Mass Effect: Evolution Review by Darryll Carter
Story: Mac Walters
Script: John Jackson Miller
Art: Omar Francia with Manuel Silva
Colors: Michael Atiyeh
Lettering: Michael Heisler
One of the great things about the Mass Effect series is while, other stories these days show humanity as wasteful, ignorant and malevolent, Mass Effect takes the time to remind us how amazingly awesome we are as well.
For those of you who do not know, Mass Effect is a series created by the critically acclaimed video game developer, Bioware. It is a space opera equipped with its own lore, history, and well rounded characters. The focal point of the series is, Commader Shepard of the Alliance Military and his quest to save the galaxy from an impending genocide at the hands of an alien sentient robot race known as the Reapers.
Due to the choices implemented in the games, for the most part Shepard isn’t included in the side stories that occur in the novels, graphic novels, and mobile games alike. Mass Effect Evolution’s protagonist is Jack Harper.
The Story **Spoiler Warning**
Mass Effect Evolution begins during the First Contact War, several years before the events of Mass Effect 1 (vg). Humans stumbled upon an ancient particle accelerator orbiting Pluto known as a Mass Relay. The Relay rockets them into deep space where they begin to set up colonies and step on the toes of the Turians, hence the war.
Outmanned and semi-outgunned, the Humans put up a surprisingly good fight, thanks to the help of guerilla fighters such as Jack Harper.
While tending to a Turian invasion on a Human colony, Jack and his small team (Ben and Eva) track and capture the Turian General Desolas Arterius. Through conversation and some subtle word choices on the General’s part it is revealed that the planet is holy ground, forbidden to be colonized, a prime reason the Turians have attacked. But Jack isn’t convinced that is their driving objective. They hack General’s datapad and discover the Turians’ true objective on their colony. They track the coordinates to a Turian ship wreckage. They enter the nearby cave and discover a glowing artifact. As they approach they are ambushed by two Turians, larger and stronger than the rest, altered by the artifact in some manner. After they manage to put their assailants down, Ben touches the artifact and is blasted with an overwhelming wave of electricity. Jack tries to pull Ben from his fate, but the energy current just passes through Ben to him. Ben “dies” on the floor and Jack fades out of consciousness with a new blue glow in his eyes.
Jack awakens on a Turian lab table several weeks later with a glow in his eye and a fire in his heart. He learns that the Turians were studying him to determine why he did not transform like the hulking Turians and every other being that had direct contact with the device. In fact, they don’t find anything altered about him at all, save the Green Lantern effect. Here another important character to the Mass Effect universe shows up, Saren, the lead antagonist of Mass Effect 1 (vg). It is revealed that Saren is the brother of General Desolas. Saren interrogates Jack, but get nothing before he and Eva are traded for a plethora of Turian POWs. During the trade, Jack hears General Desolas speak in an ancient tongue and responds in the appropriate language. In a last ditch effort to learn from Jack, the General tries to reclaim Jack as his prisoner. However, the Alliance
Jack isn’t sure what happened to him but he has an inner sensation calling him to the planet Illium. Once on Illium, Jack discovers the whereabouts of the artifact and tracks it down. Upon reaching the loacation they are ambushed by Saren and his men. They were waiting for him, the General theorized that Jack would be drawn to the artifact by a subconscious drive placed within him.
The Turians take Jack and the artifact to Palaven, the Turian homeworld. Here is where General Desolas’ plan is revealed. He has brought the artifact to a temple on Palaven in order to forge a new evolved race of Turians, the hulking blue glowing kind. With an army of those “husks” he begins to recruit unsuspecting Turians for his army.
Locked away in a chamber within the temple, Jack uncovers in the deep recesses of his mind that the husks have been playing Desolas’ all along and seek to wipe out the entire Turian race. With some help from the knowledge placed in his mind and some ancient Turian glyphs on the temple wall, he has a revelation. The artifact is a “booby trap”. It alerts the creators (the Reapers) of intelligent life and turns sentient species into mindless husk that they can control. The unsettling news rattles Saren. He and Jack crash the temple’s genocide party, where Desolas gets tackled into the artifact. Saren pulls his brother out of the torrent much like Jack did for Ben earlier (segue way to the events of Mass Effect 1). Jack walks off with a wounded Eva wishing Saren luck. Saren destroys the artifact, the remaining husks, the temple and his brother within with an orbital cannon strike. The story ends with Saren vowing that his brother will be avenged and a denouement from the Ellusive Man, Jack Harper.
The story was solid but, left me questioning Jack’s skill level with the situations he allowed himself to walk into. It was interesting to see how the Illusive Man and Saren came about. The tale provided a good amount of exposition for the Mass Effect games and the beauty of it is that it can stand alone. While having played or read other Mass Effect tales would certainly enrich the experience of Evolution, it is in no way required.
The Art The art team did a great job of bringing the graphics of the game to the panels of the graphic novel. The Turians were drawn accurately and well. The individuality between Saren and Desolas was apparent. You could even tell the difference between individual Turians from time to time. The Illusive Man is inspired and voiced by Martin Sheen in the game. I’m happy to report that the resemblance carries over well. Michael Atiyeh does a great job with the colors and portraying illuminating objects.
The Hype Factor
There are a few things to note under the Hype Factor, but most stem from already being versed in Mass Effect story and lore. The appearance of Saren as Desolas’ brother was eye widening, as I had no idea he was connected to the Illusive Man. Finding out the Illusive Man’s real name, Jack Harper, was also a joy buzz, as you go through the entire game without any real inclination of who he is. More importantly, you find out the base source of the Illusive Man’s knowledge, the artifact and how he got those awesome eyes.
In closing, Mass Effect Evolution was a decent ride from start to finish. It provides more “ooos” and “ahhhs” for Mass Effect veterans, but still provides a strong and captivating narrative accompanied by good art for newcomers or fans of space fairing science fiction.
Mass Effect Evolution is Giga Blasting ahead with 3 stars out of 5.
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