Ass Affected
Incoming remaster Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will feature a whole host of overhauled features from the admittedly aging original releases. The off-road vehicle MAKO will have tighter controls, combat will be sharpened up, the default Femshep model from Mass Effect 3 is now available in the first two games, and the trilogy’s visuals as a whole will be given a lovely modern sheen.
Speaking in a recent interview with Metro, project director Matt Walters has newly noted that Legendary Edition will tweak a selection of cinematic camera angles, particularly ones that may present some of the characters in a gratuitous or unflattering light. Cerberus officer Miranda Lawson – who is quite the polarizing character among fans – will be a beneficiary of such changes, with the camera’s occasional leer over her posterior adjusted.
“I do think a lot of things have evolved since [original release] but I don’t know if I would say we were ultra-concerned about it or anything like that, but there were considerations,” said Walters. “Kevin [Meek, character director] actually called out some camera cuts that were just… Why was that focusing on Miranda’s butt? So in some cases we said, ‘Okay, we can make a change there.'”
Another example given was how cameras had been adjusted to help hide stances or animations that felt awkward between the male and female iterations of Commander Shepard. So, for example, the camera has been raised on a shot that sees FemShep awkwardly “man-spreading” in a skirt. The camera adjustments not only reduce shots of a gratuitous nature, but also allow for reparations on some of the trilogy’s clunkier photography. Sadly, there’s no word on whether any of the characters have learned how to dance yet.
In regards to Miranda. the driven and somewhat cold officer was born as a macho idea of an attractive woman. Lawson literally had her DNA altered as such by her monster of a father in order to present her as a “perfect specimen” to the world. As such, it’s a little awkward for the game to leer over her labcrafted body – a source of deep-seated trauma within the officer’s psyche – while she pours out said trauma to her confidant. In the long run, Miranda will get her opportunity to face down her familial affairs, but that’s a story for you to experience yourself.
