Mass Effect iPhone is now officially titled Mass Effect Galaxy, according to a BioWare blog post that revealed what the game is and how it ties into Mass Effect 2.
Previously known as Mass Effect: Jacob’s Story, BioWare’s Mass Effect game on iPhone now has the official subtitle Galaxy. The game was revealed in a leak some weeks ago, but BioWare has now come out to officially set the record straight about what exactly this game is and how it connects to the two main series games.
In terms of story, the game acts as a bridge between the events of the first Mass Effect and the upcoming sequel, and centers around Jacob, a Biotic-powered soldier who appears in Mass Effect 2. “We wanted to do a combat-oriented game on the iPhone/iPod touch, so Jacob was a strong candidate player character for us,” producer Kevin Barrett said. “He’s also a survivor of the Geth attack on Eden Prime, so he’s an even more appropriate bridging character to link the events of ME1 with ME2.”
Galaxy is a top-down shooter, so does it come anywhere close to the complexity of the main Mass Effect games? At least on the story level, Barrett revealed, Galaxy is a much more streamlined experience. There are probably few insanely intricate conversation trees here. “Our challenge was very much like trying to distill a full season mini-series down to a half-hour tv episode,” he said. “Dialog had to be tight, the pace of conversations had to be quickened and our traditional ‘investigation dialog hubs’…were trimmed significantly.”
Barrett explained that the game has a very straightforward three act plot structure with a beginning, middle and end, so no extended detours to wherever you want in the galaxy to do hours of side quests here. Nevertheless, if you’re a fan of the Mass Effect universe, Galaxy will probably have plenty to offer in terms of story.
