Mass Effect Legendary Edition is getting massive negative reviews following a case of poor localization.
Bioware’s recently released remastered version of the beloved trilogy has been a topic of anticipation among the gaming community. With a launch that is expectedly better than the original, many had high hopes over the games in their newfound glory. But not everyone in the entire player base is happy with the outcome.
Voice-over Problem
Bugs aside, the Legendary Edition appears to have come with a fault that does not sit too well among certain people. In particular, the issue of localization which, alone, is restricted only to two languages: English and Russian.
Players from Anglophonic countries did not seem to have any issue with the English setting it seems. But Russians are among the unpleased crowds. While the gaming community in Russia will not have trouble playing the game, the dubbing appears left to be desired. At least, it’s bad enough to get the ire of those within the demographics.
Metacritic really need to revisit their User Score section. It’s long overdue! Check this out, 99% of the negative player reviews are people complaining about the Russian voice acting. In result, the user score is low. Let us link our PSN to make it legit 🙄 @metacritic pic.twitter.com/SXShkMg33D
— OnlyGoodGames™ (@OGG1993) May 21, 2021
The worse part about it also is the fact that there is neither the option to disable the seemingly horrendous voice-over nor enable subtitles for it. One Redditor, mr3LiON, brought the complaint to attention while specifying on the first Mass Effect title in the remaster.
Review Bomb
Subsequently, the problem led to review bombs that see the game’s aggregate rating drop by a lot. The PC version, specifically, getting much flak considering the popularity of the platform in Russia. Consequently, giving the PC release a reduced rating of 5/10 from the initial 7.5/10.
Having to review bomb a game instead of bringing it to the developers might seem like an aggressive move. But there appears to be a valid reason for the action, which highlights Electronic Arts’ passive attitude over the concern. Which, as it appears, is the major driving force over the gripe, despite there being an unofficial solution to fix the problem.
Then, there is also the petition started by the Russian community at Change.org asking to address the issue. However, so far, the request has yet to establish a substantial number of people wanting the same.
Displeased Communities
It is not just Russia’s people that’s experiencing something similar about Mass Effect Legendary Edition, however. A neighbor country, Poland, seems to share a similar issue as well. Similarly, players from Portugal and Brazil are voicing out the same concern.
Image used courtesy of Mass Effect/YouTube Screenshot