Mass Effect DLC: Details on the Batarians
by Terrence Stasse 
{ Mar 8th 2008 at 10:45AM }
With the new DLC for Mass Effect hitting next week, Bioware has updated their Galactic Codex with information about the major new "feature" of the DLC, the new race, Batarians. First appearing in the Mass Effect universe before the game had even hit store shelves, Batarians featured largely in the prequel novel Mass Effect: Revelation and made no appearance in the retail game at all. The four-eyed humanoid species is isolationist and resides mainly in the Terminus systems, which are mentioned frequently in-game as a source of instability and insurrection. The website update includes some short history and back-story, along with a new screen and a small flash video of the species facial animations. Hopefully we'll get more on the species during the supposed 90 minutes of gameplay the pack provides. Entitled Bring Down the Sky, the DLC hits this Monday for 400 MS Points.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
donclemsonjr @ Mar 8th 2008 11:54AM
Good Stuff!
Aero @ Mar 8th 2008 12:47PM
Wait, 400 points?
I remember it being 800. Is this a mistake or the actual price, because if so that's ace.
Terrence Stasse @ Mar 8th 2008 2:13PM
No, it's always been set at 400 points.
Deck @ Mar 8th 2008 2:47PM
Oh I can't wait!
Bring on the Mass Effect glory goodness!
SpiderMike @ Mar 8th 2008 2:59PM
Will this be available in the UK on Monday as well???
SleepNeed @ Mar 8th 2008 8:25PM
Oh noes me only have 200, time to buy another 1600 point card for Mass Effect!
ogvor @ Mar 8th 2008 5:02PM
I'm nearly positive the Batarians had a spot in Mass Effects codex, something about a revolution or pirates or something
Terrence Stasse @ Mar 8th 2008 5:28PM
*sigh* I suppose it's too much to ask that folks read the posts before responding.
Stranger @ Mar 9th 2008 1:04PM
Well the price is right, but I can't shake the feeling that this content was originally planned to be a part of the retail release. It seems to me like this was turned into DLC not because Bioware had always planned on support Mass Effect in this way, but due to any number of underlying business reasons that forced them down this path. Making their gold deadline for a Christmas release, for one.... Microsoft as their publisher requiring pay to play DLC content for their big holiday release... I dunno.
Something tells me that all the Mass Effect DLC is going to bring now and in the future is those dramatically meaningful side quests Bioware kept hyping that never actually made it into the game.
In a game that was supposed to be full of non cookie cutter side quests, it troubled me greatly to play through the exact same three interior environments on every single planet I landed on that wasn't one of the five story critical planets in the game.
Instead we got rock collecting and pilfering contemporary guns from downed satellites... that and the fact that every single spaceship you was able to board in space had the exact same interior layout.
Seems to me like we paid $60 for five or six story missions and a ton of meaningless filler so that MS could charge us for what should've been on the disc in the first place.
Too bad I'm still gonna buy it. Man I'm a sucker.