Mass Effect 5 Wishlist: 10 Major Risks Bioware MUST Take
7. Ditch Frostbite
Various stories persist regarding BioWare’s continued use of Frostbite. Some claim it is BioWare’s preferred engine, drawbacks be damned, while others feel they’re simply giving into EA pressure. Certainly though, moving forward they need to ditch it.
It’s not too dissimilar to confusion over BioWare making a live service, always online shooter in Anthem, while fellow EA subsidiary Respawn move forward with an open world RPG. Surely it makes sense to switch those around, but the official story is that both development teams chose their projects of their own volition.
Frostbite was built by DICE, and has since become EA’s property, and therefore is the go to for any developer under their umbrella. The problem is, it just isn’t flexible. It was designed to be used in DICE’s FPS games, and never factored in issues which might arise in other genres.
Frostbite can be gorgeous. Despite facial animations being meme fodder, isolated screenshots of Andromeda are beautiful.
As far back as Dragon Age Inquisition, BioWare have struggled with Frostbite’s features. The engine has no built in tools for codex entries or inventory. And it’s being used in an RPG... why?
It’s cheaper. But as a flagship, Mass Effect is worth pushing the boat out.