f**k yeah!  

The Mass Effect novels are pretty good if you need to kill time between now and ME2.

Leaked alpha footage.

Not Really.
What they shown off at GDC. So in terms of gaming and some press they shown these bits off so not exactly a leak since they have shown it. Part of the discussions in regard to how they Made Mass Effect and how they are changing it for number 2.

Well, by leaked I mean (AFAIK) they werent supposed to bring cameras into the presentation.
Interesting nonetheless.

They actually did not mind. Geff from Giantbomb went down on invite and they did not mind if people filmed. Was listening to the podcast about it over the weekend. They were just told to understand it is nothing of what they will see in the final version.

Looks good. I liked the first one, but I felt in parts it was missing stuff. I think it was mostly the exploring and non-plot stuff, scanning and visiting each planet soon became very repetitive, and even the few buildings you could enter on each planet started to look very familiar (because they were essentially the same). The story kicked ass though.

LOVE Mass Effect but here were my gripes.


- Had cover use but a lot of the time the cover was badly done, in tunnels etc or some edges you could not quite get the cover and still got hit.
- As you say it had the bad case of re-using to many of the same layouts and objects and there were plenty of buildings that had annoying layout and some were small but sometimes crammed with to much stuff.
- Lifts!
- Where were all the crew quarters on the Normandy? It was too narrow and one dimensional in the design.
- Planets were dead. You drove terrain that was different but lifeless. You got to some areas and something happened like one big worm or an ambush but that was about it. It would be nice to see planets more alive with wildlife, trees etc. You can use the same technology to randomly plant trees, water and more as with the terrain.
Animals, Populated cities you can view in the distance.
- TOOOO much crap. You get it in all mmo sort of games but it always annoyed me, making money in other means to get that money would be nice.
- Interface tweaks. I am sure they will carry over some of the pc version improvements in number 2. The equipment interface could do with some improvements.


I think Mainly they made areas and then a lot of after thought elements to join them up. it would be nice to see another cool story and a lot of fine tweaks will go a long way in many areas but mainly lock down those areas like you mentioned and things like planets and maybe even through in some space fights would do well.

Nice little bits from the video though..

- Shoot a canister and it does not just blow up it Shot around and glass smashed so more physics going on. More visual looking shields as well by the look of things.

A mix is good.
It just that every planet you go to is empty just about and when they portray a massive space with lots of races it does not feel right. You would see other ships in space and you would think visit mass populated planets and systems.

Making the system maps a bit more energetic would be nice too.

They are talking about introducing space combat in ME3,  Massive reaper space battle?