Is MEA the worst failure EA experienced?

I am on the opposite end of the spectrum on this.

HZD is the first game in a long time that has made me fall in love with its setting/universe so much at first sight.

In fact while I played it, I wished so hard that Andromeda would be as good as it - because in a certain way exploring it for the first time made me feel just like the way I first played the first Mass effect games.

It was Guerilla games first venture into such a kind of game and I was very wary initially - it looked like a pretty thing that would ultimately fail to meet expectation but (at least for me) it exceeded them. It does borrow a lot from other open-world games but I'd say it borrows mostly the best parts (except collecting endless mugs and flowers etc. but those are easily ignored if you aren't into that).

Highlights (for my personal experience of course)

- the game is simply beautiful. The world, the enemies, the little touches in the combat animations, the machine designs... really nothing not to like there

- the voice acting was pretty good but I guess that's really up to one's taste. Sound in general was really good. The visceral sounds from the machines, the weapons, the subtle yet always present music really gave a lot to build the world and the whole atmosphere.

- story - sadly, I can't say much here without spoiling everything. While there are some "surprises" that the game dangles in front of you that are quite predictable, the ultimate reveal of the game was quite... different than one would expect. The main quests were always fun and all in all I think that they reveal the world at a nice pace to give you enough to want to know more without giving away too much too fast. But as we see, apparently not everyone sees it this way (and that's perfectly normal, ofc).

Ultimately I'd say what I often say - at this point of time I don't think that there are any stories that haven't been told in one way or another (be it in a book, show, game, etc.) HZD's story and themes have also been told countless times before but its take on them is fresh and full of detail, and you can feel the love and attention the developers gave the game unlike *khum* some other developers.

Different strokes for different folks but in the end, it's simply impossible to call HZD a bad game. Maybe it's not someone's type of game that would really pull them in but that's another thing. Also, there is the phenomenon that when a lot of people suddenly love something, there must also suddenly be a backlash of equal force so I think that HZD has recently got a bit of that, too.

Also, come on, how cool are Thunderjaws :