Post by Nightlife on Apr 4, 2017 19:06:12 GMT
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.
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 had was much more interesting 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!
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.
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 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.
I hope Bioware will carefully consider what fans and other reviewers have said going forward towards Andromeda’s 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
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.
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 had was much more interesting 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!
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.
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 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.
I hope Bioware will carefully consider what fans and other reviewers have said going forward towards Andromeda’s 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
