“Mass Effect 3” is coming up, just when you thought you might escape from “Kingdoms of Amalur” and actually get outside for some fresh air. As the sequel to one of the most deservedly popular and best reviewed games of all time, there are a lot of expectations.
We’ve heard about the revised combat system, and we’re looking forward to trying it out. And, of course, we’re looking forward to digging through all that dialogue to find side quests, more information about the various species, and to get into our secretary’s pants.
But there are a few other revisions we have in mind, some little touches that would substantially improve the experience.
#5) Adjustable Subtitle Sizes
The biggest nitpick with “Mass Effect 2″ was the fact that BioWare doesn’t test their games on a screen smaller than, say, 50”. Which is great for them, but even people with smaller modern TVs were squinting to catch every word.
#4) Zoomable Maps
Another result of the game being optimized for a TV the size of a small child. Come on, guys. Not all of us own 70″ plasma screens, but we all want to figure out how to get around. And on the subject of maps…
#3) A Mini-Map in the HUD
Seriously, we don’t need an elaborate radar or anything, but a freaking mini-map, like every other open world game, would be useful.
#2) For God’s Sake, Let Us Pause During Dialogue Sequences
This was probably the most annoying thing in the entire game. Every now and then, BioWare, we’re in the middle of a dialogue tree and we have to take a dump. Don’t make us just leave the characters awkwardly standing there. Let us pause.
#1) A Morality System Tied To All Your Actions
It was great how you could level up both your Paragon and your Renegade actions through dialogue, but it also created this weird moment where Shepard was nice to somebody…and then robbed their wall safe, right in front of them, or maybe hacked an ATM and cleaned it out of all its credits after comforting somebody who was a dick to him, immediately followed by, say, yanking some poor shmuck out of cover and shooting him in the crotch. It’s a bit jarring that you’re a paragon of virtue when you’re following the usual gaming pattern of stealing everything you can pick up.
image courtesy EA