EA elected to bow out of of E3 this year in favor of presenting their in-development games at their own EA Play event. Hosting live events in both Los Angeles and London, EA Play had game stations set up for attendees and presented a stream of their slate of upcoming games. Despite a few leaks ahead of E3, EA debuted new trailers for all of their highly anticipated games including Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2, FIFA 17, Madden 17, Mass Effect: Andromeda, and even an indie game titled Fe being released under a new branch called EA Originals.
Aaryn Flynn, studio manager at Bioware, presented the Mass Effect: Andromeda portion, which included a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the game in addition to debuting a new trailer. Powered entirely by the Frostbite engine, Flynn promised a game that give players, “more freedom than they’ve ever had in the Mass Effect universe.”
The new trailer actually shows potential squad makeup (team of three like Mass Effect fans are used to), a muscled up Mako, and a glimpse at the new face of the franchise. There’s a new ship, the Tempest, that will presumably take us from the Milky Way to the Andromeda galaxy where Flynn says “humanity are the aliens.” The trailer also showed some great new enemies that look more frightening than anything previously seen in the Mass Effect series (including the Yahg), and an entirely redesigned Citadel. Gameplay footage was presented in the new trailer, but it is likely this footage is still simulated rather than captured in-game.
While this is without a doubt a huge line-up of games, not much new information was presented, especially in the Bioware/Mass Effect: Andromeda portion. Promising to “push the boundaries of known space,” Flynn specifically mentions new dangers, new species, and new technology to help the protagonist along their journey to find a new home for humanity. Other than needing resources, no other story details have been revealed, and this presentation didn’t provide much more than what has already been made available. Before leaving the stage, Flynn teased that more information about Mass Effect: Andromeda would be made available this fall.
Once the conference was over, fans in attendance had an opportunity to give either Battlefield 1 or Titanfall 2 a go at one of the hundred or so gaming stations made available. A strategic move by EA to allow actual players to see and play the games in the hopes of fanning the flames until their release later this year.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is set for a spring 2017 release to Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Stay with Screen Rant as we continue to follow the developing news around Bioware’s much anticipated follow-up game.
