Over the past few years, many books on the gaming industry have appeared on the shelves of Russian stores. In part, this can be attributed to the activity of the publisher “Bombora“, which was created on the basis of”EXMO non-fiction”, Including for the publication of such game literature. Updated edition “Blood, sweat and pixels”We recommended reading some years ago… Now that the series has reappeared in the information field Mass effect, translation and publication of the book “Mass Effect: Rise to the Stars”From Nicolas Domenga seems very timely.
A digital edition was sent to us for review, so I will not dwell on external and tactile sensations and will go straight to the point. The provided copy is just over 500 pages, and about a quarter of them is occupied by the history of the creation and formation of the BioWare studio, as well as the story of the studio’s games prior to the debut of Mass Effect. At the beginning, it seems that the author pays a lot of attention to some fundamental foundations, which are already known to fans for a long time, but later all this is linked to the idea of creating a space opera about Captain Shepard. Analyzing some of the elements and mechanics from Baldur’s Gate, MDK2 and other projects, Nicolas Domengue focuses on the moments that in one form or another turned out to be useful in the future when creating Mass Effect. The author also tries to reveal many of the nuances associated with the nature of key figures in BioWare. For example how Rei Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk game fans Brian Fargo and wanted to meet him, or another example – how they were passionate about work, even despite the discomfort of the basement where their office was located. In some places, the author is fond of describing the features of the studio’s games, turning the text into a small review, and for many this can be very useful. Given the historical context, some points could be erased from memory or simply be unknown to some readers, so such analyzes seem to be very useful.
It is worth noting that the text itself is readable enough, the translators tried to convey all the subtleties and meanings of the author without any noticeable errors. However, the version that I read suffered a little from not the most convenient formatting, but as I was assured, this was not the final version of the layout, and everything should be much better in the book itself.
If you are a big fan of the series like me, then you are unlikely to find any fundamentally new information here, however, this book well structures and fits all the known facts, and also reveals some working points that better allow you to understand the logic of some BioWare decisions, as well as see to well-known events from a different angle. In general, reading such literature is always fascinating, so if you are interested in the industry and love Mass Effect, then this book can become a worthy decoration of your shelf. But first of all, I would recommend it to beginners who got carried away with Mass Effect after playing Mass Effect: Legendary Editionhave not been on the forums for years in the games in the series and now want to know more about the BioWare universe. Let us remind you that currently under development new part of the series for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S…
Author: Azamat Tegaev (Azzy)
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