Gaming - News
The Mass Effect Character Who Was Inspired By Clint Eastwood
By CODY D. CAMPBELL
BioWare’s development team took inspiration from many sources to construct the alien species in its sci-fi epic "Mass Effect” — for instance, the amphibious race of scientists called the salarians was largely based on gray aliens like the Colonists from “The X-Files.” Interestingly, the only salarian crew member in the trilogy, Mordin Solus, actually has Clint Eastwood to thank for his design.
Associate art director Matt Rhodes explained, "So, Mordin, the design brief was: ... What would the Clint Eastwood salarian look like? And so ... we took a shot from one of Clint Eastwood's latest movies and tried to paint some of those features in there with the intense squint and getting the wrinkles in, and that's how we got our old experienced salarian out of it."
Clint Eastwood might seem like an odd choice as a template for a character who is a scientist, but it's important to remember that Solus was also once an operative of the salarian Special Tasks Group. As such, he is no stranger to combat and has seen more than enough violence in his life to justify matching The Man with No Name's infamous thousand-yard stare.
