Mass Effect 4 runs on Frostbite

By Muhammad Farrukh
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Grand Master

Muhammad Farrukh

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Mass Effect 4 runs on Frostbite

BioWare confirms next entry in space RPG series will run on Battlefield tech, says game will be respectful of history, but also explore new story and gameplay fronts.

BioWare has opened up on the next entry in the Mass Effect series. BioWare Montreal studio director Yanick Roy explained in a blog posttoday that the next new Mass Effect game will run on the Frostbite game engine. This proprietary Electronic Arts technology has been used in a range franchises, including Battlefield, Need for Speed, and Medal of Honor.

With regards to the next Mass Effect, BioWare will take advantage of "many of the systems" that the Dragon Age III: Inquisition team has spent time developing for Frostbite. These were not named specifically.

Roy also said that while the new Mass Effect game will be "very respectful" of the franchise's history, BioWare is pursuing "new directions" for the series with regards to gameplay and story. BioWare had previously confirmed that Commander Shepard would not return.

"You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling," Roy said.

Roy did not share what stage of development the new Mass Effect game is in, but did say BioWare Montreal is planning to staff up over the course of the next year. The studio currently has 16 open positions posted to its website.

Gamers excited for more Mass Effect news may want to temper their eagerness. Roy said it is "probably going to be quite a while before you hear from us again."

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Grand Master

Xerxes

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Sounds good to me! They did a fantastic job with Unreal Engine but it's time to move on. Look forward to what they can do with Frostbite 2! (Y) Also glad the new game will be new, Shepard (and the Reapers) had their time in the limelight, time to shake things up with something new :happy:

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Grand Master

Yusuf M. Veteran

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It makes sense for them to use a more advanced game engine. Unreal Engine 3 is great; however, it's archaic compared to engines like Frostbite 2 and CryENGINE 3. Both those engines have the potential to be scaled up for next-gen consoles.

I look forward to Dragon Age 3: Inquisition and Mass Effect 4.

Grand Master

spaceelf

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It makes sense for them to use a more advanced game engine. Unreal Engine 3 is great; however, it's archaic compared to engines like Frostbite 2 and CryENGINE 3. Both those engines have the potential to be scaled up for next-gen consoles. I look forward to Dragon Age 3: Inquisition and Mass Effect 4.

The irony is that UE3 is fully capable of games with the features people are expecting, so I'm really not sure why the studios using it haven't bothered to update their ****.

Grand Master

spaceelf

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The irony is that UE3 is fully capable of games with the features people are expecting, so I'm really not sure why the studios using it haven't bothered to update their ****.

Though I suppose they did just add the support in 2011 from what I can tell, so probably just not enough time to properly implement it. It's possible that's what soured people on UE as well.

Grand Master

Xerxes

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I'm kinda annoyed that they're making a fourth one. I got the impression that Mass Effect 3 would be the final one. :s

The first 3 games were the Commander Shepard story arc and they said it would span 3 games and no more, on that they delivered. They never promised they wouldn't make another game based in the Mass Effect universe. So not sure why your annoyed?

Grand Master

Yusuf M. Veteran

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The irony is that UE3 is fully capable of games with the features people are expecting, so I'm really not sure why the studios using it haven't bothered to update their ****.

Though I suppose they did just add the support in 2011 from what I can tell, so probably just not enough time to properly implement it. It's possible that's what soured people on UE as well.

A lot of the recent features are PC-specific so it's no surprise that we don't see a lot of developers utilizing them. There are some exceptions like certain PC-only titles or games like Batman: Arkham City (DX11 support) and Star Wars 1313 (possible DX11 support).

Remember the Samaritan tech demo? The features used to make that demo were made available in the March 2011 release. I don't think a single developer out there has made use of those features in a finished game though. As for the fate of UE3, it's likely that Epic Games has stopped updating it with major features. It's no secret that they're working on UE4. They've already shown a tech demo and announced a UE4 title for PC called Fortnite. Also, Crytek believes that CryENGINE 3 is next-gen ready. So far, it looks pretty damn good in Crysis 3.

Anyway, I hope they make Frostbite 2 look even better in Mass Effect 4. It seems like they haven't updated it in Medal of Honor: Warfighter and Dead Space 3.

Grand Master

+jamesyfx Subscriber²

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The first 3 games were the Commander Shepard story arc and they said it would span 3 games and no more, on that they delivered. They never promised they wouldn't make another game based in the Mass Effect universe. So not sure why your annoyed?

I just got the distinct impression that ME3 was going to be the last game in the series, and I'm sure many others would probably agree. However I was not aware that they intended to carry on the series with different characters. I don't think I'll be following it until the reviews come in though.. as far as I'm concerned I've had enough of it for now. :p

Grand Master

Xerxes

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I just got the distinct impression that ME3 was going to be the last game in the series, and I'm sure many others would probably agree. However I was not aware that they intended to carry on the series with different characters. I don't think I'll be following it until the reviews come in though.. as far as I'm concerned I've had enough of it for now. :p

Fair enough I guess. To be honest though, considering it's owned by EA and was very successful it was pretty much a given it would be on the "milk list" :laugh: Games seem to suffer one of two fates with EA; a one hit wonder (like Mirror's Edge) that was a commercial flop (but well loved by it's fans) or it's successful enough to be milked forever more (like C&C, Need for Speed etc).

Mentor

JaredFrost

Posted
Posted

I just got the distinct impression that ME3 was going to be the last game in the series, and I'm sure many others would probably agree. However I was not aware that they intended to carry on the series with different characters. I don't think I'll be following it until the reviews come in though.. as far as I'm concerned I've had enough of it for now. :p

I believe that was true, BEFORE EA purchased them. You know EA, milk till there's blood, then milk it till it's dead and toss the limp lifeless corpse into the ditch and move on to the next studio.

Grand Master

Jason S. Global Moderator

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I always thought it would be done after the trilogy. Oh well, I guess some people just don't know when to stop.

Might as well call it Mass Effect and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

you're confused - ME4 wont be about Shepard or his entourage at all. it's just set in the ME universe. there are zero details of the story or plot yet. that's like saying you cant make a good Star Wars game b/c it'll just continue the story of luke and han.

as for the graphics engine, Frostbite 2 will be outdated by the time ME4 comes out :p

Grand Master

spaceelf

Posted
Posted

A lot of the recent features are PC-specific so it's no surprise that we don't see a lot of developers utilizing them. There are some exceptions like certain PC-only titles or games like Batman: Arkham City (DX11 support) and Star Wars 1313 (possible DX11 support).

Anyway, I hope they make Frostbite 2 look even better in Mass Effect 4. It seems like they haven't updated it in Medal of Honor: Warfighter and Dead Space 3.

Considering the impressive amount of DX10/11 only games lately at least that chapter of gaming where we have a bunch of awesome games that look outdated on launch day should be almost over.

I don't think Frostbite 2 really needs an update given that they've pretty well maxed out current tech.

Experienced

Buio

Posted
Posted
It makes sense for them to use a more advanced game engine. Unreal Engine 3 is great; however, it's archaic compared to engines like Frostbite 2 and CryENGINE 3. Both those engines have the potential to be scaled up for next-gen consoles. I look forward to Dragon Age 3: Inquisition and Mass Effect 4.

First and foremost, it's about money. Using Frostbite 2 is cheaper because its an EA owned engine. They could have used a later iteration of UE3 or even UE4, but it's owned by Epic Games and licensing money then goes outside EA.

Grand Master

Noir Angel

Posted
Posted

As long as the game lives up to the quality of the rest of the Mass Effect games, and as long as the same people that did the endings for ME3 don't write the endings for ME4 i'll be happy. The scope for the Mass Effect universe is enormous, I'm not surprised they are deciding to carry it on.

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Grand Master

spaceelf

Posted
Posted

As long as the game lives up to the quality of the rest of the Mass Effect games, and as long as the same people that did the endings for ME3 don't write the endings for ME4 i'll be happy. The scope for the Mass Effect universe is enormous, I'm not surprised they are deciding to carry it on.

Sure as hell beats more licensed **** like Star Wars/Trek or more fantasy games. If they're still going past Mass Effect 6 I'll be disappointed.

Grand Master

spacer

Posted
Posted

The problem I have with them making another Mass Effect (other than the obvious: they butchered the end of ME3 and ruined the entire series) is continuing the universe based on your choices from the last game. Every ending in ME3 fundamentally changed the ME universe to the point that any sequal (direct or set long after the events of ME) won't be able to follow all three endings well enough.

For instance, if you took the synthesis ending, all life in the universe is now part organic and part synthetic. That opens the door for HUGE story-telling and plot differences versus, say, the ending where you just destroy the reapers. The back-stories, interactions between characters/species, technology, driving forces are all entirely different; and so the resulting story would be (should be) entirely different. Including continuations for all of the ME3 endings isn't as simple as connecting ME1 to ME2, or 2 to 3. The rules are completely different in each ending. It's not practical, from EA's standpoint, to develop three wholly-different stories.

So, as I see it EA can do one of four things. 1 - develop a prequel series that takes place before ME1 (lame, who cares?). 2 - develop a new series that takes place during the same time period as ME1-3. (again lame, we already have the multiplayer for something like that, and who cares about characters that aren't central to Shepard's plot?) 3 - develop three entirely different universes, and therefore entirely different stories, characters, and mechanics based each ending of the three endings from ME3. (impractical, not fiscally sound for EA; so it won't happen) 4 - pick a "canon" ending and go with that for the aftermath of ME3 (lame. renders the story of every player who played the originals and didn't pick that option moot)

I'm all for more Mass Effect, assuming they can keep the same level of detail and polish. But, I just don't see any good way of building off of ME3 in any meaningful way.

This. The gameplay is pretty damn derivative.

Also, calling this game/series an RPG is a bit of a stretch too.

Mass Effect is every bit an RPG as any other game you can name. In fact, it's more of an RPG than most other RPGs.

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