Pixels to paper - 10 videogame novels reviewed

Features
By published

From Halo's prequel to Perfect Dark's sequel, we rate the reads

Mass Effect: Revelation

What is it?
A prequel to the events of Mass Effect, Revelation covers humanity's first encounters with aliens, as David Anderson searches for a lost scientist, flees an assassin and tries to uncover a deep galactic conspiracy.

Who wrote it?
Drew Karpyshyn, game designer with Bioware, who also acted as lead writer for Mass Effect on Xbox 360.

Fanboy factor?
Mass Effect's universe is giant, and, with just one game out there, largely unexplored. Revelation delves into humanity's space-conquering advancements andits new political and social structure. Also, there's lots of shooting things and spectacular alien technology/killing techniques to be admired. Bonza.

Is it any good?
Far better than any other novel in our list, which is quite probably down to Karpyshyn's direct involvement with the actual game. Instead of filling out a pre-prepared plot in a pre-prepared universe, Karpyshyn is exploring a galaxy he helped to create and populate, and his own interest and passion is clear from the pacy and engaging action. That said, the dialogue is typical dreary genre stuff, and the characters are your sci-fi regulars -gruff butthoughtfulmen and strong but passionate women.

Further reading
As yet, there's just the one Mass Effect novel. But you can bet there'll be a few in the pipeline, what with the game's huge scope.

Ben_Richardson

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.