3. A Galaxy Of Races, But Concentrate On These Four For Now
Perhaps this isn't truly a betrayal. Perhaps this isn't a betrayal to gamers to but to BioWare itself and the artistic vision with which they set out on this huge and complex quest. Mass Effect One had plenty of races, worlds, creatures and characters to fall in love with. Not only well represented characters but characters with depth, species with unique traits and personalities, physiologies and extreme detail put into making them feel different somehow from us, Humans. That changed by the time Mass Effect 2 was released and was almost beyond memory at the emission of Mass Effect 3 from the goopy incubation vat of EA. The races were still there (mostly), and their codex entries were longer and more detailed as the lore around the game had been fleshed out over the years, but it wasn't the same as having our galaxy represented as a flourishing place of vast biological variety! By Mass Effect 3, it didn't matter what species you were, you were a human with a slightly different skin colour and any unique features were hidden under stock body armour that covers virtually everything. Sure, Asari had tentacle skin hair, and Turians didn't have lips, and if you were luckily you could spot a Hanar or Volus in the background of the Citadel, but all of the main characters were essentially humanoid aliens or just outright Humans. This may be logicial. It's easier to animate, easier to model and easier to create humanoid creatures, but they did the Krogan, so why not more? This is coming from the same company who gave us Knights Of The Old Republic! They know that a robotic ally (EDI doesn't count, robots don't have boobs), and a giant hairy ally are essential to making the universe seem different and alive! Whatever happened to the vision to fill the galaxy with thousands of races! The Vorcha and Geth are nice, but where did the Pyjaks, Space Beetles and Space Cows go? No return of the Thorian when the Rachni get so much screen time? If only BioWare had stuck to their vision, we could be playing the best Star Trek game ever, exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life, and new civilization, boldly going where no Space Beetle has gone before! Rumours say that this is the direction of Mass Effect 4, and it cannot come soon enough. Just as long as they do justice to the galaxy they created.
