The Mass Effect trilogy is not one that will ever be forgotten. It was a science fiction marvel with a well written story, complex characters, and memorable moments. The best part was that it was a video game and you could create your own protagonist and make decisions as that character.
Lets go back to the beginning, to the first game when Shepard just started her or his adventure. We had to deal with Saren and save the Citadel from him and his Reaper ship. There is a lot of trivia and facts about how this trilogy came to be. Here are ten of them.
10 The Game Wasn’t Originally Called Mass Effect
Before a title was decided upon, the game only had a codename. That codename was “SFX,” which was short for “Science Fiction X.” Casey Hudson revealed in an interview that a lot of the people working on the game got attached to the codename and wanted to keep it as the title. However SFX was already the name of a prominent magazine, so that was off the table. Mass Effect was eventually chosen out of a list of 10 titles.
9 They Considered Having Multiplayer
Multiplayer did not come into the Mass Effect games until the last third of the trilogy. However, Bioware had considered a multiplayer aspect since mid-creation of the first title. They eventually decided the first game would not work with multiplayer. It would have taken away from the experience of being Shepard.
As fans know now, multiplayer was later introduced in the third game.
8 The Game Was Made Because Of Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic
Another amazing Bioware creation, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, actually laid the groundwork for making Mass Effect. Knights of the Old Republic was a huge success, but Bioware wanted to create an original title instead of a sequel. They really wanted a story that was theirs, rather than borrowing from a universe that already existed.
In making Mass Effect, they could take unused ideas as well as revamp ones that were used for Knights of the Old Republic. So if they never made Knights of the Old Republic, we likely would never had gotten Mass Effect. Even if we did, it would be very different.
7 Male Shepard’s Voice Actor Was Planned To Be Different
Mark Meer plays the voice of male Commander Shepard, but that was not always planned. At first, Meer was just a temporary fill-in voice to help with the prototype. The developers intended to later hire a different actor and re-record the lines for the final product.
They later decided to stick with Meer. Since he was a local, it was convenient, and he was already doing a really good job as male Shepard.
6 Game Was Banned In Singapore
In the first game, Bioware’s only possible gay romance could be done between female Shepard and Liara. However that was enough to get the game banned by Singapore’s Media Development Authority. They especially were not fans of the women-on-women love making scene.
The game was eventually un-banned though. Singapore has a history of banning video games in the past, including Half-Life, The Darkness, and the other Mass Effect games.
5 Syd Mead Influenced How The Game Looked
The creators of Mass Effect were inspired by a science fiction artist, Syd Mead. He is famously known for his designs in films like Blade Runner, Tron, and Aliens. His work often utilizes panels, bright colors, smooth lines, and all sorts of flying cars.
If you look at a gallery of Mead’s work and concept art, it all can easily be seen as a place in Mass Effect. The Citadel and Mako from the first game especially look like work from Mead.
4 Liara Was Modeled Off Of Jillian Murray
Liara was the first romanceable alien of the series, which made her very popular. Some fans even argue that developers see her as the canon romance of the trilogy.
Like many of the Mass Effect characters, she was modeled off of a real person. Besides Mass Effect, she has been in Drake & Josh, Fear Factor, An American Carol, Code Black, and more. According to an interview with Murray, she wouldn’t call herself a gamer but she likes Call of Duty and of course has played Mass Effect and made sure to romance Liara.
3 Had Mature Content Controversy
The romantic subplot of the first game got a little too graphic for some people. The partial nudity in the intimate cutscenes went under a lot of scrutiny. It even got news coverage about the mature content in publications like the New York Times and Fox News. It created a lot of rumors about the game, giving a lot of parents the false idea that the game was similar to pornography.
Obviously, this false information got a lot of fans and gamers mad. Luckily though, the franchise was not damaged by the rumors.
2 A Lot Of Films Inspired The Game
Obviously, a lot of science fiction inspired Mass Effect. There are tons of key elements that any science fiction fan would be familiar with such as exploring what makes us human, robots rebelling against their creators, and so on.
The grizzled hero that is Shepard was inspired by films such as Blade Runner and Aliens. The villain, Saren, is similar to Sarris from Galaxy Quest. The architecture, lens flares, and dark cities are like scenes right out of Star Wars. Speaking of Star Wars, biotic abilities from the game seem to be a lot like the Force. There is a lot, and those just scratch the surface of what inspired the games.
1 Was Nominated For And Won Many Awards
The first game was a big success, and it only got better. It won tons of awards. At Spike Video Game Awards, it won for Best RPG. At TeamXbox Game of the Year Awards, it won Best RPG, Best Game, and Best Story of the Year. At IGN’s 2007 Awards, it received Best RPG, Best Original Score, and Best Story. Noticing a pattern? Critics loved the game most of all for its story and RPG elements. Besides awards, many reviews gave the game a 9 or 10 out of 10.
