Science fiction, whether the hard sci-fi of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy or flights of fantasy like Star Trek, tends to make the same point about Earth: it’s screwed. Once we start writing fiction that takes place sometime after the year 2100 or somesuch, Earth automatically gets attacked, or at the very least, gets filed inside a hostile alien race’s “planets to attack during our effort to purge the universe of organic life” folder. Mass Effect 3 is no stranger to such a concept, as evidenced by the latest advertising that boldly states: “Take Back Earth.” Yet even the very first imagery, way back in the Spike Video Game Awards 2010, presented Earth-centric imagery. Before ME3’s release next week, Jeremy Parish and Thierry Nguyen chatted with lead writer Mac Walters about the importance of our water-heavy planet, the decisions behind who lives or dies in Mass Effect 2‘s ending/ME3’s beginning, and hints about the trilogy’s conclusion.
1UP: The thesis of this interview is “What’s the Big Deal about Earth?” We have more questions within that, but that’s where I want to start. Looking at the promos for Mass Effect 3, the big selling point is, “Oh crap. Here come the Reapers and they are going to destroy Earth.” Is there more to the game’s story than, “we have to save Earth?”
