First we get multiplayer in our Mass Effect, now we get more iOS iterations of the game - and it's all going to change the ending of ME3. I'm not sure about this...
I'm reasonably certain, that despite some of my fears, that Mass Effect 3 is going to be an awesome experience. It's only my level of deep, emotional investment in the game and its characters that's causing some eleventh hour nerves, but, more or less, I have faith.
However, I keep finding reasons to feel a little apprehensive, like the news that a new iOS game is going to directly tie into the main game's outcome.
Mass Effect Infiltrator - which we've not received any info about yet ourselves, but a mess of sites are reporting on - is a new game for iOS that features third person shooting action. "Take the all-out galactic war in Mass Effect 3 on-the-go with Infiltrator, a fully-featured iOS third-person shooter showcasing stunning graphics and authentic weapons and powers from the Mass Effect series," says a pamphlet apparently doing the rounds at a recent EA event.
Sounds neat enough, but it also appears that success in Infiltrator will directly add to your Galactic Readiness Rating in the main game. This score is already going to be influenced by your activity in Mass Effect 3's Galaxy at War co-op mode, and now it appears that a game you may not even be able to play - there's no news of Infiltrator appearing on Android devices, for instance - will impact on the main game's ending.
I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, it'll be great to be able to expand my interaction with the setting, and to play Mass Effect on the train; it's even nice to know that a player's dedication to the setting will be rewarded. On the other hand, of course, it now feels like I have to engage with these other products - if I don't, then I might be losing out on the best possible ending (which is a moot point, really, considering the rather... cold way I play Shepard).
Hmm - torn.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012