We're rapidly approach a slew of triple-A pre-Holiday and Holiday threequels, including Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, Uncharted 3, and Resistance 3, among others but, for many gamers, their most anticipated "number 3" title was recently bumped to 2012.
As a result, as more and more details are revealed for the hottest games of 2011, there's still plenty of mystery surrounding Mass Effect 3. Now, Mass Effect 3 associate producer, Michael Gamble, is clarifying details regarding what players can expect from the upcoming title including basic gameplay refinements (i.e. RPG elements), improved character animations (to sell the emotional impact of the story), and even a super-negative ending option where the "reapers can win."
In an interview with CVG, Gamble lays out a number of key revisions that the team at BioWare has addressed in the upcoming title - explaining that, in terms of gameplay, Mass Effect 3 has something for every gamer, carrying-over the improved combat from the second title as well as adding-in deep RPG elements that fans of the original have been missing.
Gamble also discussed improvements to the character models and overarching animations, down to the smallest and most subtle details - eye movement:
"We want to be able to accent eye movement a little bit more. Subtle movements in the face give away a lot. That's key to story-telling. Obviously most people know, when you're communicating with someone, the non-verbal cues are just as important if not more important than the verbal cues. We want to bring those to life more."
Check out CVG's full interview with Gamble below for more details on combat, relationships, and skill trees:
Gamble also had a chance to speak with NowGamer, who got the producer to confirm one of the more interesting Mass Effect 3 details of late - the option for a super-negative ending where Shepard fails to save the universe from the Reapers.
When asked "You've taken a lot of risks with the [Mass Effect] franchise as well, would you ever go so far as to take a risk where the Reapers win. Could that be a choice in Mass Effect 3?" Gamble replied with a clear, "Yep."
It's probably not a surprise that there's a super-bad ending in the works for Mass Effect 3, given BioWare's dedication to overarching choice in the series, as well as how things might have played-out at the end of Mass Effect 2. That said, while few of us probably want to see that ending presented in our own play through, there's little doubt that once the Mass Effect 3 dust has settled we'll all be hopping onto YouTube to see just how bad things could have gone wrong.
With that in mind, if you've played through Mass Effect 2 but haven't seen the "Worst" possible ending for the game, check out the video below (needless to say the video contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Mass Effect 2 - if you haven't completed the game, we DO NOT recommend you watch this video:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRHhdc53Od8
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Mass Effect 3 releases for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on March 6, 2012.