Review: Andromeda Mass Effect

If you want to skip to all the negatives please go down to the bottom of this review.  The flaws in this game are fundamental ones in gaming development, not the story, not the characters and certainly not the amount of content.

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Right.  If it wasn’t for those bad points I would be screaming at the top of my voice “WHAT A GAME”.

Instead it’s still a brilliant game.  The story is very typical Sci Fi which will be enjoyable by so many especially Mass Effect fans.  And yes – huge spoilers coming.

So the story

It’s very Sci-Fi and you certainly get the feeling that not everyone will live.  So the Ark which your character starts on arrives in Andromeda to find the Galaxy in a huge mess.  Not only do you have to deal with a weird space spreading anomaly but you’ve got a species who are hell bent on killing you with no remorse.  The previously arrived people have struggled, split and suffered a lot of deaths.  Morale is low and resources are limited.  It really does look like no one will live.

In your first mission you get a huge feeling that something much more is going on in the story.  Ancient ruins, an unknown race willing to kill and this mysterious AI SAM.  Brilliant.

Each planet has plenty to do and plenty of story, my favourite well.. I won’t go in to detail but it had a nice twist at the end.  In fact there seems to be quite a lot of future plot lines coming with teases and hints.    The impressive part is the lack of plot holes, instead it goes out of its way to show you there is more going on.  You learn one of the reasons why they wanted to send people to Andromeda but there’s a mysterious benefactor.

This is all my kind of story, esque of Babylon 5, Halo, Star Trek but more importantly previous Mass Effect games.  Remember this is Mass Effect.

The Characters

There’s too many to name on good ones, bad ones and the annoying.  The important part though is so many become memorable.  The way the characters develop really separates itself from Mass Effect while still being.. well Mass Effect.  Previously it was easy for me to fall out with them and I would wish I could kill them.  This time around they seem willing to follow you but even when there are moments of discourse they still believe in you.  The rivalry this time around only really exists with one people – The Kett.  I will add this, I didn’t like Liam what so ever.  A strange character to me that seemed out of place.

Music and Graphics.  Keep it simple – brilliant and can’t complain.  Typical Mass Effect.

Content

Beyond amazing? I managed to hit 60+hours and still had some simple tasks to achieve and mining, this game has an unbelievable amount of content.   And the important part is some of it is very relevant to finding out what’s been going on.  You find out more about why you’re out here, you find out what’s happened to the other Arks and why working together is important.  You get to establish bases on several colonies which can only be done by completing a ton of side quests etc.  Which is again fantastic.  While driving around you will find little side quests and tasks that you can complete.  The sad part is? When you’ve got to the end.  I can’t stress how much more I want from this game.

I have to add though, the only sad part about establishing bases – you can’t physically build them.  When you start asking yourself what move could they have added to a game that’s almost a master piece…. We do have something that’s worth the money.  I really hope one day in future Andromeda games they will add this feature.   What more could they have added? This is a good thing to say because I can’t think of anything else.  I’ve read a lot of comments from people who have played 40+ hours and said they did everything but somehow managed to miss obvious quests (not tasks they are a bit harder to locate, not always with a quest marker but random locations of something you found)….  Which to be makes me think did they really complete the game and explore everywhere?  I’ve still got some map locations small areas unexplored..  96% complete I currently sit.

I guess one of the reasons why I am almost in love with this game is how single player has not been neglected (content wise).  It’s a bit like giving us a film with zero story or zero character development.  You’re only in for the explosions and deaths.  This game does not neglect single player story nor does it feel like it was etched on a pizza box.  I will rarely buy a game just for its multiplayer features and find it ludicrous to spend large sums of money on a game like that.  When you look at some of the best most played MP games you look at Counter Strike which was never expensive to buy even in its time.  You got a game just for MP and nothing more.

Now we have finally a game that provides a full single player experience.  And unlike COD/BF games it provides more than 15 hours of game play.

UPDATE

So I’ve done something that I rarely do, I’ve started a fresh game (New+) which grants same money, resources and skills to carry over.  I very rarely go through single players again unless the story really grips me and I find the game fun enough.  And even after playing for just two hours I still that sense of enjoyment and need to complete every task.  For me this is quite a thing because not many games make me feel this way.  Even the original Mass Effect games only got me doing this so I could gain the best ending – nothing more.

97% complete with a 2^nd run over, again a few small tasks to complete.  Even with the carry over stats you can still die, you can quickly find your self overwhelmed and still require cover.  The ending is still satisfying – I find this better than Mass Effect 1 by far in regards to how it ended.  There’s a ton of questions you end up asking yourself.  With the original series it was all about the Reapers – nothing more and nothing less.  This game has been designed knowing there WILL be a sequel and that the story for that is already laid out.

I’d recommend this game though.  In fact it makes me wish this was a TV Series on the quality level of Expanse.  If I was rich..  I’d be funding this TV show in a blink.

Special mention notes:

The story does touch base on Commander Shephard from the Milky way, mentions the reapers and attempts to contact the Milk way.  And the good thing is it doesn’t feel like it’s all rushed like Star Wars Episode 3 in the last 10 minutes in the game.  In fact a lot of the extras you have to work for and do a ton of side quests.

Although this for some is a negative people have mention Halo, how the story is quite similar I’m not going to count it as a negative because I can relate Halo to other Sci-Fi’s that existed before.  I won’t count this as a negative, we are seeing a lot of science fiction shows, games and movies touch base on this – existence before us. In fact the original Mass Effect reminds me of Babylon 5 where ancient technology had been discovered on Mars.  It also reminds me of Total Recall and even Doom (game/movie).  So it goes to show before throwing a tantrum at its Halo similar story remember most stories today are not fresh or brand new (let’s face it, most are struggling to come up with brand new ideas) so instead they take old ideas and make them their own – something which has also been done for a long time.  A lot of story lines come from Mark Twain, you have StarGate, Star Trek which have again all touched base with civilisations that existed before us.   Again I’m sure I have missed a lot of shows and games that have done the same.

Conclusion? I’d buy this game in fact I did and it’s been a long time since I didn’t regret paying money for it.  I’ve gained the hours out of it and in all honesty without saying too much I played this game before I purchased it and if it wasn’t for questionable methods I wouldn’t have spent my hard earned money on it.

A weak 8/10 because of the animation issues and glitches galore otherwise this game would be superb.

Other Reviews

I’ve seen others mention the voice acting? Why? They are performed by above Z Lister celebrities who still work.  Some have come from Game of Thrones, one even came from an actor in Cowboys and Aliens working alongside the likes of Harrison Ford (for far more than 2 minutes of screen).  One worked alongside Jennifer Lawrence in Hunger Games.  These are real actors and actresses who are current earners and not exactly struggling for work.

The Story, The references to Mass Effect.

Why are these negative? No seriously.  What’s so wrong in continuing this story?   I think it’s fantastic when a story continues.  I hope we do get to see what happened more from Earth after the Reaper conflict.  That we do indeed find out if civilisation fully survived after it all (because let’s face it they lived but we don’t know any more than that).

I’d like to know if they give us more on the Reapers? Could they be behind the Kett? Will we see some kind of strong link between the Milky Way and Andromeda?

Probably not but who knows.

I wonder if all the people who hate this game, loved the Mass Effect series? That series had its issues, problems, plot holes and yes glitches (just nowhere near as bad as Andromeda).  People need to be comparing this game to Mass Effect 1 which was the start of story not all 3 put together.  I’m finding those who don’t rate this are angry over the way this game is portrayed 600 years later and we have no idea if our beloved characters from the Mass Effect series are alive (they’re not).  The same ones that complained about the ending are complaining how Andromeda ends?  It ends exactly how it should – no more no less.

Right the BAD STUFF

Four things sum up all the negativity in this game – GLITCHES, ANIMATIONS, FACIAL EXPRESSIONS and the AI

You will find:

Quest Glitches (I found two even after the update)

Animation Glitches (although not a ton now with the update – there’s still quite a few)

Questionable Script moments like you’re playing multiplayer with geeks/dorks instead of professional adult script writers but it’s a tiny issue…

Location Glitches

Random Deaths

Cliff Glitches

Shooting through walls (standard mobs)

Mobs hiding in walls (no joke) and still able to shoot you

Serious animation glitches where heads look like they are possessed

And don’t get me started on the EYES that can’t look at you…

Did I mention glitches? Ugh.. those glitches..  they do hit you…

The animations are a serious issue.. they don’t feel like people… and expressions… when a character looks angry they look constipated..  when they look very annoyed.. they look like normal.. when happy, in love and sad they all look normal.  There is only two expressions Very Angry or very Normal.

The AI is very poor, you will find a random guy just stand still while being shot at.  Another AI randomly move for no reason and don’t start on your own allies who at times get in your way.

If the majority of glitches didn’t exist in this game I can’t stress to you that this would truly be a master piece.  Not only the best game in the Mass Effect series but potentially one of the best games of its kind.  It makes you want more, it makes you want to find those little details and that’s before touching Multiplayer.

The good news is, the glitches are being resolved so if you have not purchased this game yet I’d wait till around JUNE 2017 to purchase it.  Most of them hopefully will be a distant memory.