Mass Effect is a great game with a nicely developed backstory and universe. But where is the antimatter?
Update 1/15/2012 5:30 p.m.
I have to apologize. I just started my second playthrough of Mass Effect II as I prepare my seven Mass Effect playthroughs for the release of the finale in a month and a half.
The very first new codex entry in the game I received puts my foot square in my mouth. Antimatter does make it into the Mass Effect universe. The codex entry on Cerberus clearly states that antimatter is in the ME universe and was on a frigate and stolen by the evil shadow organization. So yes, I make mistakes. And yes, I own up them. And now I am going back to playing ME2.
Original Post:
I love the universe in the Mass Effect series of games by Bioware. And one of the biggest reasons I love the universe is because its very reasonable and believable, while still embracing the fact that it’s science fiction.
It strikes a nice balance, which is a fresh idea compared to other big science fiction franchises I like including Star Trek, Stargate, and Battlestar Galactica.
I can admit that Star Trek and Stargate can get bogged down in technobabble. Entire episodes of the show were crafted around some strange and crazy theoretical physics idea. One episode of Stargate centered around what a black whole would do to a wormhole with some character development scenes added in. Fun stuff but not really conducive to the story.
On the other side of the spectrum, Battlestar Galactica never used a science concept except in its pilot when Captain Lee Adama let off an EMP pulse to kill his Cylon attackers. Aliens were a no go, which makes sense, but even on alien planets and worlds pine trees and other earth plants were inexplicably present in order to avoid any science fiction questions or presence.
Then there’s Mass Effect where there are aliens, but instead of just being weird for weird’s sake, they are believable. The evolutionary background of each race makes sense and isn’t far out and super crazy. They even thought of how food would work with races that don’t have the same chemical make up we do.
The weapons too aren’t crazy plasma rifles or lasers or other fantastic technical things that are too futuristic. Guns still fire bullets, but just at a higher velocity and with more damage than they do now with smaller projectiles. But there is one science fiction idea I wish was in mass Effect but isn’t. Antimatter
Antimatter is and isn’t a futuristic concept. PET scans use positrons to make medical images. Antimatter can be created in a laboratory. The issue is that most uses of antimatter require it to be more readily available and that’s what makes it futuristic.
So why doesn’t it appear in the game? There are no antimatter weapons like torpedoes. The game never says what kind of energy technology is used 150 years in the future, but I doubt its fossil fuel based. My guess is that nuclear reactors are the norm, or fusion, but to be honest antimatter reactors would make the most sense but aren’t mentioned at all in the universe’s canon.
Why is antimatter neglected in the Mass Effect stories. There are probably two reason: they have a futuristic technology that dominates the lives of everyone in the universe and Star Trek has ruined the term.
Antimatter is tossed around in Trek like socialism is tossed around a Tea Party rally. And to avoid being lumped in with Trek, the writers decided to just ignore the term. Which sucks for the technology and the depth it can add to a pretty “realistic” science fiction universe.
The more undestandable reason is that Mass Effect is based on a technology around the mass effect, fields of dark energy created by electrically charging a rare element in the universe. The fields of dark energy can increase or decrease the mass inside the field allowing for faster than light travel or other technological uses. Its a complex idea and they probably didn’t want to have to add anything else to it.
Both reasons have their merits, but I still think antimatter has its place in the ME universe.
The ME universe needs a power source for all those mass effect fields. It takes electricity to influence them and that power has to come from somewhere. And nuclear power is so inefficient.
Nuclear fission is dirty and you don’t get a lot of power from the plutonium or uranium you use as fuel. Nuclear fusion is viable in the ME universe since you could use those mass effect fields to contain the intense temperature and violence of a fusion reaction. But again the fuel source is limited, you have toxic waste, and at the end of the day the reactor is filled with a fusion reaction the temperature of the sun.
Antimatter is room temperature until it reacts, and then the entire amount of matter and antimatter reacts. Its a 100 percent matter to energy reaction. You get high temps but that can all go towards energy production. There is no waste to deal with. And those same mass effect fields that make fusion reactions viable also make antimatter a lot easier to work with.
So Bioware is antimatter in Mass Effect? Or are you avoiding it?
