ME: Andromeda: BioWare Promises Animation Improvements
By Kyle Sledge 31 December 2016
The General Manager of the video game developer BioWare promises improvements for some of Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s animations and facial performance issues.
Once BioWare revealed Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s gameplay trailer during The Game Awards 2016, the reactions from those awaiting the forthcoming title were somewhat mixed depending on who in the science fiction franchise’s community was asked. While many fawned over the nearly five minutes of gameplay sequences, lots of folks were left wanting more in regards to the title’s protagonist, Sara Ryder, reacting to a tense scenario with a Turian.
Shortly after the trailer was shown, Mass Effect: Andromeda fans flooded Twitter with complaints about the rather lackluster visuals, which caused BioWare to assuage fans’ concerns over the issue with developer stating that the facial animations are still being polished. Now, even the studio’s General Manager, Aaryn Flynn, has responded to the situation with a supportive message related to the title’s lead character. As it happens, the BioWare GM has published a tweet calling Sara Ryder “strong, funny, and adventurous,” while also promising to provide improvements to the technical problem in question.
Sara Ryder is awesome. Strong, funny, and adventurous. Sorry there's a facial performance bug that lets her down here. We'll improve it https://t.co/esUaI4aFTJ— Aaryn Flynn (@AarynFlynn) January 3, 2017
While Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s gameplay trailer continues to catch flak from a sizeable amount of fans due to the facial performance problems, when it comes to the title’s first major cinematic trailer, relatively little in the way of negative feedback has been given to BioWare. Of course, this is likely due to the possibility that most fans are looking forward to actually playing the game more so than watching cut-scenes, so their minds might be primed to be on the lookout for technical flaws that could hinder the flow of a playthrough.
As one should expect, Mass Effect: Andromeda will continue to encounter plenty of glitches and hang-ups throughout its production process as it’s prepared for launch, so fans would do well to have faith that BioWare won’t release a shoddy product in the end. However, it’s understandable to be somewhat concerned after the studio promoted the game using materials that didn’t seem to totally present the work done so far in the best light possible.
Nevertheless, such worries at this moment will almost assuredly fail to derail the hype for Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s release, with many considering it to be one of the most anticipated video games of 2017. Not to mention, beyond the issues with characters’ facial animations, the title seems to be shaping up rather nicely in other areas, such as developers popularly deciding to bring back loyalty missions and choosing to incorporate refinements to the romance system that would make the feature more in-depth.
Taking all of this into consideration, BioWare has plenty of time to make Mass Effect: Andromeda as pristine as possible, especially with Electronic Arts’ CFO Blake Jorgensen stating that it will delay the title even longer if necessary in order to make it the best game it can be. In the meantime, fans will be given another look at Mass Effect: Andromeda not too long from now with BioWare showing more gameplay footage at CES 2017. Hopefully, the character animations will be more natural this time around.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is currently scheduled for release sometime in early 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
