Mass Effect Andromeda to be Free of Loading Screens
There’s another reason to be excited about the next installment of the Mass Effect franchise. Game Informer reports that the upcoming sequel will actually be free of loading screens.
Previously in the Mass Effect series, there would be loading screens in the game’s ship, which was the Normandy. As a result, players will not have to stand around or wait to be scanned while going around the ship. It will be a seamless experience when players are aboard their new ship in Andromeda, which is called the Tempest. This is the ship players will use to embark on their exploration of the Andromeda galaxy.
Speaking on how this was done, technical director Harold Chaput stated, “With memory limitations, with loading limitations, there was a real problem [in previous games]; if you wanted to go from one place to another, you had to unload everything, you had to reload everything–it was a long time.”
He added in the report: “It really broke the flow of the game. Now, it’s so much smoother to be on the ship, land on a planet, jump around, go inside a building. It’s all very seamless, so breaking down the barriers frees up the player to explore and do activities. It makes it easier to make a rich and full environment.”
Mass Effect Andromeda is currently scheduled for a first quarter 2017 release. The game is due out on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC. The game will reportedly drop on March 21.