Mass Effect Andromeda Review

Released: March 21, 2017

Genre: Third-Person RPS

First Impression: "Jesus, are those the faces?"

The first modern video game I played was the original Mass Effect, around ten years ago now. Since then the title's exploded, with sequels, books, merch, and the like following in the wake of its success. But the trouble with ongoing, consistent success is complacency--and you can see where that got the designers of Mass Effect 3, with its lame (original) ending barely bothering to acknowledge the amount of effort you put in to the entire damn game. That being said, I still played through Mass Effect 3 like... 4 or 5 times, one after the other, using different characters--and therefore different choices--each time. This, I thought, was the strongest point of the Mass Effect games: where its sister title Dragon Age abandoned the idea of carrying over choices and progress from previous titles at "Dragon Age 2: Errands in Town", Mass Effect kept with it.

Until now, when Bioware abandoned the most defining feature of its flagship series. Not that it would have made a difference, since Bioware abandoned all the original characters, ships, events, and history as well. Same universe, that's it.

Confession time: I actually like Mass Effect: Andromeda (ME:A from now on, 'cause that title's too damn long). I think the idea's cool, both as a standalone and as a followup to the Shepard trilogy; the missions make sense; the use of strike teams to boost both single- and multi-player capacity is clever; the multi-player is fun and pretty damn challenging; and the dialogue grew up. These are adults in adult situations on a ship, and there's no apology for it--awesome. I don't want to play a game targeted at kids, I want to play a game targeted at gamers like me--adults who use it as a means to de-stress. I got that with Andromeda. I also got a game where I can make kickass customizable weapons for single player, where I can change up my class at will for a cool and different experience, and where I can go for relaxing grinding away or for pitched battles pretty much at will.

But the fact I like it might be brand loyalty. Maybe this is because of the chronic issues Bioware had during Andromeda's development, but the game felt like it got halfway where fans (or I, at any rate) wanted it to go. ME:A can't help feeling linear because the Priority Ops demarcate progress in the game, yet they don't unlock any real, meaningful side missions. Once you've discovered a planet, you more or less get access to all its quests all at once. In some cases this doesn't make sense ("We don't trust you Nexus, but here's a mission vital to our survival"). It's also unclear how doing dirty work for a bunch of scruffy warlords, bureaucrats, and the like helps at the conclusion of the game. Not to give away too many spoilers, but beyond some mention and casual dialogue about it, there's not really much to show for your efforts of running around for a good 50-60 hours. Add the fact that none of the characters around seem to notice there's a war going on unless prodded, and running side missions begins feeling absurd.

Maybe this is why, for the first time with Mass Effect, I don't care to play it more than once.

Maybe some of this will be sorted out by DLC, but in my view Bioware needs to look at how and in what condition it released ME:A and have a good think about the importance of polishing. This is especially reflected in the loyalty quests for teammates, where once you have their loyalty any conversations are pretty much shut down. Apparently, Pathfinder Ryder loves making friends, but can't make conversation with them.

The real problem Bioware faces pushing forward into the new generation of games and consoles is technical. As far as Xbox 360 games go, ME:A would have been a smash hit... but it's quite a few years late for that. Graphics-wise, both ME:A and Dragon Age 3 (Bioware's biggest titles with the eclipse of The Force Unleashed) lag behind other games on the XB1. ME:A is huge in its scope as games go, combining third-person RPS with the size and scope of MMO games like Destiny. You can't have everything, especially in a gigantic video game, but graphics must've been an afterthought in a game filled with bugs, glitches, crashes, and the weird nonsense that comes from Bioware's typical use of the graphics engines.

Bioware's worked on stopping the thousand-yard stare all the previous releases' characters fell into when you spoke with them--the characters' eyes now dart around wildly, as if they're all gazelles in a clearing surrounded by lions. Random framerate drops that make the game unplayable (hint: on the ship, the loadout room resets framerate to normal for me) pair with conversations where the other character has been frozen into an impossible pose for some reason. Biggest bug: an entire planet's colour pallette is absolutely destroyed FOR THE REST OF THE GAME by fast traveling from a specific boss fight location to anywhere else on that planet. For reference, this planet houses about 20% of the game's content. No fix has thus far been included, so for anyone finishing up the Vault on Voeld... go home the old fashioned way, unless you'd like your eyes to be assaulted by messed up neon nonsense every time you come back to Voeld.

The bottom line: If you liked the original Mass Effect trilogy, you'll probably forgive the problems Andromeda has; the game leans on the credibility of its predecessors throughout to help us look past the shoddy graphics and weird glitches, and it makes for a cool 'what if Shepard failed' idea. It's helped in this by a coherent and interesting (if a little plodding) storyline, engaging characters (when you can engage them), and some promising hooks for DLC that might help to round out the game experience and make it feel a little more immersive and a little less like running interstellar errands. But Mass Effect: Andromeda isn't done yet, only half-baked; and as with anything half-baked, the gooey bits are an acquired taste, and don't make it go down any easier.

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommendation: Buy second-hand or on sale. Don't bother with Deluxe editions.