BioWare’s upcoming Mass Effect Legendary Edition looked at the trilogy’s free triangular camera angles that focused on the ME2 character Miranda – or more specifically – her bottom line, and made some changes.
In an interview with Metro, Mac Walters, project director of the Legendary Edition project, said that times have moved on since the original games were launched, and that some things that stand out have been adjusted.
‘I do think a lot of things have evolved since then [the original games]”Walters said.” I do not know if I would say that we were very worried about it or something like that, but there were considerations. Kevin [Meek, environment and character director] actually called up some camera clips that were just … why focus on Miranda’s butt? In some cases, we said, ‘Okay, we can make a change there.’ “
Other camera changes include some awkward angles for Shepard, which are clearly purely designed with the male Shepard model in mind. From experience, playing it through as a female Shepard means she’s sitting there in a dress and spreading, and it’s just ridiculous and a little broken to look at.
” A male Shepherd animation would make him sit with his legs fairly open with a low camera where it would be a bit unflattering if you wore a dress, ” Walters continues. “So we can not necessarily change the animation, but you can raise the camera slightly to reduce the problem.”
Mass Effect character Miranda is defined by her appearance, and the fact that her DNA was genetically modified by her father is an important part of her overall character arc. But the writing of the trilogy does it well enough to tackle it – without players being constantly reminded of her body with camera shots of her cat suit.
For more information on Mass Effect Legendary Edition, including our questions to Walters about returning to a franchise that many feared it would not go ahead, Eurogamer published its own interview and impressions earlier this week.