I recently reported that there had been a Mass Effect FPS in development back in 2010 and that some of the general ideas from that, when cancelled, went into the multiplayer mode for Mass Effect 3. It's an interesting piece of news and today we have some screenshots, courtesy of The Final Hours of Mass Effect 3 and Kotaku, to share with you.
One of the first thing that strikes me, and I'm not quite sure what it is other than a general vibe, is how Battlefield this screenshot looks to me. If this screenshot had been leaked under different circumstances, rather than from an official Mass Effect 3 app, you could have easily believed that this was a mod somebody had made.
Whether the game would have let you drive vehicles, adding another facet to the Battlefield feel, we're not entirely sure. The image above is a little ambiguous, giving the impression that perhaps it would have been an option. I'd guess not though, just because vehicle support was dropped quite quickly from later Mass Effect games and I'm not sure how that particular vehicle would work on a small, enclosed map.
I'm not sure in what form the prototype was in when it was working, but it appears that the mini map didn't actually work. Either that or the enemy team were pretty hell bent on coming in from the same angle every single time.
In short, it could have been pretty amazing. The question that has to be asked is how it would fit into the universe – the Mass Effect games have a pretty deep lore and it would be pretty annoying for fans if it was ignored, and shooter fans would probably feel more comfortable with a series better known for its all-out action set-pieces. It's not something we'll ever know for sure now.
