Gaming: Exclusive Interview with Mark Meer, Commander Shepard from Mass Effect

While many people play computer games, there's generally little thought for the voices behind our war-torn characters, until now. This Is Entertainment, in a totally original and never-before-seen stunt, has sought out one of these unsung heroes to ask them a few questions and find out some juicy game secrets.

The man in question is none other than Mark Meer, better known as the noble/dastardly Commander Shepard from Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 and the imaginatively titled concluding episode: Mass Effect 3.

This Is Entertainment managed to catch up with him between saving the galaxy and having some herbal tea :

This Is Entertainment: How does it feel to be one of the most identifiable computer game characters of this generation?

Mark Meer:  First of all, thank-you for opening with a flattering question. I feel lucky and honoured. As a long-time collector, I'm pretty thrilled that I get my own action figure later this summer. Of course, it will really be a Mark Vanderloo action figure... he's the guy who Shepard's appearance is based on. It's also quite an honour to get to play the male version of a character Jennifer Hale is voicing - she's one of the best in the business.

TIE: Have you played the games yourself? If so, what did you think of them?

MM: I have, and they're great. I've usually seen some animatics and concept art during the recording process, but to see it all put together in gameplay always makes me pretty proud to be a part of it. As a player, the one problem for me personally is that I'm privy to many of elements of the plot, including the many alternate ways that any given situation could go. Here's two equally geeky frames of reference: it's a bit like playing through a Dungeons & Dragons module that you were Dungeon Master of a few months ago. Or like being Dr. Manhattan...except with pants. On the other hand, with something like the Dragon Age games, I can enjoy watching the plot unfold as it would normally, and then have fun slaying myself as a Werewolf or Darkspawn or what have you.

TIE: Mass Effect works on a varied morality system, if you were Shepard for real, would you be the noble hero, or the man who did whatever it takes to get the job done?

MM: Well when gaming, I tend to play ruthless on the first round, and noble on the second. It feels like I'm redeeming myself for all the poor bastards I screwed over on the first playthrough. Since there are few opportunities for a second chance at real life, I'd probably do my best to try to be noble.

TIE: There are countless dialogue choices throughout the two games, is there any line in particular which you'd class as your favourite?

MM: I could trot out "I have to go", since I say it enough. Renegade Shepard has plenty of awesomely snide/badass comments... it's hard to choose. As a side note, I had a blast doing all the Vorcha in ME2. Screaming and screeching at the top of your lungs in the soundbooth is always fun.

TIE: How did you begin to build the character of Shepard at the beginning of making ME1? Did you have a lot of room to experiment or were BioWare very clear on what they wanted word for word?

MM: To approach Shepard as a character is a bit tricky, because many of the lines you record will have to serve for both the Renegade and Paragon versions. And ultimately, the player is the one who's deciding what Shepard's personality and background are. First and foremost, Bioware wanted Shepard to be a marine - whether ruthless or noble, that's who Shepard is at his/her core. Occasionally, we'd change bits of dialogue on the fly to make it flow better or sound more natural, and when Mac (Walters – Head Writer) was sitting in on sessions, he could approve those on the spot, rather than us having to pause in recording and phone Bioware for clearance.

TIE: What's your favourite part of voice acting?

MM: I suppose it's different to other sorts of performing since there's the chance to play an incredibly wide variety of parts, including ones that you might not be cast in if the project were, say, a film or television show. Plus, you get to show up in your pyjamas and drink soothing herbal teas while you work.

TIE: What was your reaction to the controversies which were raised over the first game's adult content? Were you surprised?

MM: Baffled, really. Most of what was being said was outright fabrication, so what was really puzzling was how these people who had never played the game were speaking with such authority on its content. But ultimately, most everyone realized it had been blown completely out of proportion and that some fairly tasteful partial nudity did not equal "virtual orgasmic rape" or whatever the hell they were trying to call it. As I recall, most of the "pundits" involved sheepishly recanted within a week.

TIE: Other than Shepard, who's your favourite character in the series? And why?

MM: It's hard to choose. I'll have to go with my top three - Wrex, Tali, and Mordin. I guess I just like aliens...

TIE: According to me sources (i.e. Mr Google) you're a keen gamer. Are there any titles you are particularly enjoying playing at the moment? Or looking forward to?

MM: Currently playing Red Dead Redemption, eagerly awaiting Fallout: New Vegas, Dead Rising 2, and DC Universe Online. Naturally, I'll be eager to see the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect 3 as well.

TIE: Outside voice acting work you do improv shows, how are those going at the moment?

MM: Very well indeed. I just got back from the Los Angeles Improv Comedy Festival and the General Fools Improv Fest in Regina in time for Edmonton's own Improvaganza. A lot of comedy has been made up on the spot and a lot of beer has been consumed. While I was in L.A., some friends of mine and I did a special super-hero themed show at the Eisner Award-winning Brave New World Comics in Newhall. The show's called "The Harold of Galactus". If you know both improv and comic books, you'll find that name hilarious. Otherwise, you'll just be confused and angry.

TIE: Mass Effect 3 is due late next year and we've heard it's going to be more 'light-hearted'. For fear of danger to your family from the BioWare overseers, is there anything else you can safely tell us about the game?

MM: Two words. Chimpanzee sidekick.

James Michael Parry

Gaming: Mass Effect - The essential catch-up guide

For those of you out there who are of the Xbox 360 persuasion, you may have heard about a little sequel called Mass Effect 2 – due to hit stores in Europe on Friday 29.

“But I've never heard of 'Mass Effect'?!?” I hear you cry. Well, I hope to try and explain what it's all about to those of you who are new to the Xbox family, or just those who the first game passed by, clued up on this tremendous and potentially genre defining sci-fi franchise.

So, what on Earth is 'Mass Effect'?

Mass Effect is an Xbox 360 game released in 2007 (though it also got a PC release in 2008). The game sees you control Commander Shepard, a soldier in the Alliance, through the tense narrative of a space opera, which sees you uncover the truth behind an ancient evil threatening the galaxy and defeat it. Imagine playing your way through a mixture of Aliens, Star Wars and The Wrath of Kahn and you're half-way there.

Why's it called 'Mass Effect' then?

'Mass relays' are technology supposedly left behind by an ancient race which became extinct over 50,000 years ago called the Protheans. The relays allow spacecraft to travel across the galaxy over great distances in a short space of time, in a similar way that Warp and Hyperdrive work in Star Trek and Star Wars. The Citidel is the hub of the relay network, and since the technology was discovered the galaxy has been connected through it, allowing countless races to come together to meet, trade and share their own technologies and knowledge.

So you control this guy?

When you first start a new game you must create your character. Like many RPGs (role-playing game), you are offered the choice of a male or female character and an array of different classes which affect how you play the game. The in-game universe contains three main skill-sets – Combat, Biotics and Tech - which each class has varying degrees of. Combat is the skills of a traditional soldier, if you fancy the 'all guns blazing' approach then this is the skill-set to focus on. Biotics are a strange psychic-like force which allows you to levitate enemies in the air, throw them or otherwise immobilise them, meaning fans of spell-casting classes in other games will feel most at home here. Tech is, as the name suggests, focused on technology and levelling the battlefield in more of a supporting role than an out-and-out fight, making the players who use this ability more team-focused in combat, allowing your allies to get the kills while you weaken or hack the enemy troops.

So...why does how you play the game matter?

When talking to other characters, interactive dialogue options allow you to choose what Shepard says next, meaning you can change the way you respond to certain characters or react to situations in the story as they unfold. You can be as chivalrous or as dastardly as you fancy, turning your character into a 'just' hero or a hard-ass soldier as you level up and gain skill points to spend beefing up your character's abilities and attributes. If you are nice to characters you meet in the game, they will often help you, or pay you to carry out certain missions, but if you aren't you may have to fight your way to your goals, or knock down whoever is in your way rather than talk your way past them.

What is the point of the game?

At the opening of the game, a lone human colony on Eden Prime has discovered a mysterious artefact, your first mission is to go there and uncover what is going on. It soon transpires that the colony is under attack from an race of enemy machines called the Geth, under the command of a renegade Spectre agent: Seren. As the plot thickens, you must stop Seren from unleashing an even greater enemy and wiping out life in the galaxy.

'SPECTRE', isn't that a James Bond thing?

Spectre stands for: SPECial Tactics and REconnaissance, an elite fighting group working directly under the Alliance council as their right hand their “first and last line of defence” and have access to unique weapons and equipment to get the job done, like a sort of inter-stellar SAS.

Didn't I hear something about getting cosy with an alien?!

There are countless sub-plots in the game and one of the most controversial of these is the 'romantic' sub-plot. As Shepard you can attempt to woo some of your fellow adventurers between missions as the main plot progresses, leading to the inevitable just before you visit the final planet of the game – providing you're particularly charming and romantic, obviously.

So what makes 'Mass Effect' worth playing?

For all those people who say computer games are nothing more than blinking lights and killing people, this game takes a chance on giving players a decent story to follow, and it pays off. Despite faithfully holding on to the traditions of the sci-fi of yore, the story is put across in a very sheek and modern style, and the interactive nature of the narrative means that the game can have several different endings depending on the choices the player makes during the game. On top of that the characters are full and realistic, with some very talented voice-actors lending their voices to the game, including Keith David as Captain Anderson, who has been heard lately in gaming blockbuster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as Sergeant Foley.

And what about 'Mass Effect 2'?

There are some problems with the first 'Mass Effect', but the game's developers BioWare have gone to great lengths to ensure these issues are addressed, and improved upon significantly in the sequel. The feel of the new game is much quicker, with the combat being easier to navigate and the visual detail of the game being greatly stepped-up. The most exciting feature of ME2 is the fact that the decisions you make in ME1 carry over to the next game if you continue your save. Something this ambitious has never been tried before, since the choices players have made can mean some characters will be either alive or dead in the second game. Side quests and plot points which seemed insignificant in the first game may prove to be important in ME2, creating a very different and individual game. BioWare always intended the games to pan out as a trilogy, meaning the stark contrast between different games is set to get even wider when Mass Effect 3 is released.

So, hopefully that has answered some questions. For those of you who are yet to play either game I would strongly recommend playing through the first one first, since the entire second game will be far more enjoyable once you know the characters, though if you do want to skip ahead you can start a new game in Mass Effect 2 with a 'standardised' storyline. But the beauty of this game is in the amount of detail put into it, from the moment you set foot in The Citadel for the first time, you get an epic sense of scale at what BioWare have created with this expansive universe. Even if you can only just stand science fiction, I would highly recommend buying this game. Since you can now pick it up for not much over a tenner, what have you got to lose?

James Michael Parry