Mass Effect: 20 to 60 hours of gameplay, it’s up to you

In a recent interview with BioWare‘s Chris Priestly he explains that because of how story progression Mass Effect depends so much on the actions and decisions of the player (not to mention the massive scale of the game itself) players can clock in anywhere from 20 to 60 hours of play depending on their individual style.

Just to give an idea about how big the universe of Mass Effect is, Priestly says that there’s some 20 to 30 “full-sized, plot driven planets where you’re going to have to explore around.” When he says “full-sized” he means about the same size as Kashyyyk (home planet of Chewbacca’s race):

Some are larger – which is why we give you a vehicle this time to get around, because if we made you walk around, it would be a whole lot of walking. Even with the vehicle, […] on some planets it would take five minutes just to get to get to where you’re going […] if you didn’t bother stopping to do any of the plots along the way.

He further states that only about 5% of the game has been shown publicly: “Knowing the video so far that have been released, and the screens, there’s just so, so much that hasn’t been seen before. There are a lot of surprises still there.” However, as grand as Mass Effect is, Priestly also explains that this will not detract from the next two installments in the trilogy:

If you enjoyed the game but never wanted to play another Mass Effect game again, you would’ve been totally satisfied with the experience. You’re not going to be left hanging at the end. […] It’s a self-contained story by itself, but there are definitely ways – and people will say ‘oh! I see how they can do a second one!’ That sort of thing.

Mass Effect, rated M-17, has already gone gold and will be hitting stores on November 20.

Via IGN

In a recent interview with BioWare‘s Chris Priestly he explains that because of how story progression Mass Effect depends so much on the actions and decisions of the player (not to mention the massive scale of the game itself) players can clock in anywhere from 20 to 60 hours of play depending on their individual style.

Just to give an idea about how big the universe of Mass Effect is, Priestly says that there’s some 20 to 30 “full-sized, plot driven planets where you’re going to have to explore around.” When he says “full-sized” he means about the same size as Kashyyyk (home planet of Chewbacca’s race):

Some are larger – which is why we give you a vehicle this time to get around, because if we made you walk around, it would be a whole lot of walking. Even with the vehicle, […] on some planets it would take five minutes just to get to get to where you’re going […] if you didn’t bother stopping to do any of the plots along the way.

He further states that only about 5% of the game has been shown publicly: “Knowing the video so far that have been released, and the screens, there’s just so, so much that hasn’t been seen before. There are a lot of surprises still there.” However, as grand as Mass Effect is, Priestly also explains that this will not detract from the next two installments in the trilogy:

If you enjoyed the game but never wanted to play another Mass Effect game again, you would’ve been totally satisfied with the experience. You’re not going to be left hanging at the end. […] It’s a self-contained story by itself, but there are definitely ways – and people will say ‘oh! I see how they can do a second one!’ That sort of thing.

Mass Effect, rated M-17, has already gone gold and will be hitting stores on November 20.

Via IGN