Writer: Mac Walters
Artist: Tony Parker, Michael Atiyeh

Mass Effect Foundation Issue 4, Revolt at Ground Zero, kicks off on board the Gagarin Station where the training for Human Youths with Biotic Potential continues under the brutal teaching style of the Turion mercenary Vyrnnus. Beginning with an awkward exposition where Kaiden Alenko and his fellow students rubbish banter does nothing but move us from point A to B. It’s disappointing considering the wealth of material that Mac Walters himself had a big hand in creating.

That’s the thing, the story has great potential. The human race turning to the Turion for help, the isolation of space, a group of terrified youngsters learning from a sadist alien – all solid ground for good storytelling. But the ‘conveyor belt’ dialogue makes it hard to invest in any of the characters.

The pacing is sound and the amount of dialogue looks right on the page it’s just a shame so little is done with it.

The art is ok but quite hard to follow during action sequences when the biotic powers, all bold and blue, engulf the page. It’s a nice effect to look at but the flow of action suffers as a result. Tony Parker does a good job showing outer space and can draw a great Turion but the human characters look, by comparison, like stiff dolls.

All in all there are some great ideas and a story which could fill in many of the blanks left unexplored in the video games. More work is needed on the characters, from both artist and writer, for this to be even remotely memorable.

Rating: 5/10.

The writer of this piece was: James McQueen