BSNer MEA Reviews thread (based on completed games)

It's an ok game to me. I can't get into a second PT though, there's nothing in it to draw me into playing again.

* Writing / story is lacklustre. Dialogues can be childish / illogical. Sometimes there is no way to refute a NPC when it should be possible. Decision options are too basic and at times not realistic. Unrealistic premise for pathfinder; should have used something else.

* Characters could have been vibrant and complex but they're insipid. There should be dynamic exchanges arising from the definitive antagonistic alien crew member, there isn't. Attempts have been made to create engaging inter-crew relationships but it's poorly thought out. The context regards the authority of the person in command of the ship was not taken into consideration. It's hard to believe Ryder is in charge or the captain of said ship.

* Cloning of facial model for Asari NPCs. A believable and immersive connection to said NPCs is thus not possible.

* Gameworld and vehicles are well constructed.

* Planetary exploration in Nomad is enjoyable.

* Animation. Must be mentioned. Very poor facial animation, odd pasty faces.

* Side quests. Some takes too long and send you hopping all over the cluster. It does not help that there are so many cutscenes of superman flying whenever you travel / leave / arrive a system / orbit a planet.

* I have an orange brick on my arm. Oh is that the omni-tool???

* Poor autosave points in priority missions. I found myself dying continuously at one point and had to backtrack quite a ways.

* Combat is good.

* Music. Nothing notable that stays in memory.

First of all, a question for SofaJockey : can you sticky the thread, so reviews come in in one place?

Now to my review: I'm a bit conflicted. Playing it on the 12th straight day, I have to say that I can understand why the game is sitting at a 75/100 score from reviewers instead of the usual high 80s for a Mass Effect game. I had several days (maybe 8 out of the 12) where I had an absolute blast, but also a few that left me a bit lost.

The positives:

• The game feels like Mass Effect. Very important to me that even without Shepard this game feels like being in the Mass Effect universe. I think MEA succeeds in this through bringing back many things we loved in the original trilogy.
  
• The combat is so much fun. The staple to me of the ME combat - the biotics - have been improved on so much, that it is a pure joy to jump into a singularity field with a biotic charge. Many battles felt epic. Intensity is great.
  
• The ability to mix and match abilities like I want through the SAM implant is a big plus. Wanting to max out my go-to abilities and my passives throughout my first playthrough also leaves many possibilities for further playthroughs. In the end I had four favorites, but singularity was in every one of them, with overload in three, charge in three and throw in two of them - so I can still play totally different Ryders in combat in the future.
  
• The verticality through the jetpack is great. Playing with K+M I put the jumping on my old power wheel command and it felt very natural very quick. I want to jump around everywhere. Helps tremendously when trying to get back into cover after a biotic charge/melee combination.
  You wonder how we could ever do without a jetpack?
  
• Speaking of melee: much improved IMO. Didn't use it much in ME3, but feels pretty good now. Fighting an armored Krogan from in-close never felt this good.
  
• Visuals are great. I especially like Havarl and H-047c, but also greatly enjoyed Voeld (giving me Noveria flashbacks) and the view on Eos for example. In those visuals and with great missions/content it is easy to get lost, which is something exploration should be about.
  
• The music is fantastic! A bit too much in the background mostly, but upping the ante for the music while putting down everything else can help.
  Back to ME1 music.
  
• The story elements of exploring and fighting the different factions are - generally speaking - well put together. The Kett or Remnant being everywhere doesn't feel anywhere out of place as for example Cerberus in ME3.
  
• The Tempest is a fine ship to work with as the Pathfinder.
  The Nomad is cool.
  
• Squad banter on the Tempest and in the Nomad (often between each other) is nicely done and helps the characters being more alive than they have ever been in Mass Effect.
  
• The main story missions are looked at in isolation exciting missions.
  The final mission is well done (though everyone being involved came a bit out of left field this time around).
  
• Some loyalty missions are very good (Vetra's, Cora's and Drack's stould out for me).
  
• There are some epic battles to be found in side missions.
  
• Characters on the Tempest are for the most part likable.
  
• The journal is improved. Some codex categories like "the journey so far" or a characterization of your Ryder are nice additions. Some added stats.
• Crafting fits into the theme of being in another galaxy.

After reading all those positives you might think there is everything in place for a masterpiece. But it does come up short, because there are also...

The negatives:

• The main story lacks any sense of urgency IMO. If you don't want to go forward - at least I didn't notice it - the game won't force you back onto a priority mission. That might sound good, but to me it was a big charm of ME2 for example that you could run out of time to prepare everything (or at least could role-play that way). Maybe the leaders of the Initiative and the Pathfinders gathering together more often on what to do next - with different options between your still open missions - could do the trick to get the pacing right. The way it is presented is once again odd in my book.
• Speaking of leaders, a story gripe: the leaders are either dead or seem once again rather incompetent. Is it so hard to write good leaders for once?
• The tone of the writing is being too light, too "whatever" for me in many instances.
• Another gripe with the writing: though the characters are likeable, the conversations or themes in general are often not interesting at all. Daddy/family issues again? People going to Andromeda because they were bored? Really? Why not write conversations talking about Saren and the Geth attacking the Citadel? About Human's abducted by Collectors? Why does nobody - after the events of the first two games are in the books before the Initiative starts - have anything to say about that? Why for example not go to Andromeda because you doesn't feel save in Human colonies in the Milky Way? Why don't you talk with Liam about the women (or men) on board of the tempest like guys do? Why not wonder whether in those 600 years of cryo sleep your favorite sports team finally won a championship? Why not talk more about the fascinating question of what is the purpose of life (they might go there with the "Angara are created by the Jaardan"-revelation)? How can the universe be indefinitely etc.? So the question is: why is seemingly every coversation - even between members of the Initiative that should know each other - about "who are you and why didn't you get along with everyone in the Milky way?" That gets a bit boring pretty quick.
• The design of NPC's everywhere is lacking. Examples: All Asari besides of Peebe (who is very cool BTW) having the same face model is taking a lot of the "this Asari is the most beautiful being I ever met"-feeling away. Some humans look hilariously bad. Way too young (like the one in Vetra's mission) or way too cliché-ridden like the one with blue hair on Kadara. Uuugh.
• That whole outlaw story line is so unnecessary.
• No real first contact from us as pathfinder. The translator functioning far too quick.
• From a gameplay standpoint: no quick save function.
• Immediate respawns. There are some points where you just go 50 meters away and the same enemies will be right back (without making any story sense).
• Little details being wrong like NPC's being able to be in two places at once. After rescuing the arks they still remain in the orbit where you rescued them when you return to that planet later.
• Bugs. Nothing game breaking happened for me - I don't think that one minute of gameplay got lost - but still there are quite a few. Some really funny. I had the infamous "funny walk" of Ryder, I was dead without getting the mission failed screen (the NPC just fight further and you watch it), I was in a conversation cut scene and got attacked by wildlife...

So depending on how my day in the Andromeda Galaxy ended, my ranking would vary between 70 and a little over 80. After letting it sink in right now - the big ME fan I am - I would say a 77/100 with a chance to get a little higher with patches/DLC. It's everything there to be great in the positives, but the in-between lacks so I have got to cut back on the rating.

To get the series back into the high 80s I would wish the Devs would stop to overreact to criticism - positive or negative. (People liked Citadel? So let's give them a lighter tone. People want to see their alliance fight together? So let's throw everyone in there whether it makes sense - from a story standpoint - or not.)

Just come up with a great story, that - in a new galaxy - has wonder and excitement and a more serious/darker sci-fi tone, because it's kind of a big and scary and cool thing altogether to go into the unknown.

Edit: The 77/100 points.

Story 18/30 (story in general 7/10, characters 7/10, writing in general 4/10)
Combat 20/20 (absolutely rocks)
Visuals 9/10 (beautiful stuff in this game)
Music 9/10 (love the style)
Gameplay 8/10 (the only things bugging me are no quick saves and not being able to get out of the map with one button)
Design 13/20 (level design 9/10, character/NPC design 4/10)

Good. It has too many issues to be Great: animations as we know, but also bugs, poor UI in places on PC, overuse of Tasks, and annoying ass space travel, plus occasionally dodgy writing and a general lack of polish.

But I had a good time with it. The combat is pretty amazing, I liked most squadmates, found most non-Tasks quests to be decent or good, liked the variety in builds and weapons, liked the graphics sans animations, and thought the writing was good across the board even if it does have its unfortunate lows as I stated.

I also bought into the fantasy of playing as the Pathfinder. Not too many RPGs do that; I didn't really buy, for example, into the role of the Inquisitior in DA:I, of Shepard as an actual Commander in Mass Effect, of the Sole Survivor as, well, anyone qualified for any job in Fallout 4. But I did enjoy myself as the guy who blazes trails so that others don't have to, who scouts new territories and makes it safe for others, and for whom the sometimes menial tasks demanded make a lot of sense given his job. Me and my crew are space Lewis and Clarke, and I enjoyed that aspect. There are several reasons as to exactly why (most of which enter spoilers territory), but I felt that the game nailed that aspect, just like TW3 nailed the aspect of me playing as a Witcher. And it's an important part of playing an RPG as far as I'm concerned.

So yeah, this game has unquestionable issues, but I enjoyed my time with it too much to say I don't find it good. It needed some more time in the oven, and hopefully will get a healthy amount of patches, fixes, and good (perhaps some free?) DLC.

Finished it last week with 85 hours @ 99% as Vanguard Sara on normal. Doing a much slower run as Infiltrator Scott on Insanity now. Obviously, I enjoyed it enough, but there was still a lot I didn’t like.

Story
         I’m aware the story focus was supposed to shift to smaller scale, lower stakes, and a refocus on exploration. I’m fine with that – I’m one of the few who loved the Mako in ME1. But going through the story the stakes felt too low. There was never much pressure to do much of anything until the final mission started. The levity was a bit much at times too, I’d guess as a response to the reception to the Citadel DLC. I think part of why Citadel was so well received was its stark contrast to the rest of the game, that level of levity was earned by a bleak story and viewed as a goodbye to that incredible cast of characters. I just think a better balance could be achieved for MEA's tone. Still, I did love the final mission in MEA, it hit a lot of notes Priority: Earth missed.

Ryder
        I don’t really like the Chris Pine-Kirk feel as Ryder, playing a character that feels completely unqualified for what they’re doing. I know that was the intent in contrast to the pre-badass of Shepard in ME1, but I still don’t like how out of place they felt. Even by the end of the story, a lot of Ryder’s skill didn’t feel earned. You could make an argument for Shepard’s cybernetics in ME2/ME3, but Ryder feels completely carried by SAM. I wish Ryder felt competent through their own growth, not because they have a super AI implant in their head.
        And maybe it’s the nature of the Andromeda Initiative, but most of the choices/dialogue from Ryder didn’t feel grey enough. Almost like Paragon/Renegade didn’t actually go anywhere, just Renegade, and it was replaced with different flavors of Paragon. With Shepard, I could sit and debate on decisions for a while, with Ryder it was effortless. Choices were always an illusion, but before those illusions felt different enough to consider angles and for replay value.

Combat/Weapons aka Claymore. Now.
         I love the new mobility in combat provided in MEA. It’s especially nice on Vanguard, and I enjoy the long range sniping you can do that wasn’t possible in ME2 and ME3, due to level design. Sniper rifles have never been so much fun, I just wish I could say the same for the tickling assault rifles. Dynamic cover is a huge improvement after getting stuck on random objects in ME3 by sprinting by.
        But I have to say I’m confused about the weapon selection for Milky Way technology. Where’s the M-300 Claymore? It’s been an iconic Mass Effect weapon since ME2, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s the epitome of ME shotguns. Perfect look, power, and sound. It’s especially baffling that we got both versions of the Widow rifle, but the Claymore stayed home. And smart chokes? I’ve heard they’re in MP, which I haven’t touched yet, but why are there none in SP?

Customization
         I hate the lack of variety within a preset. No editing eyebrows, mouth shape, eye shape, nose shape, ears, limited skin tones, are all very limiting in designing Ryder. Scars in DAI were incredible, especially positioning them. The only thing I can say the MEA CC does better is hair quality and creating characters that aren’t white. I like most of the armor designs for Ryder, but I wish crafting had a hand in selecting the stats for them, or have them baked into profiles. Stunning and iconic as it is, I have conflicted opinions about wearing the N7 armor as Ryder, but a biotic character doesn’t have a lot of choice. In other sets, most of the lower level pieces are preferable to me, not all the extra attachments the higher-level ones get. I wish the hardsuits that weren’t N7 were more useful, they feel the most emblematic of Mass Effect. Having a favorites system for the RGB wheel would be nice too, or at least text fields to directly edit the values, as it is it’s almost impossible to duplicate a color that isn’t black, grey, or white.

Companions
        Probably the best part of the game. I loved having the banters fire off in the Nomad, and that between missions the crew would wander around the ship. A huge improvement over staying locked in their rooms waiting for you. Drack makes up for not having a Krogan squadmate in ME3 and still manages to distinguish himself from Wrex and Grunt. Jaal is fascinating to have along and his VA is astoundingly good. I hate Liam at times, but he doesn’t bore me like Kaidan and Jacob did, so that’s a huge improvement. Cora gets a lot of criticism for her talk about her time as a huntress, but it makes sense, in some ways I see her as the anti-Ashley in terms of alien exposure. ❤ Vetra. On romances overall, please remember players who don’t romance Cora/Peebee like sex scenes too.

Difficulty
        The Nomad on Normal is adequate with all upgrades, but on Insanity it feels like it’s made of paper. I was surprised when I boosted past a small Kett encampment and it actually exploded before I was even out of range. In firefights I didn’t really mind the loss of companion control much, losing the ability to change their loadout was annoying but acceptable. What I don’t accept is their overall lack of effectiveness. On normal, I played a Vanguard with Vetra/Jaal and noticed they didn’t seem to contribute sometimes. For NG+ I skipped Hardcore and went straight for Insanity with Infiltrator. They’re just dead weight now. I did the Kett base on Voeld and I’m sure I gained almost all my team revives for the Medic achievement there. It felt like I spent just as much time cloaking and reviving them as I did sniping. No Drack, you are not invincible anymore.

Graphics
         While they got old in NG+, the galaxy map scenery and transitions are hauntingly beautiful. Planet environments are gorgeous and the texture quality is astounding overall. I’m dumbfounded by the Asari faces, though. 20,000 Asari and everyone but Peebee has the same exact face model. It’s really jarring when you do Cora’s loyalty mission and consider the range of faces the trilogy had, even with minor characters. The facial animations seem highly unfinished, several times with Suvi only her lips would move and her eyes would blink, but I don’t see facial animations changing in patches.

Sound Effects/Music
         Most of the sound effects are great. Hearing the familiar blast of the Black Widow helped things feel right at home, though I’m at a loss why you changed the satisfying roar of the Revenant, it was half the fun of using it. The music on the other hand, feels entirely washed out. Every other ME game had several memorable tracks running through my head by the time I finished them. Most of the time I don’t even notice MEA has music.

Exploration
         As far as exploration goes, MEA is leaps and bounds better than DAI. ME1 is my favorite Mass Effect game, so I love the Nomad, though I do miss the Mako’s weapons and its capacity for roadkill. Planets are much better to navigate than ME1’s, which was my main problem with exploration then. All the tasks are too dense though. It’s dizzying to open the map and just see a huge mass of hexagons. I would rather see higher quality sidequests than MMO-style busywork. I hate that to receive AVP rewards we have to return to the Tempest, especially when we leave the planet anytime. Allow us to receive deliveries from forward stations, it'd be a huge improvement.

Shut up, Wesley SAM!
         I really don’t need a constant reminder about the weather conditions, there’s a life support meter and I have eyes. Nor do I need to be reminded how to mine for minerals with the Nomad. I opened the mining computer for a reason. These are even worse when it cuts off squad banter. I can understand SAM warning about life support going critical, though.

UI
         I don’t know why using these folders was deemed a good idea, especially for the mission log. Inventory management definitely reminds me of ME1 – that’s not a good thing in this instance. Overall it just seems designed for a controller with keyboard/mouse as an afterthought.

As I said in another thread, bugs and jankiness aside, in my opinion this is the best Mass Effect game we've ever had. The sheer determination people have to hate the game makes no sense at all to me.

I like the game but I hardly consider it an RPG. The most adjustment for me is the combat and yes I miss the pause function and commandments of my team and putting up combo's that way. My feeling is EA choose this team specifically because of its MP experiences. The whole game's build is around combat streamlining and syncing SP and MP as seamlessly as possible.

For some players, this new combat feature will be grand and the crux they judge this game on primarily.
For me, however, it comes at a too great a cost, namely the loss of RPG specific elements and great story writing to some degree probably caused due to focus on streamlining SP to MP and visa verse and that "political correctness" bull this game is full off.

I wonder if we will see a great divide : Dragon age series more true to RPG elements and Mass effect series more action orientated.

For the moment the game gives me satisfaction enough to buy and keep playing. At the minimum, it will keep me busy to get accustomed to the new combat style and adjust accordingly. In future I hope story and teammates will be meatier, at least on par with Shepards team. Especially the teammates in MEA are uninspiring liberalistic generic written dullards. Where is the "individualism" that gives personalities "the spark" and was Bioware's signature?! This uninspired writing keeps me from bonding with the teammates provided, a major reason for playing Bioware games!

It was good... in a weird way and times funny way.

This is the shit I wrote on Metacritic:

Mass Effect: Andromeda - the game that didn't need to be but was made anyway. After the disaster that was ME3's ending controversy which was just as poorly handled as the ending in question BioWare decided to listen to fans and make another entry in the series as a form of new beginnings since the canonical end-point of 3 made it impossible to continue the story of the original setting in any organic way. The idea became to go to the neighbour galaxy with a select few species from the original trilogy, a new protagonist and a new set of circumstances. A lot of it has actually been potentially promising but whenever the game shows shimmers of hope about its more original themes it discards them in favor of telling a tired and safe, watered down version of Mass Effect 1's plot. It's Mass Effect: The Force Awakens, all with a Mary Sue protagonist whose unsure and sometimes immature characterization (as a result of being 7 years younger than Shepard) is completely at odds with the incredible power-level the story grants him (or her). The coolest thing regarding the outset of the plot is that you have a sister and a dad who are both customizable to some extent and a few surprises down the road, but ultimately it doesn't mean much because it's still just a retelling of ME1; you have a the Neo-Geth, Neo-Reapers, Neo-Council, Neo-Saren all hidden under different names and art-directions such as the bony aliens called "The Kett" and the ominous, almost otherworldly force that threatens all existence called "The Scourge". The game actually has a cool central theme about colonization that diverges from its ME1-ness, but it never doubles down on this. Instead it feels like 3 different game visions in one package that don't go well together.

One other huge part of this game, arguably the largest, is that this game is Mass Effect Inquisition. Good luck spending 40 hours exclusively on just doing one unrewarding quest after another. BioWare attempted to make these types of quests more satisfying by increasing the amount of times the result in properly executed cutscenes with character-focus and choices but ultimately even the best of those questlines come up short when they abruptly end as the Journal ticks the objective as completed after an inconclusive dialogue led by a vague "good job" comment from either Ryder or his friends.

Speaking of friends, as always you've got a new cast alongside the protagonist and a ship they fly on. This is arguably the point where the record breaks and where the game dips below the point of merely "good enough". Granted, some companions are more fleshed out than others, almost every single one of them are introduced in the most nonchalant and indifferent way possible. You're given no reason to care about any of them because they have no story-related relevance that draws you in to wanting to know them better. Rather, you're going to have to take the initiative yourself to learn more about them through very stilted conversations (moreso than ever before) that eventually reveal a Loyalty mission and some forced endgame scenes to make their stories feel complete. While the loyalty missions are fine but nothing special, their endgame conversations feel forced because, much like the intro, it shows how aimless the game's direction is that these characters never quite seem to have a reason to even be around you in the first place, and it doesn't help that from the RPG-standpoint your only interaction with these characters is how you level them up. No customization, very barebones tactical commands and barely any recognition about how well you know certain characters.

It all comes together (or rather, it doesn't) in a finale that feels completely seperate in flavor to the rest of the experience, like an almost Platinum-games styled final level where everything is super linear, action-y, your squadmates join you and they try to bring in every factor that has been prominent in the game... but this happens on a side of a main story that is laser focused on a "villain vs hero" story that just doesn't connect in a cohesive fashion with the themes of colonization, Ryder being inexperienced or him spending time with his friends.

That's the game in a nutshell. Andromeda simply does not seem to have a mission-statement. Its problems can all be traced back to its premise: It asks us "can we find new meaning away from the original Mass Effect by going to another setting?" and the answer is "we can, but it's not going to prove anything beyond that." I enjoyed my time with Andromeda but was often forcing myself just because I liked the previous games, and a day or two later I think Mass Effect as a franchise may have run its course when BioWare blew it back in 2012 with the third game's brand-damaging ending.

Oh... uhh.. and the gameplay is what makes it kinda fun to play

SCORE: 5/10

Mass Effect: Andromeda Review

First off, let me say I’m a huge fan of the original trilogy. I’ve played it over countless times and have six pieces of Mass Effect art up on my walls, including a wall-sized piece of the Citadel from ME2, various busts of characters like Mordin & Garrus, the N7 leather jacket and that awesome replica of the Normandy SR-2. Mass Effect is my favorite game franchise.  Also know that I'm a former film student, so I tend to look at things through the lens of cinema, with story and characters more a focus for me.

There are things to like and criticize in Andromeda, which I will go into, but on the whole I walk away disappointed. Players like different things, and for me where the original trilogy shined was in great characters, lore and an exciting story. I feel those three areas were the weakest link in this new installment, unfortunately. Along with the problem is quantity over quality.  I'm not really going into technical issues and bugs as I know they will be fixed.

But, let’s get to some specifics and start on the positive side of things.

COMBAT

Initially, I was off-put by the non-pause and less tactical style of combat in ME:A. I grew to appreciate it more as the game went on. My Ryder was full Biotic, focusing on two builds: Crowd Control w/ Pull, Singularity and Throw maxxed and a Vanguard style with Pull, Charge and Backlash. I learned to enjoy both styles and could change them depending upon what I was up against. The “Biotic Echoes” perk from the Biotic Profile was especially gratifying, sending enemies flying everywhere. I felt in control as a Biotic, and I liked that.

I would have liked to try out ME:A with the old style of micro-managing your party, however, to see how it played. I understand Bioware adopted the more action-oriented Multiplayer aspect to Single Player combat. It’s fun, I grant, but I really wish I could setup combos better with squadmates. Many times, I would setup a Singularity and wish that I could use Drack’s Incinerate for a fire combo, or PeeBee’s Shockwave specifically, and I couldn’t with the new style. I felt my squadmates did less for me since all I could do was point them at an enemy and let them choose what they were doing. In the trilogy, it was more satisfying to setup combos between your abilities and your squads. It made me appreciate my squad more – in Andromeda yes, they were useful, but they felt more like DOTs than full team members.

The auto-cover system took a little getting used to and probably needs an update. Many times I didn’t ‘snap’ down next to an object and got it with weapon fire. It just didn’t feel as tight as the old system in the OT.

Suggestion: If a more tactical approach to combat like in the OT is not an option going forward, then somehow allow the player to map detonators from other squadmates so we can trigger them when we want.

GRAPHICS/CAMERA

Facial animations aside, I think the graphics looked quite good overall. Planets looked interesting, some were vibrant and eye-catching like Aya, and everything looked sharp all-around. Perhaps, the visuals were one of Andromeda’s strongest qualities. Character models though, were lacking, especially in Turian and Asari variety. Why do all the Turians have mostly white faces? That doesn’t look good! Differing colors like Garrus' face featured had was much more interesting look than these new Turians we see in Andromeda. Even Vetra had this pasty-white face problem, and she’s a team member! And I’ll reiterate what others have said about all the Asari faces looking mostly the same. I found that also. So please, more variety. This was less noticeable with the Angarans (they mostly looked quite detailed and nice.)

Also, I think Bioware missed something big here with Andromeda: cinematic angles and character movement. In the original trilogy, the camera would be more dynamic and move to make things seem more exciting. Also, characters you talk to used to walk around, pace or do something besides just stand there. Here, even in conversations with your crew, they just stand there and don’t move. That’s not real. In the OT the camera would pan out and they would walk around, throw their arms up, or whatever. And when you approached them (such as Jack in the cargo bay in ME2) the camera would dynamically close in on her and move. And she would move around as well. Here’s the video of that:



This added intensity and Andromeda was severely lacking in this department. Almost all character interactions felt flat to me since nobody moved and the angles didn’t change and were static. Same with NPCs you would talk to – just like in Dragon Age: Inquisition the camera would just zoom in slightly, while as a player I totally lost interest since the game was letting me know they aren’t important.

Suggestion: Going forward, please address the odd facial animations (most notable in the eyes of Director Addison) and the white-washing of Turians (literally) and Asaris (figuratively.) And add more dynamic, moving camera angles (especially when talking to major characters, your team or cutscenes) and have them move around more and act more realistic like in the OT. Somehow make NPC conversations more dynamic than just a slight zoom-in now.

CHARACTERS

Ryder

I went with Scott for my first pass. He was likeable in general, but he sure made me miss Shepard. Usually I would pick the ‘heart’ conversation choice in characters I would play (or the old Paragon-type options), but Tom Taylorson (who did a good job overall) came off as a nauseatingly wide-eyed optimist with almost all the conversation choices. He felt like a wuss and wasn’t in control, unlike the writing and delivery of Commander Shephard (either sex.) This isn’t Tom’s fault completely, the writers and voice over directors had a certain vision and he was just following that. But I had to stop picking the ‘heart’ choice just to make him sound more serious, because the sugar in his voice was just too much for me.

To go further, he sounded naïve and took things casually almost all of the game. Yeah yeah, I know, he’s a greenhorn, out of his element, new to the job and finding his place. I get also that Andromeda is lighter in tone and more about exploration, but I just never identified with him with his general tone. Sara may be different in that regard. Every time he said a ‘naughty word’ I laughed, since it seemed so out of character for him. He had a couple of heroic moments, but never felt like a hero to me or in his power. He never felt badass like Shepard did.

SAM

I won’t repeat too much what others have surely mentioned but damn he gets annoying. Repeating about weather conditions in the Nomad every 3 seconds for example. And his voice is grating, unlike EDI’s from the OT. Please change his voice going forward and make him less spammy.

Cora

Didn’t really have much of a personality, just a small backstory being an Asari Commando. Voice acting not that distinct either. Came off as a ‘general’ character.

Cora’s loyalty mission was AWESOME. It was the first (and possibly only) time it felt like I was playing a Mass Effect game. Raiding the ark, flashlights out, solving a mystery – terrific. More of these please!

Liam

Suffered from Cora’s problems. He didn’t really have much of a personality, and fell into the ‘general’ crewmember category.

His loyalty mission didn’t do much for me and I didn’t find it interesting.

Vetra

Somewhat interesting, reminded me of the OT in a good way (hello, a Turian!) Wish her face wasn’t white-washed. Not as interesting as Garrus but that’s big shoes to fill.

Her loyalty mission was okay.

Jaal

An amazing-looking alien – he was the only new element to your crew in regards to the ME universe of old. I thought his voice worked well and he was likeable – I just wish Angaran’s were more interesting in general (I’ll get to that.)

His loyalty chain was good, fleshing out some lore areas which I appreciated. Also it had some nice cinematic camera angles.

PeeBee

Annoyed me at first, then I ended up liking her. She was a little too happy for me at the beginning, but then ended up rolling with her most of the game for missions. The writers did a good job tying her to the Remnant tech and on the whole I enjoyed her and her voice work.

Her loyalty mission was good, with a nice decision at the end, and that cool planet.

Drack

Liked him from the beginning – he was my main anchor back to the original trilogy. Every time I heard his voice, I thought of good memories with Wrex. I rolled with him and PeeBee for pretty much the whole game. What can I say? A cool Krogan!

His loyalty mission was pretty good also with nice cutscenes and cinematics.

Lexi

Didn’t like her or not like her. She came off completely neutral to me. Makes me miss Dr. Chakwas.

Suri

Found her more interesting than any of the secondary crewmates, with her belief in a Divine coupled with a scientific curiosity.

Kallo

Wished there was more to him, came off as a generic Salarian. Makes me miss Mordin and Joker big time.

Gil

Not much going on here either, unfortunately. Especially if he’s romanced.

The Archon/Kett

Meh. Never cared about The Archon. I will admit he looked pretty good as a freaky alien. The Kett also bored me. The Geth, Cerberus and the Collectors were much more interesting as baddies. They felt like filler for this first game, which is a shame. Fighting against them was fun, however.

Angarans

They looked great but all I could think of is ‘Australians in space.’ Every time I heard the Australian accent, I was taken out of the game. I get it, they needed an identity and heck, the Quarians could be ‘Russians in space’ but they had tech suits on and a very interesting backstory with flotillas and the Geth. The Angarans just didn’t have much of an identity to me and wish they were fleshed out further. I didn’t care for them much, besides Jaal. It’s some hard shoes to fill for a new race competing with the very interesting Quarians, Turians, Asari I know.

ROMANCE

Pretty good banging? I guess if you aren’t a gay male player. I’m sorely disappointed. Straight and Lesbian gamers can romance members of the main squad. Not so if your male Ryder is gay. We just get the second-stringers of Gil and Reyes. And, the ‘intimate’ scenes are just kissing? Compared to the other hook-up scenes (look at Cora’s!) this is lukewarm at best.

Clearly Bioware doesn’t have any gay male writers (come back David Gaider) or someone in power on the ME team like that because if so, we might have gotten a quality choice like Jaal or even Liam. I mean, not a single person on the main team is a romance choice? It’s insulting as a gay man and player. You feel second-class.

I know it’s hard to cater to everybody but I really hope going forward a strong romance choice is presented for gay men or I’m losing faith in your company. It took till Mass Effect 3 to even get a gay Shepard romance choice (which I appreciate) - and I already had to miss out on ME1/ME2 romances. I will say, Kaidan was worth it. Even Steve was a lot better than Gil or Reyes. And I do appreciate that we get at least something.

But please Bioware, add a strong dimension to gay male relationships going forward. And can we AT LEAST get some butt? Dorian’s hookup scene in DA:I showed his butt! I’m not asking for full frontal but throw us a bone!  I have heard they are addressing this issue soon, glad to hear it.  

STORY

And now one of the most disappointing parts. But first, I understand this was an almost soft reboot of the series. With the vitriol and passion about the ME3 ending, I understand why Bioware wanted a fresh start, 600 years away in Andromeda. And I appreciate the optimism of the Initiative and of settling and colonizing new worlds. But I just didn’t care much about what was going on.

Side note: Alec died too soon for me. He was an interesting character with power, wish we had more time with him before it became the Scott/Sara show. Pretty much no other voice in game can match Clancy Brown’s gravitas. Which is just too bad one of the best parts gets snuffed out so soon. And I get it was to put pressure on your character flying solo at the beginning, but sadface.

The best I can do is compare ME:A to the OT, in terms of what was lacking. I get it. Nothing can top the threat of the Reapers. They were a fantastic McGuffin through the OT. Stakes couldn’t get higher. Everything you did as Shepard seemed important. You were saving the galaxy. In Andromeda, it’s much more ponderous and about exploration. Almost nothing I did felt important or satisfying. Yeah, I’m supposed to help colonize humans in the new galaxy, but man are those stakes boring to me. I don’t like colonization games. I’m not saying that Andromeda is such, but it’s an aspect of it.

There was a mystery to solve in ME1. The beacon did something to Shepard, and sorting it out took the whole game. It was a mystery that was interesting, and then ended upping the stakes higher with the Reaper threat. In Andromeda, the mystery is the Remnants and their vaults? And, all the vaults do is heal a planet? Underwhelming to me for such fanciful Remnant structures with potential. And yes, this is a game about finding a new place for humanity, and I get the importance of cleaning a planet to habitation. It’s just not exciting.

And each planet was a bit repetitive: land, find and activate the 3 vaults, turn on the main one, etc. It was a little too formulaic for me, and each planet felt mostly the same (save visuals) due to the same goals on each one. And the puzzles at the vaults felt out of place from an ME game. I get it, bizarre old alien caretaker race symbols, but in execution I found them not fitting with the rest of the game.

To summarize, the stakes felt low with the ultimate goal being human habitation in Andromeda. It just felt a lot less satisfying than taking out Sovereign, the Collector Base or the Reapers. Also, the Tempest not having weaponry made no sense to me. I mean, going into uncharted territory unprepared?!

NOMAD

I enjoyed the Nomad more than I thought I would. An improved Mako (but I miss the gun.) Speed boost useful and fun. Mineral scanning was annoying however (and not useful to me.)

MUSIC

Another super let down. Part of the magic of Mass Effect, at least in the OT, was the awesome ambient space music. Jack Wall and Sam Hulick are gods! And their magic was sorely missed in Andromeda. If anything, ME:A reminded me more of Dragon Age: Inquisition than a Mass Effect game. Horns and strings? Even the title screen music made me double-take. I get that Andromeda is trying for an original identity, but it strayed too far from the path here. In fact, I can’t even remember a single theme or song. Nothing even close to the memorable Illusive Man’s or Vigil’s theme. Even the galaxy map music was a letdown.

Suggestion: PLEASE going forward, bring back better music like in the OT. See if Jack or Sam are available! I’m sure I would have enjoyed Andromeda a lot better if the music was in the spirit of the original trilogy and more space-ambient with intensity.

OTHER NOTES

There is literally SO MUCH to do that Andromeda almost turns into a Skyrim-type game. Here are some menial tasks, here are some side quests, here are some scanning, etc. It’s easy to get overwhelmed (unlike in the OT.) I get the need for certain quests to lead you to other areas to discover more things but this smacked of quantity over quality. In the OT, especially ME2/ME3, the exploration was obviously more limited BUT storytelling shined more. The quality of writing and characters felt much higher in the OT than in Andromeda, and I can only conclude that writers/team got diluted into doing side quests and tasks, whereas fully focusing on characters or a loyalty mission for example. I would much rather have a tighter, 50 hour quality game (like ME2/ME3) than a 70-100 hour quantity game.

The crafting system was overwhelming and really needed a better tutorial. Took me about 20 levels till I figured it out – ended up relying on weapons I picked up in the field and modding them verses crafting new ones.

The new conversation system was okay, but not sure I need 4 possible choices. Three seems okay. I know not everyone liked it, but I liked the obviousness or Paragon and Renegade choices. Here I wasn’t sure which choice was more friendly or tough all the time. I also miss having Paragon/Renegade conversation choices which you earned over time. Felt like a little victory, talking someone out of something and avoiding combat all together. That option wasn’t present here.

Credits became basically useless as time went on. You ended up getting decent gear in the field and rarely needed to buy an upgrade. I only used credits for consumables and re-specing myself or other characters.

I didn’t like the omni tool re-design. It just looked flat and less exciting than in the OT.

The Vortex club was a major let-down. Compared to Flux, Afterlife, Eternity and Purgatory. There was almost no reason to visit and no one was even dancing? I get that the Nexus had space issues but ugh. It never felt like a social hub like bars in the other games. And neither did the ‘clubs’ on Aya or Kadara.

The voice acting all-around was underwhelming, as were the characters.  The OT had such powerful performances from Brandon Keener as Garrus, Keith David as Anderson and Martin Sheen as The Illusive Man.  Here, the only stand-out voice was Clancy Brown and he barley got the spotlight and the most interesting character we get is Jaal?  Going forward, go for the gravitas and power in a voice with more interesting characters.  And, recruit some different writers or revisit some that worked on the OT, such as Thane or Legion's writer or Jack's.  The writing for characters and story was just underwhelming this game.

Not being able to use ‘medi-gel’ and revive my squad in action was annoying. Many, many times I was playing a ranged character, and my squad got killed far away from me around enemies. I had to wait for the enemies to leave or bait them away before I could revive them. Even a perk or something, going forward, would be nice to revive squadmates from afar.

ME:A felt like an 'open world' experiment, in the vein of DA:I.  ME1 supercharged.  I much prefer the 'closed worlds' of ME2/ME3.  A few hub areas which you revisit often, then landing on specific planets in a pre-determined areas.  Less space to play in, but more focused on tighter storytelling.

Final mission: loved the nod to the Mako with the Nomad landing and the driving push with all the other ships above you was awesome. THAT felt like Mass Effect to me. Well done. Two moments stood out to me throughout the game, Cora’s Loyalty Mission and this last one. Please, more like that. I did find the wave after wave of Remnants at the end a bit overwhelming and annoying, but that’s a small point.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Mass Effect: Andromeda had expectations no game could reach. It did well in some areas like combat and visuals, but dropped the ball with the story and characters.

It felt very much like Dragon Age: Inquisition in space and I would much rather have had the tighter structure/style of ME2/ME3 just set in a new galaxy with new characters and story. It reached for size and scope at the cost of quality. It did have some very enjoyable moments, but they were few and far between. I don’t feel like starting a new game again, unlike how I felt with first-time plays of games in the original trilogy.  

To be fair, ME2 was a huge improvement over ME1 in almost all ways. And Andromeda was a setup much like ME1 was. My hope is that level of improvement, like ME2 showed, will happen with the inevitable sequel.

Note: I played 64 hours and reached level 48 on Hardcore. Completed all the vault quests on each major planet, got each to 100% viability, completed every loyalty quest and did a smattering of random side quests.

6.8/10

You worded your whole review perfectly, I won't even have to post one because you put everything I thought into words. You couldn't have explained the game better. 10/10

I voted "Good".

This game could be great, but it needs further work, as most acknowledge. I've had a great experience with it, despite the many, many bugs and few iffy design choices.