Train2Game blog readers who played Mass Effect 2 without having previously played the original may have found it difficult to understand what was going on. They weren’t alone however, as Bioware don’t think they did enough to accommodate newcomers to the series

“In all honesty, we didn’t do a really good job of new player orientation,” Mass Effect 3 Marketing Manager Nick Clifford told IGN. “If you didn’t play the first game then 2 was pretty jarring for the first half hour.”

He said that in Mass Effect 3, new players without any previous experience in the series won’t hear references to past events they might not know about.

“If I’m a new player and some guy walks up to me and is like ‘Ohhhh Shepard! Remember that one time?’ I would be like ‘No. I don’t remember that one time,'” said Clifford.

“So we wanted to make sure that there aren’t those moments that the player is like, ‘Who is this? What’s going on? What are they talking about?’

It’s something that’s often missed in game development, the fact that a sequel might be a player’s first experience of a series, making the narrative confusing.

As previously reported by The Train2Game Blog, the Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect 3 will be connect compatible.

The Train2Game Blog interviewed Bioware founders Dr. Ray Muzyka & Dr. Greg Zeschuk in November last year. They discussed how they set up the studio and provided advice on getting into the games industry.

Mass Effect 3 is released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in March.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Mass Effect 3’s attempts to make the it easier for new players to understand? Is it something more sequels should try to achieve?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: IGN]