Granted, Mass Effect 4 is still far from seeing a release date. The project, while not in its cradle anymore, is still deep in development and most likely isn’t in an Alpha state yet. That doesn’t stop EA from milking the cash-cow and re-releasing the entire Mass Effect trilogy on the Xbox One and PS4. If you were hoping for some visually stunning games on your current-gen consoles, the Mass Effect trilogy likely won’t cater. Mass Effect 3 manages to look good until this very day, but the first and second installments of the franchise are rather dusty by now (especially the first).
A leaked image discovered by Joystiq revealed that an Xbox One and PS4 version of the Mass Effect trilogy is being planned for release. Whether or not this will be a remastered and visually updated bundle remains to be seen, but it’s doubtful that the developers can do a whole lot with the first Mass Effect for instance, at least not without completely changing the game engine, which would be way too time-consuming. Despite this, there have been many voices requesting a current-gen version for Bioware’s highly popular franchise, so even in its dusty state, the bundle should sell well on both the Xbox One and PS4. EA is likely taking advantage of the lack of content for the new consoles, which would explain their attempts at beating on a dead horse. However, if we get a complete trilogy with all DLCs at a decent and fair price (no, the retail price of a new game wouldn’t count as fair), there’s not too much complaining from our part.
In the meantime, Bioware is hard at work designing a new universe for us to explore in Mass Effect 4. Information about the game is scarce at best, but that’s a scenario that’s likely to change after E3 2014, where we’re most likely to get at least some hints at what the future Mass Effect game has in store for us. Mass Effect 4’s trailer had been under works for awhile now, so it’s reasonable to expect at least an official CGI trailer and announcement at the event in LA. While waiting for the next title (which won’t be coming sooner than 2015, that much is given), we’re getting a chance to replay the original trilogy on next-gen consoles. The leaked image has since been removed, but rumors have it the bundle will be released sometime this summer.
What’s your take? Would you spend some money on playing/re-playing the Mass Effect series on your Xbox One or PS4?