Lifeboat Foundation

In Brief

• The game designers for Mass Effect have gone all out for scientifically accurate weapons.
• From rail guns to “element 0,” this science fiction game mirrors reality.

From the astoundingly stiff weaponry of 1995’s GoldenEye to the alien arsenal of the Halo franchise, video games haven’t always had the most realistic arms. But, in Bioware’s Mass Effect franchise, the game designers opted for scientifically accurate weapons.

Kyle Hill, of Nerdist’s’ series Because Science, explores the scientific plausibility of the weapons in the Mass Effect franchise.