Mass Effect’s Tali Unmasked, Fans Angry

Gamers have been clamoring for years for BioWare to give them a glimpse of the face that lies behind the environmental mask that Tali’Zorah nar Rayya has been wearing since the Mass Effect series began back in 2007. And, apparently, BioWare has finally done so in Mass Effect 3.

But after one person recognized the in-game photo of Tali’s face from a stock image on Getty Images, all hell has apparently broke loose over on the BioWare Social Network. I’ll let Kotaku explain this one:

Angry gamers sent a barrage of e-mails to Kotaku’s tips hotline last night with links to the stock photo and the spoilery reveal from the action-roleplaying game, which was released yesterday for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

The photo shows an in-game picture of Mass Effect 3 character Tali, who appeared in both previous games but has never removed the mask covering her face. Tali’s newly-revealed face seems to be a modified version of a stock image by photographer Matthew Leete, which is freely available for commercial use to anybody with a Getty Images account.

“This HAS to qualify for some form of lazy art,” one gamer told us.

A stock image? Really? I’d normally chalk this up as someone just being lazy, but with something that’s been building up for nearly five years, you’d think that a LOT of people on the team would have wanted to have some input on what she looked like.