Misplaced Pages

#960039

143-403: Mass Effect is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson . The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the galaxy using technology left behind by advanced precursor civilizations . The franchise originated in a series of video games developed by BioWare and originally published by Microsoft Game Studios on

286-566: A Strategic Defense Initiative in which satellites would be set up to shoot at nuclear missiles. The two authors were Larry Niven , the author of the Ringworld series, and Jerry Pournelle . Along with like-minded colleagues, they formed a committee to lobby the United States on space issues and influence Reagan's space policies. Pournelle advocated a "robust, technocratic military state". In addition to Pournelle's science fiction writing, he wrote

429-495: A skill tree that the player can advance through as their character gains experience levels through completing missions. Each game generally follows a main story pathway with points of branching narratives and multiple side missions, allowing the player to proceed through the game as they desire. Both story and optional missions most often involve using their ship to travel via the mass relay to remote star systems and explore planets to find target objectives. When exploring planets,

572-457: A "more disciplined and more realistic notion of the kind of armies which might fight interplanetary and interstellar wars, and the kinds of weapons they might use". In many stories, the usage or advancement of a specific technology plays a role in advancing the plot, such as deploying a new weapon or spaceship. Some works draw heavy parallels to human history and how a scientific breakthrough or new military doctrine can significantly change how war

715-551: A "paper for the Air Force on stability's role in national security". President Reagan read the space advice that Niven, Pournelle, and their colleagues prepared, which influenced Reagan's 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative . "Niven and Pournelle saw an opportunity to shape the great void in their political image, and Reagan viewed space as yet another tool to defend America against the communist superpower...". Science fiction authors such as Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov criticized

858-466: A Pathfinder – an operative tasked with discovering new planets in the Andromeda Galaxy on behalf of their species. Unlike previous installments, Andromeda did not receive single player expansions, though the multiplayer component did receive new content in various updates in 2017 which added new weapons, abilities, maps, and playable characters. As part of the 2020 "N7 Day," BioWare affirmed that

1001-603: A captain, and are armed with semi-automatic rifles . Eventually, as science fiction became an established and separate genre, military science fiction established itself as a subgenre. One such work is H. Beam Piper 's Uller Uprising (1952) (based on the events of the Sepoy Mutiny ). Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (1959) is another work of military science fiction, along with Gordon Dickson 's Dorsai (1960), and these are thought to be mostly responsible for popularizing this subgenre's popularity among young readers of

1144-461: A character would typically lead to scenes leading up to a sexual encounter though otherwise not showing anything inappropriate for the game's rating. These options had created some controversy for the first game on release with mainstream reporters critical of the sexual content of the game. Mass Effect (2007), the first game in the series, was originally created as an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 but

1287-487: A consensus among critics that it was not up to par with its predecessors in terms of overall quality, although the improved combat received praise. The Mass Effect franchise has been successful commercially. The first game in the franchise sold over one million units worldwide in less than three weeks after launch. Sales rose to 1.6 million copies after six weeks of availability by January 2008. Its sequel, Mass Effect 2 shipped two million copies to retailers two weeks after

1430-508: A far greater threat in the form of the Reapers. Saren has been mentally enslaved by the Reaper vanguard Sovereign, and sent into Citadel Space to initiate the purge of all advanced organic life in the galaxy, a cycle repeated by the Reapers every 50,000 years. Two downloadable content packs, Bring Down The Sky and Pinnacle Station , were released in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Mass Effect 2 ,

1573-480: A form of faster-than-light travel in order to facilitate the enormous scale of interstellar war . The long spans of time (e.g., decades or centuries) required for human soldiers to travel interstellar distances, even at relativistic speeds, and the consequences for the characters, is a dilemma examined by authors such as Joe Haldeman and Alastair Reynolds . Other writers such as Larry Niven have created plausible interplanetary conflict based on human colonization of

SECTION 10

#1732851651961

1716-419: A form of energy proposed to be the source of the universe’s expansion, and a hypothetical instrument for faster-than-light (FTL) travel. By applying a strong electric current via dark energy to the fictional Element Zero or "eezo", "mass effect" fields could be created and manipulated: a positive current raises the mass of any object currently occupying that spot and help to create artificial gravity effects, while

1859-519: A future mercenary tank regiment . Drake's series which "helped initiate a fashion for sf about mercenaries", including The Warrior's Apprentice (1986) by Lois McMaster Bujold . A twist was introduced in Harry Turtledove 's Worldwar series depicting an alternate history in which WWII is disrupted by extraterrestrials invading Earth in 1942, forcing humans to stop fighting each other and unite against this common enemy. Turtledove depicts

2002-453: A galactic empire is sometimes a "core world," such as a planet relatively near a galaxy's centrally-located supermassive black hole, which has advanced considerably in science and technology compared to current human civilization. Characterizations of these empires can vary wildly from malevolent forces that attack sympathetic victims, to apathetic or amoral bureaucracies, to more reasonable entities focused on social progress. A writer may posit

2145-459: A higher Paragon score will cause Shepard's scars to gradually heal and fade away. Outside of the main trilogy, Shepard has been briefly mentioned in the novels Mass Effect: Ascension , Retribution , and Deception , and has also made a brief appearance in the third issue of the comic Homeworlds , with only the N7 logo on their armour being shown in-shot. Redemption , taking place two years before

2288-418: A last name so that other characters could address them. The developers wanted a name that was both "all-American" and common, which led them to start looking at the original seven astronauts. Alan Shepard was chosen due to fitting with the idea of "their" Shepard, being tough and respected, and fitting in with the character being the first human Spectre – Alan Shepard being the first American in space. During

2431-453: A law enforcement setting. Some examples include Richard Morgan 's Takashi Kovacs book such as Altered Carbon (2002) and Elizabeth Bear 's Jenny Casey books, such as Hammered (2004). Precursors for military science fiction can be found in "future war" stories dating back at least to George Chesney 's story " The Battle of Dorking " (1871). Written just after the Prussian victory in

2574-483: A major improvement over the original and an easy Game of the Year contender despite its January release. At Gamescom 2010, it was announced that a PlayStation 3 version would become available, which was released on January 18, 2011. Seven episodic expansions were released as downloadable content , with Normandy Crash Site , Zaeed – The Price of Revenge , Firewalker , Kasumi – Stolen Memory , Overlord , and Lair of

2717-530: A military science fiction story can speculate about war in the future, in space, or involving space travel, or the effects of such a war on humans; at the other, a story with a fictional military plot may have relatively superficial science fictional elements. The term "military space opera" may occasionally denote this latter style, as used for example by critic Sylvia Kelso when describing Lois McMaster Bujold 's Vorkosigan Saga . Examples that feature aspects of both military science fiction and space opera include

2860-489: A mood appropriate for the oscillating wonder and terror of unknown space. According to Jack Wall, who served as the composer for the first two Mass Effect games, he combined the electronic instrument palette from the late 1970s to early 1980s with organic elements to create the first game's soundscape . Subsequent games have adopted a more cinematic, orchestral style with the involvement of composers like Clint Mansell , while retaining certain elements of Wall's earlier work for

3003-589: A more nuanced continuation of the morality system surrounding the light and dark side of the Force BioWare developed for their previous work, the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic . A spin-off for the Nintendo DS titled Mass Effect: Corsair , patterned after the gameplay of Star Control and centered around a Han Solo -inspired space pirate character played from a first-person perspective

SECTION 20

#1732851651961

3146-409: A negative current does the inverse by reducing mass and improves the cost-effective expenditure of fuel for starships that move at FTL speeds. The stronger the current, the greater the magnitude of the dark energy mass effect. Other real world advanced scientific concepts explored in the series include 3D printing for the omni-tool concept, hard light technology, and hypervelocity weaponry. Based on

3289-548: A new Mass Effect was in development at the studio. An announcement trailer was released on 11 December 2020, hinting at a sequel to the original trilogy and featuring original trilogy character Liara T'Soni . The new entry is also confirmed to be run on the Epic Games Unreal Engine , which was used in each game of the original trilogy, instead of EA internal Frostbite engine which was used for Andromeda . In November 2022 Bioware announced several lead developers of

3432-489: A player's Galactic Readiness rating directly through the 'Galaxy at War' system in Mass Effect 3 ." It has since been removed from all mobile app storefronts. Mass Effect: Datapad was a free app for iOS devices. Datapad allows players to check the status of the galaxy map in Mass Effect 3 and receive messages from characters. Datapad contains information about the characters, races, vehicles, weapons, and storyline of

3575-460: A space colony requiring defense against attack out on the frontier. Gene Roddenberry described Star Trek: The Original Series as a Space Western (or more poetically, as " Wagon Train to the stars"). The TV series Firefly and its cinematic follow-up Serenity literalized the Western aspects of the space Western subgenre as popularized by Star Trek : it features frontier towns, horses, and

3718-448: A subject were collected and marketed as such. The series of anthologies with the group title There Will be War edited by Pournelle and John F. Carr (nine volumes from 1983 through 1990) helped keep the category active, and encouraged new writers to add to it. David Drake wrote stories about future mercenaries, including the Hammer's Slammers series (1979), which follows the career of

3861-469: A third-person shooter, with the player and their allies using a combination of their weapons and combat, tech, and biotic powers along with tactic use of the environment to defeat opponents. There are six different types of weapons: assault rifles, grenades, sniper rifles, shotguns, pistols, and in later games, heavy weapons (i.e. grenade launchers, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, or heavy machine guns). Due to these weapons being collapsible for easy storage, it

4004-461: A visual style evocative of classic John Ford Westerns. Worlds that have been terraformed may be depicted as presenting similar challenges as that of a frontier settlement in a classic Western. Six-shooters and horses may be replaced by ray guns and rockets. A "thematic subdivision" of MSF are works where "ex-military protagonists [are] drawing on their battle experience for tough and violent operations in (more or less) civilian life", typically in

4147-502: Is "perceived as very generic in terms of design". Patricia Hernandez from Polygon felt that the manner which the female Shepard poll unfolded was "strange" and that BioWare's attempts to continue modifying her years after the release of the first game while her male counterpart's appearance remains unchanged is somewhat "off-putting". Nevertheless, she expressed relief that "in 2021, there’s no vote, no massive fan campaign to get BioWare to even consider highlighting FemShep" in response to

4290-529: Is attacked by batarian raiders with Jacob on it, he takes on the task of defending the ship. After safely arriving at their destination on the Citadel, Jacob's former CO contacts him about an undercover Alliance operation in the Nemean Abyss to investigate the batarians' increasingly aggressive activities. It has since been removed from the iOS App Store. Mass Effect Infiltrator is a third-person shooter released on

4433-591: Is being manipulated by numerous forces, including a human-centrist terrorist organization known as Cerberus led by the Illusive Man who believe they can control the Reapers and use them for humanity's benefit. Shepard and their allies discover the Citadel is key to ending the Reapers' cycle and determining the fate of the galaxy. The fourth game takes place in the Heleus Cluster of the Andromeda galaxy , 634 years after

Mass Effect - Misplaced Pages Continue

4576-412: Is deemed necessary when presented with impossible scenarios. Shepard's gender, class , first name and facial appearance are chosen and customized by the player. The default male Shepard's face and body were modelled after Mark Vanderloo , while Mark Meer provided the voice for the male Shepard. Jennifer Hale voiced the default female Shepard. Since the player can choose the gender of Shepard, much of

4719-473: Is exclusive and different for each character. Mass Effect began as a 2003 pitch for a project codenamed SFX by BioWare project director Casey Hudson to the company's co-founders, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk . Hudson wanted the company to set a goal on developing its own science fiction intellectual property that is on the same scale and scope as the Star Wars setting. On 11 October 2007, shortly before

4862-451: Is exposed to the Council through the use of an audio recording that mentions "the Reapers", which are believed to be a race of synthetic-organic starships that eradicate all organic civilization every 50,000 years, the Council revoke Saren's Spectre status and make Shepard the first ever human Spectre, though they believe the Reapers are merely a myth Saren is using to manipulate the geth. Shepard

5005-503: Is fairly static, and weapons that would be familiar to present-day soldiers are used, but other aspects of society have changed. Technology may not be emphasized in such stories as much as other aspects of the characters' military lives, cultures, or societies. For example, women may be accepted as equal partners for combat roles, or preferred over men. When the "extravagan[t]" depictions of war in space operas faded along with pulp fiction more generally, military science fiction developed with

5148-427: Is fought, the outcome of a battle, and the fortunes of the combatants. Many works explore how human progress, discovery, and suffering affect military doctrine or battle, and how the protagonists and antagonists reflect on and adapt to such changes. Many authors have either used a galaxy-spanning fictional empire as a background for the story, or have explored the growth and/or decline of such an empire. The capital of

5291-472: Is given paraphrased dialogue options via a radial command menu called the "dialogue wheel", which Shepard will expand on when clicked. Different choices on the dialogue wheel can grant either Paragon or Renegade points, which will overtime affect their physical appearance in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 : a higher Renegade score will cause Shepard's scars to worsen and their eyes to start glowing red, while

5434-520: Is instructed to take down Saren and is placed in charge of the Normandy and given free rein of the galaxy. Over the course of the game, it becomes clear that the visions are images of the Protheans being destroyed by the Reapers; the commander speaks to one of these Reapers, referred to as Sovereign, on the planet of Virmire, though the Council still believes them to be a myth. Eventually, Saren, Sovereign and

5577-409: Is not a gamer . Although Hale does object to certain lines if they seem out-of-character in other works, she prefers not to mess with the words for Shepard and BioWare. That BioWare did not change the words based on gender considerations was one of Hale's favorite aspects of the series. Shepard serves as the player character of the main Mass Effect game trilogy. The commander is a graduate of

5720-489: Is not necessarily set in outer space or on multiple worlds, as in space opera and the space Western . Both military science fiction and the space Western may consider an interstellar war and oppression by a galactic empire as the story's backdrop. They may focus on a lone gunslinger , soldier, or veteran in a futuristic space frontier setting . Western elements and conventions in military science fiction may be explicit, such as cowboys in outer space, or more subtle, as in

5863-445: Is possible for a player to carry all five weapons at once and alternate between them depending on their position, enemy type, and situation. Melee weapons include fists, the butt of a gun, or in later games, a condensed transparent silicon-carbide dagger called an Omni-blade. Through story encounters and missions, the player meets a number of non-player characters and engages in dialogue trees with them to learn information and progress

Mass Effect - Misplaced Pages Continue

6006-657: Is referenced both in conversations between characters, and in audio logs sent by Liara T'Soni to Alec Ryder, the player character's father. The default male Shepard was used heavily in marketing, being featured on the covers for all three games and most trailers. The female Shepard was confirmed to be making an appearance in one of the trailers for the third game, and on one side of Mass Effect 3 ' s Collector's Edition, in June 2011. The female Shepard had not been advertised heavily previously as marketing wanted to only showcase one character, so that consumers could easily understand who

6149-561: Is science fiction which is written about a military situation with a fundamental understanding of how military lifestyles and characters differ from civilian lifestyles and characters. It is science fiction which attempts to realistically portray the military within a science-fiction context. It is not 'bug shoots'. It is about human beings, and members of other species, caught up in warfare and carnage. It isn't an excuse for simplistic solutions to problems. In 1980 and 1981, two science fiction authors inspired President Ronald Reagan 's vision for

6292-475: Is the most critically acclaimed game in the series and garnered numerous game of the year awards following its release. It received over 70 perfect review scores. In 2013 IGN rated the Mass Effect Trilogy the best Xbox 360 game(s) out of a list of 25, and the 7th best PS3 game(s) out of a list of 25. The fourth installment, Mass Effect: Andromeda , received a less enthusiastic critical reception, with

6435-637: The Battlestar Galactica franchise and Robert A. Heinlein 's 1959 novel Starship Troopers . A key distinction of military science fiction from space opera is that space operas focus more on adventurous stories and melodrama, while military science fiction focuses more on warfare and technical aspects. The principal characters in a space opera are also not military personnel, but civilians or paramilitary . Stories in both subgenres often concern an interstellar war in which humans fight themselves and/or nonhuman entities. Military science fiction, however,

6578-643: The Kasumi – Stolen Memory , Overlord and Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC's. The Xbox 360 version includes all DLC that came with the original games, with Cerberus Network for Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 remaining unchanged. The PC version is the same as Xbox 360, except both Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station are available for free as per the standalone purchase of the PC version. Mass Effect Legendary Edition

6721-531: The Android , BlackBerry 10 , iOS and Windows Phone 8 platforms. The story for Infiltrator involves Randall Ezno, a Cerberus agent, who discovers Cerberus's cruelty and goes rogue, killing Cerberus troopers and freeing prisoners from a hostile base. Players will "receive rewards" for collecting evidence of Cerberus' crimes. According to EA, "Every completed rescue and intelligence discovery in Infiltrator will increase

6864-539: The Franco-Prussian War , it describes an invasion of Britain by a German-speaking country in which the Royal Navy is destroyed by a futuristic wonder-weapon ("fatal engines"). Other works of military science fiction followed, including H.G. Wells 's " The Land Ironclads ". It described tank-like "land ironclads ," 80-to-100-foot-long (24 to 30 m) armoured fighting vehicles that carry riflemen, engineers, and

7007-584: The Illusive Man to be brought back unaltered and exactly as they were before their death. The Illusive Man provides Shepard with both a new ship (the Normandy SR-2 ) and a crew, and sends them on various missions against the Collectors, who are revealed to be puppets of the Reapers. Over the course of the game, Shepard must assemble a team to prepare for a final assault on the Collector base accessible only through

7150-769: The Mass Effect franchise for Amazon Prime Video . In November 2024, Amazon officially announced the series was in development with Karim Zreik producing under his Cedar Tree Productions banner alongside Ari Arad and Michael Gamble of Electronic Arts . Daniel Casey is slated to write and produce the work. Two series of action figures were released by DC Direct and Big Fish Toys for Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 . Series one included action figures of Commander Shepard, Grunt, Tali, and Thane. Series two included Garrus, Legion, Miranda, and Mordin. Each figure features game-accurate accessories and can be found in game and hobby shops and various online retailers. The figures tied to Mass Effect 3 include bonus downloadable content, which

7293-808: The Mass Effect universe, as well as mini-games that interact with the Mass Effect 3 'Galaxy at War' system. It was removed from the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store on June 5, 2013. APEX HQ is the official companion app for the Mass Effect: Andromeda multiplayer. Supported by iOS and Android devices, APEX HQ was released on March 15 in Canada , Ireland , Romania and Singapore , and worldwide on March 20, 2017. Through APEX HQ , players can view their progress in multiplayer, equip characters, assign skill points, manage Strike Teams, and access their friend list. The app cannot be used while signed into

SECTION 50

#1732851651961

7436-568: The Milky Way towards the end of the 22nd century. In 2148, humanity discovered an alien outpost on Mars , and learned that Charon is actually an alien artifact known as a "mass relay" that enables faster-than-light travel to other mass relays located across the galaxy. These discoveries drastically increased the enhancement rate of humanity's technology. Humanity comes into contact with numerous other space-faring alien species, some far more advanced than humans. Humanity's first encounter resulted in

7579-653: The asteroid belt and outer planets by means of technologies utilizing the laws of physics as currently understood. Several subsets of military science fiction share characteristics of the space opera subgenre, concentrating on large-scale space battles with futuristic weapons in an interstellar war . Many stories can be considered to be in one or both the military science fiction and space opera subgenres, such as The Sten Chronicles by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch , Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card , Honorverse by David Weber , Deathstalker by Simon R. Green , and Armor by John Steakley. At one extreme,

7722-427: The "underlying idea that real-life scientific discoveries consistently create imagery and concepts that blow away previous notions of what is possible," Hudson opined that "reality will continue to be stranger than fiction" which in his view justifies the developers' creative license with their work. Morality is measured by "Paragon" and "Renegade" points for the first three main series games, which has been described as

7865-584: The Alliance before the game starts, due to either working with Cerberus or blowing up a Mass Relay in the Mass Effect 2 DLC pack Arrival . After Earth is invaded by the Reapers, the Alliance reinstates them and sends them to ask the Council for help, retaking command of the Alliance-refitted Normandy SR-2 . Though the Council refuses, they either reinstate or uphold the commander's Spectre status. Shepard must then work to forge alliances between

8008-514: The Citadel Council, an executive committee who hold great sway in the galaxy, and who are recognised as an authority by most of explored space. A Spectre, an elite agent of the Council with the authority to deal with situations "in whatever way they deem necessary", named Nihlus Kryik accompanies the mission to observe Shepard's candidacy to join the Spectres; if successful, this would make Shepard

8151-569: The Citadel Security (C-Sec) forces, a highly regarded position that other species had been long waiting for and take resentment over. Numerous other inter-species conflicts remain active at the time of the first game, results of past wars and conflicts. The first three games center on the character of Commander Shepard (whose gender and personality are determined by the player), a leading Special Forces soldier in Earth's Systems Alliance space force ,

8294-539: The First Contact War, but the Council, a ruling body for the galaxy, intervened to achieve peace and welcomed humanity. The main species encountered by humanity include the asari , a species of mono-gendered beings closely resembling human women; the salarians , an amphibious species with considerable technological and intellectual prowess and an extremely high metabolism; and the turians , a heavily militaristic race of raptor-like avian humanoids who fought humanity in

8437-415: The First Contact War. The center of the Council's governing power is the Citadel, another artifact and a massive space station that, like the mass relays, were made by a race known as the Protheans believed to be the progenitor race for all species but long since disappeared. Over the next few decades, humanity is given access to new technology, allowing them to colonize new planets, and they are made part of

8580-469: The Heleus Cluster, which was otherwise extremely hazardous and naturally unsustainable for life. They later fled from the Heleus Cluster three centuries before the arrival of the Milky Way races, when a protracted battle against an unknown enemy faction resulted in the usage of a weapon of mass destruction aboard a Jardaan space station. The weapon's activation unleashed a cataclysmic energy phenomenon known as

8723-620: The Kett, a barbaric race obsessed with assimilating the traits of other sentient species through a process known as "exaltation"; and the Angara, an emotionally charged humanoid species whose civilization has recently been targeted and nearly decimated by the Kett. The Heleus Cluster is also the location of a series of ruins predating an advanced, spacefaring race known as the Jardaan. The Jardaan made use of powerful terraforming technologies to colonize worlds in

SECTION 60

#1732851651961

8866-477: The Omega-4 Relay, a relay that destroys all non-Collector ships that try to go through it. Depending on the player's choices during the final mission, it is possible that Shepard may fail to escape the Collector base and die, though the save cannot be imported to Mass Effect 3 if this is the case. At the end of this mission, the player is given the choice to either destroy the base or hand it over to Cerberus – if

9009-461: The Scourge, which spread across the cluster and greatly damaged the Jardaan's terraforming systems. After the Jardaan left, the Angara, genetically engineered creations of the elder race, began to develop their own civilization before falling under attack by the encroaching Kett. With the Milky Way species' arrival, it becomes the responsibly of Pathfinder Ryder (who, like Shepard, is also customizable by

9152-491: The Shadow Broker coming in 2010, followed by Arrival in 2011. Mass Effect 3 , the third installment in the original trilogy, was released on March 6, 2012. Casey Hudson commented that Mass Effect 3 "will be easier [to develop] because we don't have to worry about continuity into the next one." However, decisions are routinely imported from the two previous titles to Mass Effect 3 in order to maintain continuity within

9295-636: The Shepard character, to a new system based on four ideals of emotional, logical, casual, and professional attitudes. Among notable side missions in the series include the various romancing options with the main character's crewmates: these included both hetero- and homosexual relationships since the player-character's gender was selectable, as well as inter-species options. Players could work to improve their relationship with these characters through dialogue options, providing them gifts, or completing various side missions specific to each character. Successfully romancing

9438-521: The Strategic Defense Initiative. After the 9/11 terrorism attacks, a group of sci-fi authors called Sigma, including Pournelle and Niven, advised the "Department of Homeland Security on technological strategies for defeating terrorist threats." In 2021, Worldcrunch reported that the French military has hired fiction writers to develop futuristic warfare scenarios, including situations that

9581-513: The Systems Alliance Navy . After an Earth colony discovers a new Prothean artifact, it is attacked by an unknown vessel, and the Council names Shepard its first human SPECTRE ( Spec ial T actics and Re connaissance), an elite agent with associated authority and impunity, to investigate the incident. Shepard comes in contact with the artifact and has a vision of war and death across the galaxy. Following their vision, Shepard discovers that

9724-639: The Systems Alliance Navy, an N7 graduate of the Interplanetary Combatives Training (ICT) military program, and the first human Citadel Council Spectre, Shepard works to stop the Reapers , a sentient machine race dedicated to wiping out all advanced organic life. Shepard is neither a hero , nor a villain ; depending upon players' choices and actions, Shepard is the abstaining factor that acts as both on occasion and will take whatever action

9867-517: The Systems Alliance's – the "galactic face of humanity" – military N7 program, the highest grade of their "Interplanetary Combatives Training" that commands a great deal of respect. Their service before joining the military and the military event that allowed them to rise to fame are both chosen by the player before the game starts, out of three options each. Also customizable is Shepard's gender, character class and physical appearance. The player

10010-559: The Vietnam War's influence can be seen indirectly in novels such as Joe Haldeman 's The Forever War (published in Analog over 1972–1975) and Lucius Shepard 's Life During Wartime (1987). The Vietnam War resulted in veterans with combat experience deciding to write science fiction, including Joe Haldeman and David Drake . Throughout the 1970s, works such as Haldeman's The Forever War and Drake's Hammer's Slammers helped increase

10153-512: The Xbox 360 version, outselling the PlayStation 3 version 4 to 1 and bringing in over $ 200 million in revenue. By April 2012 it sold over twice as many copies as Mass Effect 2 in their respective launch months and generated lifetime sales of over six million copies. The Mass Effect series had sold a total of 14 million units by July 5, 2014. Military science fiction A detailed description of

10296-504: The Year Awards", saying that while the player changed the tone and context of many parts of Mass Effect , "Shepard never comes out of it looking any less awesome". Not all critical reception has been positive. Maxim described the visual design of Shepard's armor as derivative. Andrew Goldfarb, for IGN , criticized the decision to revisit Shepard during the downloadable content of Mass Effect 3 , believing that 3 ' s ending

10439-438: The author can extrapolate what might have occurred. Traditional military values of courage under fire, sense of duty, honor, sacrifice, loyalty, and camaraderie are often emphasized. The action is typically described from the point of view of a soldier in a science fictional setting of or near battle . Typically, the technology is more advanced than that of the present and described in detail. In some stories, however, technology

10582-506: The central concept of Corsair as a narrative adventure which follows a morally ambiguous protagonist would have been an ideal vehicle to explore as an expansion of the Mass Effect universe. For 2017's Mass Effect: Andromeda , the binary Paragon and Renegade morality system was removed entirely. In 2007 BioWare filed a patent for the Dialogue Wheel, described in official documents as a "graphical interface for interactive dialog," which

10725-504: The colours, as well as other elements of the armor and the commander's appearance, are customisable in Mass Effect 2 . For the character customisation at the start of the game, they focused on "quality and realism". In order to test out the customisation system, the team made various celebrity look-alikes to ensure it offered a wide enough variety. The default male face, as well as the male body, were based on Dutch model Mark Vanderloo . The default female face changed slightly between

10868-566: The conflict, belligerents (which may involve extraterrestrials), tactics and weapons used for it, and the role of a military service and the individual members of that military organization form the basis for a typical work of military science fiction. The stories often use features of actual past or current Earth conflicts, with countries being replaced by planets or galaxies with similar characteristics, battleships replaced by space battleships, small arms and artillery replaced by lasers, soldiers replaced by space marines, and certain events changed so

11011-414: The controversy concluded that the poll was presented like a beauty contest, which positioned Shepard in a sexualized manner for the pleasure of a straight male audience ; this has a corrupting effect on Shepard's standing as a feminist lead, even though the original intention is to promote a female character as the face of the franchise. The authors of Bridging Game Studies and Feminist Theories noted that

11154-448: The default name for a female Shepard, in their list of the 70 best video game characters of the 2010s decade, with Cass Marshall singling out Hale’s voice acting for convincingly selling her character as "both a deadly space marine and a vulnerable protagonist facing impossible odds". Various media outlets like CNET , ONE37pm and CBR have included Commander Shepard in their lists of top female video game characters. The outcome of

11297-881: The demo for Mass Effect 3 has been completed; similarly, an N7 armor becomes available in Dead Space 3 if the player owns a copy of Mass Effect 3 . Commander Shepard has received a generally positive reception and often appeared in reader's polls published by video game publications. The character was voted number 2 by readers in Game Informer ' s poll of the top 30 video game characters, behind Halo protagonist Master Chief . A reader's poll for their top ultimate RPG party choices, drawing from characters of several disparate RPG video game franchises, published by IGN in December 2014 placed Shepard at No. 2. Another reader's poll published by PC Gamer in 2015 reveal that Shepard

11440-492: The design poll, which was initially won by the blonde Shepard, was described as controversial and proved divisive with critics. While commentators like Kirk Hamilton from Kotaku accepted what he perceived to be a legitimately democratic choice, others like Kim Richards from PC Gamer rejected the outcome. Richards in particular criticized the poll for encouraging players to go for the most " Barbie -like" conventionally attractive appearance. Carlen Lavigne's later analysis of

11583-503: The development of the first game, the female Shepard was given equal importance as the male counterpart; unique lines were written for her as well as a unique romance option. In fact, the early model for animation tests featured a female Shepard. When describing her, Casey Hudson said "[s]he's not a caricature of the idea of role-playing as a female, but instead she's very impressive as a strong female character that's sensitive yet extremely confident and assertive". Shepard's default armor

11726-403: The dialogue revolving around the character is gender-neutral with only a few exceptions. However, in some other Mass Effect media, Shepard is called "he" regardless of player choice for the gender. The character is inspired by and named after American astronaut Alan Shepard . Shepard's armor developed over the series and was originally intended to be red-and-white. Most promotional material for

11869-407: The dialogue wheel, a mechanic similar to dialogue trees , enabling players to dynamically steer conversations by selecting from a number of preset choices; the feature has since seen widespread use in other role-playing video games. The success of the video game series spawned adaptations in other media, including novels, comics, and an animated film. The Mass Effect original trilogy takes place in

12012-472: The events of its predecessor. In the midst of events of the first three games, the combined races of the Milky Way sent a number of ships to Andromeda to establish the Nexus, a space-borne operations base and a number of colonies to accept future colonists once contact is established. After over 600 years of travel in cryogenic stasis , they arrive to find the Heleus Cluster in brutal conflict between two native races:

12155-416: The final expansion, Citadel , in 2013. There were also five free DLC packs released for the multiplayer component, Resurgence , Rebellion , Earth , and Retaliation in 2012 and Reckoning in 2013, collectively adding thirty playable characters, dozens of new weapons and abilities, seven new maps, and a new enemy faction to complement the base game's three, among other content. Mass Effect: Andromeda ,

12298-405: The first and second game, but underwent a big redesign for Mass Effect 3 . Six different designs for the default female Shepard were hosted online, and fans were told to vote for whichever design they preferred via Facebook ; many different designs were made before the vote, but were whittled down to six by BioWare staff. The blonde Shepard with freckles won, though BioWare later decided that

12441-463: The first ever human Spectre and an exemplar of humanity's progress in galactic politics. However, Nihlus is killed during the mission when the geth , a race of sentient AIs, and Saren Arterius , a rogue Spectre, attack the colony to steal the beacon. Shepard manages to stop the colony from being destroyed but is hit by a blast from the damaged beacon before it blows up; as a result, Shepard begins to have visions of war and death. After Saren's treachery

12584-440: The first game in a new series, and the fourth major installment overall in the franchise, was revealed at E3 2015 . It was released on March 21, 2017. The title utilizes DICE 's Frostbite 3 engine and was released for PlayStation 4 , Windows and Xbox One . Andromeda is the first game in the series to feature an open world environment. Set during the 29th century, the player's character is either Sara or Scott Ryder, designated as

12727-475: The first game, the commander is serving under Captain David Anderson during the shakedown run of the highly advanced turian /human ship SSV Normandy , heading toward humanity's first ever colony, Eden Prime. However, it turns out the ship is actually being sent to collect a Prothean beacon (the Protheans being an advanced and now-extinct race whose technology could contain great discoveries) and give it to

12870-467: The first three games, these choices influenced the player-character's morality, putting them on the path of a Paragon or Renegade, indicated by color and positioning on the Dialogue Wheel. With the second and third game, it became possible to select these choices during the non-player's character dialog, resulting in an interruption of the action that could have even larger ramifications. The player's choices of Paragon or Renegade could change how some parts of

13013-435: The first two games and its expansions. Later on, the series was taken over by Electronic Arts through its acquisition of BioWare. Each installment is a third-person shooter with role-playing elements. The first three games form a trilogy in which the player character , Commander Shepard , attempts to save the Milky Way galaxy from a race of ancient, hibernating machines known as the Reapers . The inaugural video game in

13156-451: The franchise. The original Mass Effect trilogy has received near-universal critical acclaim across all release platforms, according to review aggregator Metacritic . All three games have received numerous nominations as well as number of year-end awards from video game publications and major award ceremonies. The first two Mass Effect titles are widely considered to be among the greatest games of all time . Mass Effect 2 in particular

13299-465: The galactic community. Following the conclusion of one of the three original endings of Mass Effect 3 , where Shepard activates a superweapon known as the Crucible on the Citadel to deal with the Reapers, the Normandy crashes on a distant planet after being caught in a wave of energy emitted by the Crucible. In some of the possible ending scenarios, the crew eulogizes Shepard by putting his or her name on

13442-438: The galaxy. A fourth game, Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017), featured a new setting and cast of characters, and a fifth is in active development. The original trilogy was met with commercial success as well as universal acclaim. Critics praised the game's narrative, characters, voice acting, world building, and emphasis on player choice. The ending of Mass Effect 3 drew widespread criticism for being an unsatisfying conclusion to

13585-452: The game was released. The game sold over 500,000 copies in the month of release, despite being released at the end of the month. Before the release of the third game, the series sold a combined total of 7 million copies worldwide. Mass Effect 3 was the most commercially successful game of the series: it sold over 800,000 copies in its first 24 hours, and its opening month sales were twice that of its predecessor's, selling over 900,000 copies on

13728-468: The game, including some that had worked on the original trilogy. Also released were pieces of concept art for the game, accompanied by an encrypted audio file, again featuring Liara T'Soni, this time speaking to an unknown individual. In November 2023, a short teaser trailer and poster depicting a new character from the game were revealed after an online ARG for N7 Day. Project Director Mike Gamble reiterated via Twitter that several veteran developers from

13871-406: The game. Mass Effect Trilogy is a compilation featuring the first three games of the series, released on November 6, 2012 for Windows and Xbox 360 and December 4, 2012 for PlayStation 3. For the PlayStation 3 version, Trilogy also includes the downloadable content for the first two games: Bring Down the Sky for Mass Effect , and Cerberus Network content for Mass Effect 2 along with

14014-670: The gap is not too wide for the humans to bridge. For example, the invaders have more advanced tanks, but the German Wehrmacht's tank crews facing them – a major theme in the series – are more skilled and far more experienced. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction lists three notable women authors of MSF: Lois McMaster Bujold ; Elizabeth Moon (particularly her Familias Regnant stories such as Hunting Party (1993)), and Karen Traviss . Several authors have presented stories with political messages of varying types as major or minor themes of their works. David Drake has often written of

14157-402: The geth launch an attack on the Citadel, the "political, cultural, and financial capital of the galactic community" and home of the Council, intending to activate a mass relay inside it that will allow all the Reapers to arrive at once from dark space, destroy the Citadel, and begin their "harvest" of organic life. Shepard manages to stop them, destroy Sovereign, and save the Citadel. Depending on

14300-478: The hairstyle may have interfered with the vote, and so made another competition to decide that. The red-haired Shepard won the subsequent competition. The male and female versions of Shepard were voiced by Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale respectively. Both of them had worked with BioWare many times previously. Meer had first worked with BioWare during the creation of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and went on to voice other bit parts in their games. When he

14443-705: The hero was. For Mass Effect 3 , BioWare wished to "acknowledge" the demand for material with the female Shepard. Outside of the Mass Effect series, Shepard has also made cameo appearances in other Electronic Arts games. SkyHeroes features various different characters from EA games, acting as playable pilots during the game's multiplayer mode. Through downloadable content released on March 27, Shepard becomes available as an alternate skin for Serah and Noel within Final Fantasy XIII-2 . An N7 armor and omni-blades become available in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning if

14586-489: The horrors and futility of war. He has said, in the afterwords of several of his Hammer's Slammers books (1979 and later), that one of his reasons for writing is to educate those people who have not experienced war, but who might have to make the decision to start or endorse a war (as policymakers or as voters) about what war is really like, and what the powers and limits of the military as an instrument of policy are. David Weber has said: For me, military science fiction

14729-556: The male version compared to 32% for the female version. Although female Shepard is less popular with players compared to her male counterpart, the character and her voice actress has consistently been well received critically. Hale was nominated for "Best Performance By A Human Female" at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, though lost to fellow Mass Effect voice actor Tricia Helfer (playing Sarah Kerrigan in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty ). Polygon included Jane Shepard,

14872-410: The military become "more resourceful." The German military is also using science fiction to help its military but in its approach, they do not hire science fiction writers to develop scenarios. Instead, they "use existing science fiction" to help the army "predict the "world's next potential conflict." The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) hired two science fiction writers to pen short stories about "what

15015-481: The military cannot directly study for "ethical reasons, such as Autonomous Lethality Weapon Systems (ALWS), or augmented humans." The French military says the authors are asked to imagine warfare situations that "destabilize us, scare us, blame, or even beat us", in order to provide the army with a "fresh set of practice scenarios". Military planners use the science fiction authors' scenarios to "prepare for previously unthought of situations", "boos[t] creativity" and help

15158-859: The most extensive work for the Legendary Edition , which BioWare compared it to the quality of a remake, while stating that the other two games were still remasters. The 4K remaster was released on May 14, 2021 for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows, in addition to the ninth generation of video game consoles —the Xbox Series X/S and the PlayStation 5 . Original trilogy tie-in novels published by Del Rey Books : Mass Effect: Andromeda tie-in novels published by Titan Books : All published by Dark Horse Comics : On November 23, 2021, Deadline Hollywood reported that negotiations were underway to adapt

15301-418: The original trilogy had returned to work on the new game, including art directors and level designers. Mass Effect Galaxy is set between the events of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 and exclusively on the iOS platform. The story is focused around a backstory featuring two characters who appear as squad members in Mass Effect 2 : Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson . When the passenger liner Arcturian Jade

15444-428: The player chooses the former, Shepard effectively cuts all ties with Cerberus, and the crew and squadmates join the commander. Depending on the player's decision concerning the Council in the first game, Shepard can either be reinstated as a Spectre now that they have been revived, be rejected by Udina and the rest of the Council or refuse Spectre status when offered it. Shepard has been grounded and stripped of rank by

15587-427: The player has the option to bring up to two of their crew members with them, who generally act autonomously but can be given specific orders by the player. In missions, the player can explore an area to find information, discover lootable objects with new gear or in-game currency, non-playable characters to talk to, and key mission items that are to be recovered. Frequently, the player will enter combat, which plays out as

15730-449: The player's choices, Shepard may either also save the Council, or leave them to die to ensure Sovereign is destroyed or to build a new human-centric Council. At the beginning of the game, Shepard is killed when the Collectors attack and destroy the Normandy . The commander is revived by Cerberus, a human-supremacist organization considered to be terrorists by the Citadel Council and the Systems Alliance, with instructions by Cerberus leader

15873-632: The player) and their allies to shut down the malfunctioning terraforming systems, deal with the Kett and Angara attacks, and make planets habitable for colonization. While various features of gameplay varied across the series, the Mass Effect games are action role-playing games . The player customizes their version of the game's main character (Shepard for the first three games, and Ryder for Mass Effect: Andromeda ) based on physical appearance, background, and one of six character classes , each class centered around one or two specializations in combat, technology, or "biotic" (magic-like) skills. This establishes

16016-433: The poll produced "six avatars who have the exact same body shape, but are distinguished by different skin, hair, and eye colour." From their point of view, Shepard would either way "fit perfectly with beauty standards while creating the illusion of choice for players." Leandro Lima noted that the manner in which Shepard was included within the marketing campaign for Mass Effect 3 was still problematic for many players, as she

16159-509: The popularity of the genre. Short stories also were popular, collected in books such as Combat SF , edited by Gordon R. Dickson . This anthology includes one of the first Hammer's Slammers stories, as well as one of the BOLO stories by Keith Laumer and one of the Berserker stories by Fred Saberhagen . This anthology seems to have been the first time these stories specifically dealing with war as

16302-514: The release of the original Mass Effect video game for the Xbox 360 in November 2007, it was announced that EA bought out VG Holding Corp. , a partnership between BioWare and Pandemic Studios formed in November 2005. The Mass Effect IP was acquired by EA in the process and BioWare continued their role as the IP's developers. The technological outline of the series is based on the theory of dark energy ,

16445-443: The second game's main events, concerns how Shepard's body was retrieved by Liara T'Soni and then given to Cerberus after the character's death in Mass Effect 2 ' s prologue . The character, however, will not be making any further appearances in any Mass Effect games now that the main trilogy is over, and BioWare have said that they do not wish the next Mass Effect protagonist to just be another soldier or "Shepard 2". In

16588-548: The second main game in the series, was released on January 26, 2010, in North America and January 29 in Europe for Windows and Xbox 360. A great deal of secrecy surrounded the game prior to launch, with few details emerging other than Casey Hudson , Project Director for BioWare, stating that "players should keep their save files, because decisions made by the player in the first game will continue to have influences on their character in

16731-439: The sequel." The game takes place two years after the events of Mass Effect . Human colonies are being attacked, their colonists disappearing without a trace. The game's protagonist, Commander Shepard, is forced into an uneasy alliance with the pro-Human paramilitary organization, Cerberus, in an effort to discover the cause. Evidence emerges pointing to the "Collectors," an advanced, enigmatic race of insect-like humanoids. Adding to

16874-488: The series focused on the male Shepard, due to the studio's desire for a single identifiable hero, though both versions of the character were given equal priority during development. Various merchandise has been made, including several figurines. Shepard has made cameo appearances in other Electronic Arts games and is referenced in Mass Effect: Andromeda . BioWare wanted players to feel special and empowered from

17017-581: The series' atmosphere and artistic qualities included Alien , Starship Troopers , Dune and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within . Several video games fed into Hudson's vision for the gameplay experience of the series: these include Deus Ex ’s choice-based branching storylines, the gunplay mechanics of the Halo franchise, and the open-ended galaxy exploration of the MS-DOS game Starflight . Aspects of Greek mythology have been consistently invoked throughout

17160-407: The series, Mass Effect (2007), follows Shepard's investigation of Saren Arterius , one of the Reapers' agents. Mass Effect 2 (2010) begins two years later and sees Shepard's forces battling the Collectors, an alien race abducting human colonies to facilitate the Reapers' return. The original trilogy's final installment, Mass Effect 3 (2012), depicts a war between the Reapers and the rest of

17303-490: The series, from the names of in-universe objects and organizations like the planet Elysium or the anthropocentric paramilitary group Cerberus, to the narrative themes of certain story arcs like the Prothean's connection to the contemporary civilizations of the galaxy through the technology they left behind. The music of the series is noted for its similarity in style to the vintage synthesizer score for Blade Runner , which creates

17446-452: The series. In the final chapter of the trilogy, the Reapers have returned in force, and have begun their purge of the galaxy, attacking Earth . During this attack Commander Shepard is on Earth and forced to flee. After fleeing Earth, Commander Shepard must hurry and rally the advanced races of the galaxy to make one final stand, not only to save Earth, but also to break a cycle that has continued for millions of years. The first official trailer

17589-407: The ship's memorial and flying away. If Shepard chose to destroy the Reapers, however, the crew will hesitate placing Shepard's name on the memorial wall. In one possible ending, the chestpiece of a body with the N7 emblem is shown to be moving, suggesting Shepard might have survived. Shepard does not make a direct appearance, though players can select Shepard's gender at the start of the game. Shepard

17732-562: The start of the game. Unlike other role-playing game protagonists, they felt Shepard should not be an entirely blank character for the player to create, in order to create a more "intense" experience; with Mass Effect being more cinematic than other BioWare video games, they felt they needed an "extra bit" with a sense of a specific flavor that can be caused by a memorable character, such as Star Trek ' s Captain Kirk or 24 ' s Jack Bauer . Developers wanted to at least give Shepard

17875-566: The story progressed and could limit choices of allies they could gain later in the game or the ability to access powerful gear. Cinematic designer John Ebenger stated in 2020 that only about 8% of the players chose the Renegade route across the first three games, and jokingly lamented about the amount of effort they had put into some of the Renegade cinematics. In Andromeda , BioWare replaced the Paragon/Renegade distinctions, which were tied more to

18018-421: The story. This is presented through what BioWare called a Dialogue Wheel, with the player-character reply options shown as choices extending radially outward from a circle at the bottom of the screen. Most of these choices are simple questions and responses, but in some dialogues, they offer additional choices that either influence how the game plays out from there, or are as a result from those previous choices. In

18161-417: The strange craft is one of thousands of artificial lifeforms called Reapers, and learns that every fifty-thousand years, the Reapers scour the Milky Way and eliminate all higher forms of life, leaving the younger species to advance and thrive until the next cycle as to prevent constant war and chaos, part of what the Protheans had left behind along with their artifacts. The appearance of the Reapers in this cycle

18304-401: The tactics and strategy of this new course of the war in detail, showing how American, British, Soviet, and German soldiers and Jewish guerrillas (some of them historical figures) deal with this extraordinary new situation, as well as providing a not unsympathetic detailed point of view of individual invader warriors. In the war situation posited by Turtledove, the invaders have superior arms, but

18447-423: The threat is the revelation that the Collectors are working for the Reapers. Shepard sets out on a "suicide mission" to stop the Collectors, accompanied by a hand-picked team of soldiers, assassins, mercenaries, and specialists. Mass Effect 2 has received overwhelming critical and public praise since its release, for its characters, storyline, voice acting, and refined combat and gameplay with many critics calling it

18590-690: The time. The Vietnam War led to the "polarization of the sf community", which can be seen in the June 1968 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction , in which one page of pro-war sf authors listed their names and on another page, anti-war sf authors put their names. The Vietnam War has been noted by the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction as having impacted anthologies such as In the Field of Fire (1987) and novels such as The Healer's War (1988) by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough and Dream Baby (1989) by Bruce McAllister . The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction states that

18733-409: The trilogy, prompting Electronic Arts to release an expanded cut with additional cutscenes . Mass Effect: Andromeda received mixed reviews. Praise was directed at the game's visuals and combat, but the game drew criticism for technical issues and its plot. The series has generated attention and discussion about its representation of same-sex relationships and sexual minorities . It also originated

18876-446: The use of Fictional Intelligence ( FicInt ), which they define as "useful fictions". FicInt, a concept developed by Cole in 2015, combines "fiction writing with intelligence to imagine future scenarios in ways grounded in reality." Commander Shepard Commander Shepard is the player character in the Mass Effect video game series by BioWare ( Mass Effect , Mass Effect 2 , and Mass Effect 3 ). A veteran soldier of

19019-462: The various alien races to ensure the survival of Earth and to stop the Reapers from eradicating all organic life from the galaxy. Among the major decisions made by the player as part of the branching narrative of Mass Effect 3 include the resolution of the Krogan Genophage storyline , the outcome of the war between the geth and the quarians , and ultimately the fate of the Reapers and the rest of

19162-485: The wars of tomorrow will look like." The MOD hired Peter Warren Singer and August Cole to write eight short stories about threats from "emerging technologies" including " artificial intelligence (AI), data modeling, drone swarms, quantum computing and human enhancement" in a battlefield context. The MOD hired sci-fi writers because they have a "unique ability to imagine the unimaginable." As well, both authors know about "security subjects and modern warfare." They advocate

19305-517: Was "final", and saying that he would have preferred to have a look at a new squad separate from Shepard. Data published by BioWare between 2011 and 2013 for Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 showed that the player pick rate for male Shepard, sometimes referred to as "BroShep", was at 82% with the remainder choosing to play as a female Shepard, nicknamed "FemShep". In July 2021, the choice statistics for Mass Effect Legendary Edition released by BioWare revealed that 68% of players preferred to play as

19448-438: Was briefly explored in 2008. The project was to be developed in tandem with the original video game trilogy, although the developers ultimately abandoned the project due to the prohibitive cost of Nintendo DS cartridges as well as the publisher's unoptimistic estimation of the projected sales data for the project, with the team and its resources reassigned to work on Mass Effect 2 . Former BioWare employee Dorian Kieken noted that

19591-430: Was first called in to work on Mass Effect , he expected to voice more bit parts, and was "pleasantly surprised" to get the role of Shepard. Caroline Livingstone gave voice direction during recording, and lead writer Mac Walters would occasionally sit in during recording sessions, allowing lines to be changed quickly. Hale has said she is very invested in helping to "create" the stories of video games, though she herself

19734-501: Was later ported to Windows by Demiurge Studios in 2008, and to the PlayStation 3 by Edge of Reality in 2012. The game focuses on the protagonist, Commander Shepard, and their quest to stop the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius from leading an army of sentient machines, called the Geth, to conquer the galaxy. During pursuit of Saren, Shepard develops key relationships with other characters, primarily their squad team members, all while learning of

19877-479: Was officially announced on November 7, 2020 or "N7 Day." The goal of the remaster was "not to remake or reimagine the original games, but to modernize the experience so that fans and new players can experience the original work in its best possible form." The remaster also features almost all previously released downloadable content, enhanced "textures, shaders, models, effects, and technical features of three enormous games." Due to Mass Effect 1 's age, it received

20020-500: Was officially granted to its parent company EA International Studio and Publishing Ltd by the United States Patent & Trademark Office in 2011. Besides Star Wars , the Mass Effect universe is also inspired by several established conventions and tropes found in other science fiction franchises, such as Star Trek , Blade Runner , Firefly , and Battlestar Galactica . Other intellectual properties which influenced

20163-444: Was originally red-and-white, but this was changed to charcoal grey, with a red-and-white stripe and the N7 logo, as Shepard looked too much like a medic. The red stripe in the N7 logo is said to symbolise the blood the character must sacrifice to save the galaxy. The armor became piece-based in Mass Effect 2 to stress the character's silhouette , as well as making them look "stronger and able to take more punishment". Despite this,

20306-524: Was overall the fifth most popular Mass Effect character. Shepard was voted the primary Xbox 360 candidate in IGN ' s mock video game presidential election, but lost to the PlayStation 3 candidate. Shepard has appeared in numerous top video game character lists compiled by video game publications, such as GameZone , GameDaily , and Game Informer . Joe Juba, writing for Game Informer , chose Shepard as their favourite protagonist in their "2012 RPG of

20449-470: Was unveiled on December 11, 2010, during the Spike TV Video Game Awards. It was the first title in the main series without involvement from Microsoft Game Studios and released on the same date for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Four story-focused episodic expansions were released as downloadable content , with From Ashes , Leviathan , and Omega being released in 2012, followed by

#960039