Loading ...Mass Effect 3: Hands/Voice On Preview
Following the announcement that Mass Effect 3 would support voice commands via Kinect, speculation has been running rampant as to how it was going to work. Microsoft and Bioware have revealed a tantalizing glimpse as to this Kinect exclusive functionality, and we were there first hand to try it out. Last week, at a special invite only press event, Bioware showed us exactly how seamless in-game voice command can be. Although it has been announced that the game will support voice both for dialog and commands, it was the latter that Bioware chose to showcase in this demo. In the demo, Shepard is tasked with saving a certain Krogan female from an onslaught of Cerberus operatives. This combat heavy segment was an ideal scenario to try out the new voice command functionality.
After a brief introduction by one of the on-site Bioware representatives, we were given the opportunity to try the game for ourselves. Combat mechanics are virtually identical to that of Mass Effect 2, which was to be expected, but now have the added benefit of full voice support. Just about anything that was previously assigned to a button command (with the exception of fire and reload, both of which currently are controller only) can now be accessed simply by one's voice.
Essentially, anything that was at one point assigned to a radial is now voice enabled. Commands are varied in number and type both by chosen squad members, and by Shepard's individual class. For the purposes of this demo, Shepard was a Soldier class. As such, in addition to exploration and combat specific commands, which are consistent regardless of class, certain soldier class abilities were available as well; including but not limited to adrenaline rush, concussive shot, frag grenade, and cryo ammo. Utilizing the full array of voice commands with a squad, consisting in the demo of Shepard, Liara, and series newcomer James Vega, felt natural, and perhaps more importantly, intuitive.
Response times following any given voice command were immediate, with no trace of lag whatsoever. In their attempt to leverage Kinect functionality, Bioware has managed to create a hybrid controller and Kinect combination that not only works as advertised, but also manages to add an additional layer of immersion. Whereas in the past two Mass Effect games, a tense scene may have been temporarily interrupted while the player stopped to issue a command via the menu screen to one or more squad mates, that hindrance has since been removed. Beyond the added immersion, there is, at times, some semblance of an actual interaction between the player and their squad going on. As squad members often vocally respond in the affirmative to a command issued, the illusion is that the player spoke to the character, in turn to have them say something back. Of course, they would respond regardless of control scheme, but it's still a clever trick.
In addition to combat and exploration commands, a handy voice enabled quick save function is also available - and becomes especially useful during confrontations with some of the larger enemies, including a giant mecha that appeared in the final segment of the demo. Of course, as novel as this new functionality is, it would be moot if it were limited solely to English language commands. Luckily, this is not the case. As of this writing, confirmed supported spoken languages include English, British English, Australian English, French, Italian and German.
Last, but certainly not least, to go alongside the CES demo, Bioware has released a new video for the game, detailing some of the Kinect functionality. Check it out below:
Mass Effect 3 will be available on March 6, 2012 for Xbox 360, PC, and Playstation 3, although voice support is exclusive to Kinect. A Kinect augmented demo will be available for download on February 14.
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