It’s been just over a year since Mass Effect: Andromeda was posted through my letterbox. Being a long-time fan of the series I had pre-ordered the game and was eagerly anticipating its delivery. You can imagine just how distraught I was when I heard a package flump to the floor, only to run downstairs to find Lidl catalogs. My housemate practically keeled over laughing.
It was a long morning, and when the game finally arrived it was a long day of sweet non-stop Mass Effect action. But an air of discontentment lingered throughout my playthrough. I didn’t know what to think. I’d seen a few reviews and managed to not spoil Andromeda for myself, but I was all too aware that some people truly hated this game. And there was the first problem with it – the publicity. Almost every review, every Let’s Play, every sarcastic video on YouTube went on and on about how flawed Andromeda was. Though I was excited to play it, I had so many preconceptions in my head, purely because no one was talking about the good parts of the game.
The animation was the most heavily criticized aspect of the game.This is essentially what kicked off all the hate for Andromeda, and rightfully so. It was bad; even I’m not going to deny that. The human and Asari character models and animation left a lot to be desired, pulling odd faces during some cutscenes, and seeming emotionless and dead-eyed in others. This was shocking considering how long the game was in development and how highly anticipated it was. One of the main reasons for this backlash comes down to publishers like EA creating unrealistic expectations of what a AAA title should look like. Gamers got angry when the graphics of Andromeda were barely better than the original ME trilogy, after EA showed demo footage at expos that couldn’t actually be rendered in game. They essentially pulled a bait and switch on us, going to market with in-game graphics that were disappointing at best.
One of the reasons for this could be because in the early production of Andromeda, EA made BioWare scrap what they had and start over. A game that was supposed to have five years of development ended up with only about a year and a half. Why a lucrative publishing studio like EA would force such an experienced developer into a ridiculously crunched timeline is curious, but regardless of why, the results speak for themselves. By no means am I trying to excuse these poor animations, however it’s important to note that, as this is a backlog review, the game has been patched and looks a lot better – almost how it should have when it was first released.
It’s difficult not to compare Andromeda to the Mass Effect trilogy. While it’s important to treat it as a separate entity, there are a lot of points worth mentioning in between the games, but it’s equally as important not to get too hung up on these comparisons. There were a lot of expectations for Andromeda. The original Mass Effect games raised the bar pretty high, even though the ending of ME3 was the source of a lot of backlash itself, it’s still considered a brilliant game. Andromeda is a new story set in an entirely new galaxy. Yes, it’s still set in the same universe, but the fact that the new Mass Effect game traveled light years away from its other storyline tells you to approach Andromeda with an open mind.
The narrative of the game was really promising: explorers in a new galaxy are searching for a new home when everything begins to fall apart. Andromeda did well to create a sense of newness and unease. You aren’t Commander Shepard anymore – you weren’t already an established legend before you even picked up the controller – you’re the young, fresh-faced Pathfinder, thrust into the big scary galaxy. For this reason, it feels like the game is a bit lacking in lore, but that’s mostly because you haven’t discovered it yet. A large part of the storyline revolves around meeting and gaining the trust of an entirely new race and exploring their history.
That being said, the plot wasn’t without its holes. You’re told that an ark for every major race made the journey to the Andromeda galaxy: human, Asari, Turian, Salarian, and Quarian. But, disappointingly, you never find out what happened to the Quarian ark. It’s suggested that the Quarian storyline was going to feature in the DLC, but the DLC was canceled after the Andromeda team was dissolved in the wake of the extreme backlash the game faced. As wonderful as the new Angaran race is, I would’ve also loved to know what became of the Elcor, Hanar, Drell, Volus, and the other Milky Way races that were supposedly left behind at the Reapers’ mercy.
Some of the planets were quite daunting due to the game’s open world nature; the thought of having to cross so much terrain just to continue a small segment of the story was not particularly enjoyable. This is made a lot more entertaining by the new and improved Mako. I was pleasantly surprised at how quick the Mako travel was, and I really enjoyed the party banter among the squadmates you choose to go with you. These little moments of listening in on conversations not directly about the main narrative make the game a much more human experience. Open world environments are really being pushed in games like this, but I thought Andromeda handled it reasonably well. You have the option to spend more time on these planets doing little side quests here and there, but the important part is that a lot of them are optional. The ethos that the game has to be massive and focus on exploration is so unnecessary. Andromeda really does try to push this idea that you should be exploring every nook and cranny, but you don’t have to. The BioWare devs aren’t looking over your shoulder to make sure you have, I promise.
Mass Effect: Andromeda has more in common with Dragon Age: Inquisition than its own predecessors. Both games are made in the same engine, but the open world nature gives you the same feeling of being given one too many fetch quests. The morality system is more akin to Inquisition too, as the choices you make are more about your emotions on the subject rather than being ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘paragon’ and ‘renegade’. The game even goes so far as to give you a psych profile as you play, telling you whether you’re playing more empathetic or, in my case, sarcastically.
BioWare really went all out with customization – for the Mako. You can have a wide variety of weapons and armor for yourself, but the character customization at the beginning of the game left a bit to be desired. After the extensive character creation screen in Dragon Age: Inquisition, I expected a lot more from Andromeda. You can still make a pretty good looking Pathfinder, but there were nowhere near as many options as you might expect from a game that comes from a studio well-known for making games with deep character customization.
The combat is diverse and engaging, the weapons handle well, and the abilities feel satisfying to use. Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer was the only opportunity you got in the old games to play around with different skill combinations, and I missed the few characters that allowed you to combine sneaky tech skills with biotics. Now in Andromeda it allows you to customize your moveset completely. Going invisible to sneak up on an enemy before biotically ground-pounding to make them go flying felt so incredibly cool. The game does allow you to make presets so you can switch between multiple sets of moves during a fight, but I found that I never really used it. It made more sense to me to level up and hone one combo set that I really enjoyed, rather than spend too much time pausing to mess in a menu mid-combat to figure out what move set I wanted to use. Despite this, it’s clear that a lot of work has gone into making sure you can play the game exactly how you want to.
Aside from a few animation issues, the character models for the aliens were really well designed. The Turians and Salarians, who in old Mass Effect codex were listed as well over 7 feet tall, now actually look their height. When you’re in cutscenes with a Turian like Vetra, she actually towers over you, rather than in the older games when Garrus would magically and conveniently be the same height as Shepard. And there was variety in the models! The Turians don’t all look the same and there are more than three women in their entire race. I’ll be honest, some of the designs for the Salarians seemed to lack as much diversity as they had in the trilogy, but it’s still nice to see a variety of these characters finally looking the way they were intended. Even the Krogan have been given more models; I can’t count the number of times I used to mistake random NPCs for Wrex.
On the subject of characters, Andromeda did a particularly good job of giving us squadmates that we cared about. BioWare has always been brilliant at creating deep characters with great stories to tell. While they might not have quite the emotional impact that other characters in the trilogy had (I’m looking at you, Mordin), the devs did well to make more lovable characters that I felt compelled to get to know. I cared about Vetra and the troubles she had with her sister; I cared about Jaal and the struggles his race were facing; and I cared about Drack, who admittedly at first seemed like a clone of Wrex, but soon revealed a personality and background of his own (despite maintaining those typical Krogan traits we’ve all come to love).
No game is without its flaws, and Mass Effect: Andromeda certainly has its fair share. A few plot holes, an open world that’s a bit too open, and silly animations that turned serious moments laughable. Despite these, it’s still a fun game that’s absolutely worth playing from your backlog. Throw away your preconceptions, go into it with an open mind and an open heart for characters that you’ll really learn to love. The initial bugs and poor animations that plagued the game at launch with have long been patched, and it’s an enjoyable RPG that didn’t truly deserve the harsh backlash it got.
– I
procrastimating.net 