09: Mass Effect

I replayed Mass Effect over the last few days. It served to reinforce to me just how dull a lot of the alien designs are. For the most part they are just humans with very different proportions and heads. The more interesting creatures in the story are either cast as villains (Reapers) or are relegated to side roles, such as the Hanar. I found myself looking around to see what other creatures existed in this universe besides bipeds. There is some interesting designs such as the Pod Crab above, which seems to act somewhat akin to a grazing animal such as a cow, as in the game they spend most of their time in herds that roam the shallow waters of Virmire (presumably feeding on the molluscs there). I would have loved to see more interesting creatures playing a larger role within the game.