vertically into the mix, with players able to scale the battlefield with a boost jump.
Quizzed by OPM UK how difficult it was to add the feature into the mix, BioWare Producer Fabrice Condominas replied:
“It was very hard. It’s extremely complicated. We’re a cover-based shooter and so suddenly you’re adding verticality, because adding jump really means adding verticality, which is a totally different dimension. Especially in the Trilogy, it was very flat. We’re also a cover-based shooter in third-person, and usually the basics of that are you analyse the cover layout and tactically you decide which cover to use, and suddenly we blew up all of that tactical aspect as you can jump from cover, which means your enemies can, which means your squad can too.”
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“So, at the beginning the real question was: are we still a cover-based shooter? We decided we were, which meant we had to rethink the tactical aspect entirely, as we wanted to keep the notion of tactical combat. We still reward tactical thinking; players who take their time to judge the environment and sit back will find they’re rewarded.”
Mass Effect Andromeda is scheduled to ship for PS4, PC, and Xbox One on March 21 in the U.S. and in Europe on March 23. The game takes place 600 years after the events of the original trilogy, and sees players controlling newcomer Ryder; a pathfinder tasked with exploring the titular andromeda galaxy in hopes of finding a new safe haven or humanity. As with Mass Effect 3, this latest entry in the series will support a multiplayer component, which will also be supported by free DLC.
Make sure you have enough space on your PS4 to install Mass Effect Andromeda later this month.
Source: OPM UK, Issue 134 (April 2017)