What About Wrex: Porting Mass Effect 2 to the PS3

In a new entry to their RPG blog, 1UP points out some of the continuity issues BioWare will have to tackle when bringing Mass Effect 2 to the PlayStation 3 without the original title preceding it.

In the original version, it’s possible to create a new character to kick off the second game, but some of the choices could be considered undesirable. If I recall correctly, Default Shepard is a renegade who opted to allow both the Citadel Council and the Rachni to die. I actually made both of those choices myself, but I would understand if someone didn’t wish to go down that path.

So yes, porting Mass Effect 2 but not the original game presents a bit of a challenge.

From the looks of it, BioWare hopes to mitigate the lack of the original game with what Ray Muzyka calls a “seamless introduction to the world of Mass Effect for players that haven’t experienced it before.” The new content will provide the backstory and “the things that have happeend up to that point in the universe.”

My first thought is that this is going to be a sort of “Greatest Hits” flashback in which players get to make some of the important decisions that affect the sequel. So here Shepard is trying whether or not to eliminate the Rachni, and here’s Shepard deciding whether or not to eliminate the Citadel Council. As a compromise, I wouldn’t really call the approach “optimal,” but it may be the best BioWare can do at this point. At the very least, it will help ease PS3 owners into Mass Effect 3, which looks destined to be released across all three platforms now.