Bioware Announces Mass Effect for Xbox 360

Mass Effect is a sci-fi action RPG. That’s all I know right now.

Watching the trailer…

Hmm. Pretty cliche, so far. Mankind among the stars, they have to fight for their place amongst other galactic civilizations. No gameplay, looks like mostly cutscene material. The graphics look… nice, but even on the Xbox, pre-rendered cutscenes can look great.

I’m more concerned about the gameplay. When Bioware says “Action RPG,” I tend to think of Jade Empire. That’s not really a bad thing, but if Jade Empire’s story hadn’t been absolutely top-notch, I probably wouldn’t have bothered. On the other hand, if this turns out to be the next incarnation of a System Shock 2/Deus Ex-like First Person RPG, then COUNT ME IN!

Browsing through the marketing-riffic Mass Effect website…

Bioware is referring to its NPC’s as “digital actors.” Fascinating. I guess that is supposed to mean something to me. Perhaps the Xbox 360 will rematerialize actors right into my living room, a la Tron. Sweet.

Seriously, though. This announcement is rather exciting. I’ve liked pretty much every game Bioware has ever produced, and I see no reason to expect otherwise with Mass Effect.