Forbes '10 Fixes' article

www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/03/31/10-fixes-that-mass-effect-andromeda-badly-needs/#71e4589e5551

10 Fixes That 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' Badly Needs



Erik Kain , Contributor

I write about video games and science-fiction movies and TV shows.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Mass Effect: Andromeda can be better.



BioWare/EA

Mass Effect: Andromeda can be better.

Mass Effect: Andromeda has been out a week and it's already a fairly controversial game, earning praise and derision in equal measure across the internet. It may not be the crescendo levels of uproar we saw at the launch of Mass Effect 3, which led to the Retake Mass Effect movement, but at the same time the game has earned much less critical praise than its predecessor.

Now developer BioWare has tweeted that they're taking fan feedback into consideration and will have something to announce on April 4th.



This is good to hear, since Mass Effect: Andromeda is in desperate need of a whole slew of fixes and improvements. Not everything about the game can be fixed---for the sake of argument let's just say that the game's subpar facial animations can't be, or won't be any time soon---so here are some suggestions for improvements that can be made to things that hopefully can actually be improved.

1. Fix the scanner

Lots of games have some form of 'special vision' to help your character find clues, analyze environments and so forth. Think of 'Eagle Vision' from Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed games or Witcher Senses in CDPR's Witcher titles. More recently, Horizon Zero Dawn had a scanning system that served as something of a hybrid of both these. In Andromeda you also have a scanner, and you're tasked with using it all the time. Unfortunately, it's awful.

What I'd like to see is a more streamlined scanning system if we're supposed to use it this much. Maybe have a button that sends out a scan in all directions and auto-tags things that are important and need further inspection, while simply scanning and recording things that aren't (and only get you technology points.)

Or have a scanner that can be used actively and doesn't require pointing in one direction. This wouldn't slow you down, and would simply change the color of the game world to blue, with important objects showing up in orange. You could still run, hold a gun, etc. while in this mode, but the world would be less pretty. Anything to make scanning less laborious, less tedious, and more fun. Or at least less anti-fun.

2. Manual crouching/better cover system

The cover system in Mass Effect: Andromeda is a mess. I want snappier cover that I can move to more intuitively, and I want to be able to crouch manually. It wouldn't hurt at all to be able to crouch and run at the same time also. All of this would give us much more flexibility in how we approached a potential combat situation, adding some element of stealth to the game and simply giving us better defensive abilities. This is pretty standard for a third-person shooter, too, so I don't see any reason to leave it out of this game.

3. Overhaul the UI/inventory

This is one of my biggest complaints about Andromeda. The user interface is simply abysmal. Menus are hidden within menus. Seeing which quests are available is a serious task. You're unable to track more than one quest at once, and sometimes the quest objectives change automatically. A simpler, easier-to-navigate UI is a hugely important fix.

The UI is also a pain when it comes to inventory, which is again very unclear, difficult to compare and far from intuitive. The inventory limit is also annoying, and should be axed and replaced with some system to transfer inventory from Ryder to a storage of some kind (on the Nomad, at FOBs etc.) These quality of life changes can make a huge difference in one's enjoyment of a game.

4. Beef up the character creator

I've already written about the lackluster character creator, but this is one simple-to-fix (and better-late-than-never) issues that would make it a lot easier to make Ryders we like to look at. Especially female options, which feel deeply limiting.
Gallery
'Mass Effect: Andromeda' Screenshots
Launch Gallery
14 images

5. Some music wouldn't hurt

This game is surprisingly devoid of music. The sound of silence is too great too often. EA and BioWare should get some songwriters and an orchestra together and pump out a bunch of new tracks to drape over these big, open-worlds.

6. Add alien monster variety

It's downright insulting that we run across the same exact alien species from planet to planet with just a different color scheme and species name. They're exactly the same on each planet! How is this okay???

Seriously, though, we're in a galaxy with multiple systems to explore and on each planet Ryder and crew come to they encounter the same monsters and BioWare has the audacity to simply call them different things. This needs to go. They need to depopulate every planet after Eos of its repeat monsters and add in new and unique ones.

7. Nerf melee, buff ranged

Melee is too powerful in this game. I've seen some players skip ranged altogether and just leap around stabbing bad guys. I like that this is an option, and I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting a melee playthrough, but it still feels overly powerful, while ranged is often like shooting at bullet sponges. The two need to meet in the middle somewhere.

8. Revamp planet scanning

Planet scanning is just bad, tedious, poorly designed and not worth engaging in at this point. Planet scanning should either A) be a more exciting, dangerous task with some sort of risk involved or simply happen at the click of a button so it doesn't waste our precious time.

9. Add a power-wheel
Mass Effect 3 had a power wheel. Andromeda could have an even better one.



Mass Effect 3 had a power wheel. Andromeda could have an even better one.

The power-wheel is gone in Andromeda and it's a real shame. I'd like to see it return, even if it wasn't quite the same as in past games. For instance, the power-wheel could now be a profile-swap-wheel. You could have all your profile loadouts and associated powers and could simply bring up the wheel and swap from one to the next on the fly. This would give you a ton of flexibility and make for a much more tactical action experience.

10. Give us actual control over squads

Along with a profile-swap-wheel, it would be really great to have more control over your squad. While there's nothing we can do about some squad-mates having less-than-stellar personalities, we could still have more control over how they fight in any given situation than simply "go here" or "come back." This was pretty much standard in the original trilogy and it should be once again. (I'd like to see a pause menu and tactical camera as well, but that's probably asking for too much.

Other issues that can't be "fixed."

There are other, deeper problems that really can't be fixed in this game, aside from lousy facial animations. For instance, the fact that we're only introduced to two new species of aliens and that these aliens basically use the same technology as we do. The uninspiring new Andromeda galaxy is the setting, and that's not going anywhere.

More than anything, the problem here seems to be that the Mass Effect universe and franchise should have been retired, and BioWare should have developed something new rather than resting on their laurels. This would have avoided all the sameness we feel playing Andromeda, and could have opened the door to a fun new science fiction adventure. I do love the spirit of this game, and how it feels kind of like a retro sci-fi space opera. I just kind of wish it had taken place in a new game world altogether.



What other fixes and improvements would you like to see?



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