Mass Effect 3 Wii U developer keen to meet expectations

Straight Right are the developers of the Mass Effect 3 port for Wii U, and it’s taken many by surprise due to what seems to be a rather limited pedigree of developed titles.

Speaking to EuroGamer, Tom Crago, who we can only assume is the leader of the team working at Straight Right, has acknowledged that there are certain pressures of living up to the original versions, and doing their best to match the Wii U’s functionality to the game itself. That is, utilising everything the system has to offer.

[quote]We’re very conscious of not wanting to mess up, given the level of expectation and the fact that we’re taking something which, on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and PC, was exceptionally good.

You look at the game and think ‘how could I possibly make this better?’ The Wii U gives you that opportunity with the GamePad. But first and foremost you say, ‘well, I don’t want to screw this up’.

You want to replicate the experience on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as sympathetically as possible. But then you say, ‘how can I enhance this experience?’. We tried to get the game looking great and singing on Wii U, and then use the GamePad to complement this.

…This is the biggest title we’ve worked on in a long time. There’s a significant technical challenge bringing the game from its original format to the Wii U. It’s a new, different and sophisticated piece of hardware, so there’s a good deal of technical energy that’s been expended making that happen.[/quote]
Crago also took the time to mention that his development studio has a lot of faith in the Wii U, with two other titles in development for Nintendo’s next-gen system.

The first title is an original IP owned by Straight Right, while another is due for release in 2013 and is apparently a “big franchise” that we will “definitely have heard of.”

Mass Effect 3 has the distinction of being one of the only Wii U titles that has been outright confirmed by developers as a launch title – and will launch with the Wii U later this year. For those who haven’t been fully caught up – the Wii U version will feature all downloadable content found in the console releases and unique contents that will be crafted to catch players up on the events in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2.