MASS Effect: Andromeda delivers the same exploration of galaxies, a modified combat system and in-depth character discovery fans loved but falls short of the lofty standards set by the original trilogy of BioWare’s Mass Effect games.
VIDEO games can be judged these days with a binary decision of whether you would buy extra downloadable content because you enjoyed playing the game, and the answer for Mass Effect: Andromeda is no.
The recently released open world space explorer was met with a raft of criticism upon release, and justifiably so, the game has a raft of issues and is far from a complete product.
The bottom line with Andromeda is that it is not a thoroughly enjoyable game to play at the moment. While its cons do not necessarily outweigh the pros, the cons are far more glaring and distract from some of the good things this game has tried to do.
The plot of Andromeda is as follows: humanity and other alien races from the Mass Effect universe went on a one way, 600 year trip, to establish colonies in a far flung galaxy: Andromeda.
Upon arrival, it becomes clear that despite the best efforts of the expedition to prepare, something has changed in the 600 years since the fleet of ships left the Milky Way and the central character, the Pathfinder, must find a way to colonise the galaxy.
Mass Effect as a series made its name as a game where you explored alien worlds with other aliens, that had complex backgrounds.
Along the way, choices the main character made, Commander Sheppard in the original trilogy, affected the end result of the game, as well as interactions with other characters and situations throughout the game.
The dialogue and, at least for a video game, strong plot was what drew many to the series.
But for Andromeda, that dialogue has become its crux.
It is cheesy. Really cheesy. Interactions between Ryder and his (or her depending on which gender you chose to play as) team mates feel more like a poorly written episode of Friends than seven pioneers trying to conquer hostile alien worlds.
The voice acting and writing is patchy. In some scenes it is great and you could actually picture it in a well written movie, but in others it is cringeworthy and not at all believable.
In other games this could be forgiven but in one like Andromeda, where writing and voice acting is a big draw card, it needs to be spot on for the majority of the time.
One particularly jarring scene was the Pathfinder’s arrival on Aya, where they make first contact with the alien race, the Angara.
The Pathfinder is greeted with restrained hostility and distrust by the Angara, who have never encountered humans before and treat them with distrust.
However, the scene feels less and less genuine as the Pathfinder is continually referred to as a human, mere moments after being the first such being to arrive on the planet, 600 years away from humanity’s home of the Milky Way.
Not long after, an interaction with another Angara, named Avela Kjar, is also jarring.
Kjar asks the Pathfinder, an alien on her planet who has just arrived, whether he knows the history of her people.
It is clearly just a dialogue prompt, but it just jumps out and screams plot hole. Of course the Pathfinder does not know the history of her race.
Early on, there is far too much dialogue as well. While the introduction has plenty of action, afterwards, there is, at a conservative estimate, about an hour of dialogue before the Pathfinder is able to begin exploring alien worlds.
Speaking of exploration, it is something which can be fun, but it too has a number of issues.
A lot of time is spent traversing worlds in a buggy called the Nomad.
On a world such as Voeld, a planet blanketed in snow and blizzards, the Pathfinder can only venture out of the Nomad for a very short time before needing to retreat and find warmth.
The problem on Voeld, for example, is that many of the warm spots on the planet are guarded by the Kett, the antagonists in the game, which means the Pathfinder needs to fight his way through, which leads to another issue in the game: Combat.
Mass Effect’s combat system was cover based. Cmdr Sheppard and his team would be sucked into cover, as would his opponents, and the fight would ensue, with the only real danger occuring when Sheppard poked his head out to fire his weapon.
Andromeda sticks with the cover based system, but has tried to open it up more, which has created problems.
The Pathfinder is easily flanked. Very easily. This means that cover often becomes redundant because they are surrounded by enemies.
On Voeld, for example, the Pathfinder often needs to find warmth at Kett bases. The Kett are dug in, and the Pathfinder must assault the bases, often from an open and exposed position.
It adds to the difficulty of the game immensely. Everyone enjoys a challenge, but the challenge is surely too great when on some occasions assaults are thwarted before even being able to find cover.
It was disappointing as well, that in a galaxy 600 years away, there are only the Kett, Angara and Remnant as new alien races, with the Kett and Angara being humanoid.
It is a shame to come 600 years from the Milky Way, only to encounter two alien species which look, for the most part, exactly like humans.
Of course, Andromeda has many good points as well.
Looking at it purely from a functional standpoint there are few bugs. The game loads quickly too, meaning there is not a lot of time spent staring at a pretty graphic.
If you enjoy it, you will certainly get your money’s worth out of a long single player campaign, which also has multiplayer elements as well. There is no shortage of side quests on the planets.
There are some absolutely stunning graphics to be seen as well, as the Pathfinder traverses the galaxy of Andromeda.
Ultimately, however, we get back to whether you would purchase downloadable content for Andromeda and the answer is no, the flaws are simply too irritating to look past and focus on the positives.
