World design = disappointing.

sand is not the problem, empty boring map is the problem

desert planet can have plants, mountains, civilizations

I wouldbe really curious to see the gameplay video that you saw because in the trailers I have seen the protag character getting their butts kicked and nearly dying multiple times because of standing out in the open.  I have also seen the enemy AI moving definitley towards cover (what little of it there was in some of these maps) and also taking up sniping perches.  

Regardless, at the end of the day, most of the content we have seen for combat has to mostly do with showing off how flashy the game is and how the systems work.  If you want an actual indication of how the combat works I think your best bet is the end of the combat trailer after the narrator (Presumably Aaeryn Flyn) says 'and now to show you how this all works'.  In that bit we saw the protag character taking cover to regenerate their shields, getting flushed out of cover by charging bad guys, and having bad guys taking up sniper positions on the other end of the map.  The mech might have been a little dumb but *shrugs* its pretty much acted like the YMIRs of the trilogy. 

You mean the part where the entire team stands in the open while death beams are being shot nearby?



Or the part where everyone tanks a giant mech?

Again you seem to be being selective in your interpretation of events.  I'm not sure if this is deleberate or not but either way there were multiple times were the protagonist character in that clips you have indicated went to take cover to recharge their shields.  In fact they used a common tactic I did in single player, and multiplayer during the trilogy, hide in cover, wait for shields to reacharge, peak out, fire off a couple of shots peak into cover to reload/ recharge, and continue.  And then there was the other moment where the character went into tactical cloak, and then kept a crate between them and the enemy while they charged up an overload. Not a tactic I used often in the trilogy but I doubt it would have been too out of place. 

I can safely say we will never agree on anything if you think The Division of all games is a good one for Mass Effect to model itself on. That was the very definition of boring. And far bullet spongier than Mass Effect ever was, even though you were shooting thugs in hoodies rather than technological supermonsters.

And yet they were shown off quite extensively during the MET.  And they have said the game is developped around an extensive use of cover, they have said if you stand around in the open running and gunning you will get your arse shot off, especially on higher dificulties.  And what we have seen, for all of its rapidity and flashiness and 'stupid AI', seems to bare this out.  At least kind of given all three trailers we have seen the player character running around, running and gunning, with a lot of missing health and the game screaming at them to take cover, regenerate their shields, etc, etc, etc.  

I don't know *shrugs* MEA is a pretty large game if BioWare is to be believed, take any random ten screenshots of most open world games (Skyrim, Witcher, DA I, Far Cry, maybe even GTA but I am not even really an expert) and you will see the same 'bareness'.  Heck take ten random screenshots of ME 1 and you wil see environments that are a lot more lifeless and barren.  At least in 2017 the game looks pretty.  Either way I am not worried and I am not treating these screen shots as entirely indicitive of the final product.  I think we are going to see a lot of different enviroments, some barren, some not so much just like...well most video games released in the last ten years. 

I mean I liked the division a lot and I like Destiny a ton as well.  I think Mass Effect can learn from both in a few ways.  I want Mass Effect to fall in between that realistic shooter and sci fi fantasy shooter.  I think they did a good job from the looks of this trailer.  Regardless of my arguments and criticisms, I respect your opinion.  

I want ME:A to have variety in environments, and I want this game to feel more like it's wild west in space.  There needs to be more empty, smaller areas as well as the dense areas.  I think we'll get the latter more often than you think.  

Is this thread supposed to be an oxymoron?

Ryse: Son of Rome. Very good looking but the gameplay is a bit shallow. Most definitely not an open-world game...

I think that's part of the point being made when compared to Crysis actually.

 Crysis isn't as "open" as it might seem from a screenshot, it's more like an extra wide but entirely linear corridor carefully funnelling you down the exact path it wants you to.

To be fair, Crysis 1 actually is a legitimate open world game. In fact, one of the criticisms of that game is that it was too big and there wasn't enough funneling in order to provide the exciting set pieces you see in a Call of Duty or Halo.

Crysis 2, on the other hand, is entirely a linear shooter. Crysis 3 is a middle ground between the two. Regardless, comparing any of these games to Mass Effect Andromeda is an apples to oranges comparison. I expect the pseudo-open world environments in MEA to be similar to DAI, but hopefully not locked behind some arbitrary game system or specific plot points in the story.

Yep, the whole plot behind the game make is reasonable to encounter those type of areas. As well as the focus on exploration. Both features, because of the story, made more sense then when we encountered that in DAI.
Granted, I think there should be variety and not only this type of areas, but I think there'll be. And the game is stated to have more hubs then DAI.