'Mass Effect: Andromeda' news: Director speaks out on gameplay trailer criticism; minor character confirmed to return

Sheanne Aguila Wednesday, December 07, 2016

A promotional image from "Mass Effect Andromeda" | Facebook/masseffect

"Mass Effect: Andromeda" is one of the most anticipated games to arrive next year, and fans have been treated to a lot of reveals over the previous month. Although the latest footages were nothing short of impressive, some fans were disappointed with the overall visual animation quality.

During last week's The Game Awards 2016 event, fans were given an early holiday treat when a new gameplay demo for "Mass Effect: Andromeda" was previewed. While most fans were happy about it, some felt let down and claimed that the quality wasn't where they expected it to be. In a recent interview with Gamespot, creative director Mac Walters promised fans that BioWare will continue to improve the game.

"As this was a gameplay trailer, we made the decision to show 'in-game' footage--not pre-rendered. But rest assured, it will look great by the time we ship," he said. "And we'll be sure to share more of the characters, stories, and cinematics before then," Walters added.

"Mass Effect: Andromeda" has already been delayed before its scheduled spring release. EA and BioWare execs have previously said that the game's release could be pushed back again, but Walters remains confident that they will finish everything by March.

"We're very confident. Bringing Mass Effect to Frostbite and a next generation of consoles has had its share of challenges. But the team has handled them all and is fully focused on finishing what we started," he added.

The upcoming game might be set in a completely different galaxy compared to the franchise's original trilogy, but that won't stop one minor character from coming back.

According to reports, Avina will return in "Andromeda" aboard the new central space station called the Nexus. Fans can remember her as the Citadel's virtual intelligence character and one of the few characters to be part of all three games. Avina will still be voiced by the same actress, Dannah Feinglass.

So far, Avina is the only character to come back from the original "Mass Effect" trilogy.

Developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts, "Mass Effect: Andromeda" will be released in March 2017 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows PC.