‘Mass Effect 3’: Ending Unexpected, Says Voice of Male Shepard [VIDEO]

Mass Effect 3 (ME3) and its controversial ending took the gaming fraternity by surprise and repercussions from disappointed gamers are still troubling developers BioWare. Their position cannot have been made any easier by admissions from Canadian actor Mark Meer (who provides the voice-over for Commander Shepard) that he too was surprised at the way the game finished.

Meer has been involved with BioWare ever since the Mass Effect franchise started, lending his voice to the several conversations and difficult choices Commander Shepard, as the game's protagonist, makes during his long career at the helm of the Normandy.

"As an actor, it's pretty much my job to help bring the vision of the writers to life," Meer explained, in an interview with Shacknews. "It wasn't necessarily what I expected, but then again, I didn't know what to expect," he continued, referring to the unexpected ending of ME3.

"It wasn't really my job to figure out where the story should go. I didn't personally object to the ending, but Bioware's certainly aware of those who did, and the purpose of the upcoming Extended Cut DLC is to address some of the fans' concerns and desires for clarification," Meer added.

Meer, unfortunately, could not comment on his role in the forthcoming expansion or reveal any detail about the ending because he is bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

"If I break my N.D.A. to talk about E.C. D.L.C., I might be arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D.," he joked, and continued, "Actually, I have had a couple of DLC recording sessions thus far - one was done while I was in England for the most recent London Improvathon. Luckily, I did my recording BEFORE I stayed awake performing for 50 straight hours... Shepard might have sounded more like a Vorcha!"

Interestingly, the voice-over talent for the female Commander Shepard (Jennifer Hale) confirmed, in April, she was not contacted by BioWare, for further projects and, specifically, the forthcoming DLC.

"I prefer to live in denial about it because it makes me too sad," Hale told Edge, when asked about her commitment to ME3 being over. More recently, BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka wrote an open letter to franchise fans annoyed at ME3's broken ending with a promise that developers were working hard on fixing the game content and provide more clarity to gamers seeking a proper closure to the trilogy.

"You'll hear more on this in April," added Muzyka.

"I have mixed feelings about [the prospect of a new ending]," Hale opined. "I really respect the team and what they did and how hard they worked. And endings are hard! They're cutting new ground; the players are so involved in this game that to come up with an ending to something everyone's got their hand in is a huge challenge," explained Hale, according to EuroGamer.

"Maybe it's going to take a little work to get everything sorted in a way that's going to make everybody happy. Thank God I'm not a writer!" she added.

Watch the Video on Mass Effect Voice Acting for Male and Female Shepard