Mass Effect: Andromeda - March 21, 2017

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SPhilli911
That's a real shame. I usually don't pay much attention to reviews, but this game has been getting a lot of negative attention. I still love the Mass Effect series, and have this game pre-ordered already, but I'm going into it expecting it to be a bit of a let down. I hope they patch the bugs and stuff, but you can't exactly fix other issues, like plot and characters.

What happened? I remember listening to the developers and the passion from Bioware on Mass Effect back at Pax East. You just knew their hearts when into the original trilogy. I get the impression this latest one is a cash grab more than anything. I know it's not the same team that made the originals, but with an established universe and style, how could they mess it up? So sad.
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Two bright shining points of the gamespot review were: the world's are beautiful and fun to explore (exploration requirement met= check) and the Combat is not only fun (according to the reviewer) but better than the original ME trilogy (core gameplay requirement met= check). The reviewers Space Ninja stealth cloak with Sword build sounded awesome. The frame rate drops, graphical issues and Audio glitches are a concern, hopefully those are patched soon.
 
I lol'd at this, wow this is really bad


The many bad faces of ME4:

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Well I bought it. I won't be able to play it until later on this evening( in about 12 hours), as I'm at work now and have to go home and sleep.

I'm not expecting it to be great, but as long as it's not terrible, it will be fine by me. There just aren't many decent single player games that come out anymore. I think some of facial animations are pretty bad, but In a game that big I don't expect all of them to be that horrible, at least I hope.
 
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Honestly I've seen way worst facial expression without all the bashing going on around ME:A. I'll see when I play it anyway.
 
I like how it says to be released today.
I am following a person on PS and they were playing it since Saturday. :/
 
TJ13
I like how it says to be released today.
I am following a person on PS and they were playing it since Saturday. :/
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Some people got early copies and have been playing for a week. Reviewers and streamers.
 
RX-7_FD3S
Honestly I've seen way worst facial expression without all the bashing going on around ME:A. I'll see when I play it anyway.
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Its an EA/Bioware game. There's bound to be tons of facial mishaps :lol:

Just bought the game last night, this is actually my first ME game in general. I'm loving the movement mechanics, the dashing makes things interesting. I'm also having way too much fun with the "Throw" power that you have :lol:
 
ImaRobot
Its an EA/Bioware game. There's bound to be tons of facial mishaps :lol:

Just bought the game last night, this is actually my first ME game in general. I'm loving the movement mechanics, the dashing makes things interesting. I'm also having way too much fun with the "Throw" power that you have :lol:
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Although it's not the "typical" FPS game at all, I'm surprised you've never played the first three, as much as you play shooters. It's the perfect RPG shooter IMO. :)

The combat in these games is such a blast. The way you can play with your character can vary greatly by the different skills you choose to unlock. Fighting can be a completely different experience on different playthroughs. Add in the abilities you set and can unlock for your squad mates, and it's really quite fun. It's awesome when you have someone in your squad, or yourself, unleash some cool biotics on an enemy and toss them in the air, and then you unload on them. I think you'll like it.

I've played a couple hours so far. First impressions are, I think anyone who really enjoyed the trilogy, is going to like this one. You're not commander shepherd, and some of the facial expressions are on the goofy side, but I really don't think it's a big deal. So far the Story is good, and the game doesn't look all that different to me. The combats just as fun as always, and the new jet pack adds a cool element of getting around quickly in battle.

I haven't played enough to really say for sure, but I have a couple days off after tonight, so I'll be able to comment more on weapons, exploration, etc in a couple days after I've played 15-20hrs.
 
prousonhairy
Although it's not the "typical" FPS game at all, I'm surprised you've never played the first three, as much as you play shooters. It's the perfect RPG shooter IMO. :)

The combat in these games is such a blast. The way you can play with your character can vary greatly by the different skills you choose to unlock. Fighting can be a completely different experience on different playthroughs. Add in the abilities you set and can unlock for your squad mates, and it's really quite fun. It's awesome when you have someone in your squad, or yourself, unleash some cool biotics on an enemy and toss them in the air, and then you unload on them. I think you'll like it.

I've played a couple hours so far. First impressions are, I think anyone who really enjoyed the trilogy, is going to like this one. You're not commander shepherd, and some of the facial expressions are on the goofy side, but I really don't think it's a big deal. So far the Story is good, and the game doesn't look all that different to me. The combats just as fun as always, and the new jet pack adds a cool element of getting around quickly in battle.

I haven't played enough to really say for sure, but I have a couple days off after tonight, so I'll be able to comment more on weapons, exploration, etc in a couple days after I've played 15-20hrs.
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Looking forward to your impressions after you have more time with it. So far it sounds like a decently fun game that lacks some polish. The bar was set pretty high with the first 3 games and it sounds like they had a mostly rookie team handling ME:A, which could be why it fell a little short of expectations.
 
What makes it so bad for me is the total lack of imagination that's gone into it. It is just so uninspired it's insane, the writing is just awful. Landing on a 'strange alien planet' with 'advanced technology' and being attacked by a mysterious alien race? **** off. The gunplay is nothing special. The terrible animations coupled with super hit and miss voice acting. Just nope.

While I don't expect incredibly written stories in my video games, the earlier ones had a sense of mystery about the characters and not a total cliche plot.
 
andrea
What makes it so bad for me is the total lack of imagination that's gone into it. It is just so uninspired it's insane, the writing is just awful. Landing on a 'strange alien planet' with 'advanced technology' and being attacked by a mysterious alien race? **** off. The gunplay is nothing special. The terrible animations coupled with super hit and miss voice acting. Just nope.

While I don't expect incredibly written stories in my video games, the earlier ones had a sense of mystery about the characters and not a total cliche plot.
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I seem to disagree. The combat mechanics are fun, especially the combos you can perform with the powers you've selected. The bad animations add more excitement than anything to me, its extremely funny the few times it happens. And the voice acting, while having its issues, isnt as bad as you're portraying it.

As for the story, it seems like you've only played the first mission. It seems to be more about the mysterious structures rather than the aliens surrounding it. They are not linked.

Im willing to bet this game got watered down over the years, just like Dragon Age, but its still fun in its own right. Just like the current Dragon Age.
 
It's about an 8.5 out of ten for me. I have about 10-12 hours in it. It's not nearly as bad as some of the reviews, but it does deserve a little criticism because if it was just polished a little more it would be a great game.

The things I like so far:

-the jet pack is awesome in combat and for getting around. It's so much fun, I find myself missing it when I'm running around The Tempest or The Nexus etc. I'm always hitting the boost button, and don't have my jet pack on inside. It adds a whole entire element to battle too. Very cool addition.

-the combat is great. The best combat to date in a ME game, for me anyways. The only complaint I would have about the combat is the auto-cover system. Sometimes you pop out of it when you don't want to, but I'm getting more and more used to it.

-the story's pretty good so far. That's another area that I think people jumped on, and it's really not bad at all.

-it's great to have the Mako back again. The planets are pretty large, and they look great. There seems to be plenty of stuff to do in each planet too. It's pretty fun exploring in it.

Things I don't like:
-I wish you could still shoot with the Mako.

-There is a couple of the cutscenes where the animations are pretty terrible. They stuck out like a sore thumb, and was very underwhelmed. That's not all of them, but you'll definitely know it when you see one.

-the facial animations are pretty corny at times, but it's not all the time. The eyes are really goofy at times. Some cutscenes your character should be looking straight ahead, and for some reason you mostly see the whites of his/her eyes. That probably bugs me the most, but it's still minor.

-I'm not sure about the reasearch and development part of the game yet. It seems like there's too much stuff, and too many items. Maybe I just need to play with it more.

I just picked the preset male: Zack Ryder. They could of done a better job with him I think. He's grown on me a lot, I really didn't like him at first, but he still looks so dang goofy sometimes. Some of this is due to the poor facial animations. Think college Frat boy. Commander Shepherd he is not, but im getting used to him a bit.

-I definitely don't like how you have to find a loadout station to equip different weapons. I know you can choose before each mission, but when you want to equip a new weapon on The Tempest so you can sell your old one, you shouldn't have to find a loadout station. Also it was a pain for me until I finally found the loadout station on The Tempest but that's Typical ME, it's always been that way.

-the Soundtrack could be a bit better. The music isn't bad, but ME2 has the best original soundtrack of any game I've played I think, so maybe that's my fault for comparing it to that.

Overall it's still a really good game I think. There's not much keeping it from being a great game, just some stuff they should of spent a little more time on.

If you liked the trilology, I'd say you have a 91.8% chance of really liking this one. I almost didn't buy it, but I'm glad I did because I'm having a lot of fun.
 
prousonhairy
It's about an 8.5 out of ten for me. I have about 10-12 hours in it. It's not nearly as bad as some of the reviews, but it does deserve a little criticism because if it was just polished a little more it would be a great game.

The things I like so far:

-the jet pack is awesome in combat and for getting around. It's so much fun, I find myself missing it when I'm running around The Tempest or The Nexus etc. I'm always hitting the boost button, and don't have my jet pack on inside. It adds a whole entire element to battle too. Very cool addition.

-the combat is great. The best combat to date in a ME game, for me anyways. The only complaint I would have about the combat is the auto-cover system. Sometimes you pop out of it when you don't want to, but I'm getting more and more used to it.

-the story's pretty good so far. That's another area that I think people jumped on, and it's really not bad at all.

-it's great to have the Mako back again. The planets are pretty large, and they look great. There seems to be plenty of stuff to do in each planet too. It's pretty fun exploring in it.

Things I don't like:
-I wish you could still shoot with the Mako.

-There is a couple of the cutscenes where the animations are pretty terrible. They stuck out like a sore thumb, and was very underwhelmed. That's not all of them, but you'll definitely know it when you see one.

-the facial animations are pretty corny at times, but it's not all the time. The eyes are really goofy at times. Some cutscenes your character should be looking straight ahead, and for some reason you mostly see the whites of his/her eyes. That probably bugs me the most, but it's still minor.

-I'm not sure about the reasearch and development part of the game yet. It seems like there's too much stuff, and too many items. Maybe I just need to play with it more.

I just picked the preset male: Zack Ryder. They could of done a better job with him I think. He's grown on me a lot, I really didn't like him at first, but he still looks so dang goofy sometimes. Some of this is due to the poor facial animations. Think college Frat boy. Commander Shepherd he is not, but im getting used to him a bit.

-I definitely don't like how you have to find a loadout station to equip different weapons. I know you can choose before each mission, but when you want to equip a new weapon on The Tempest so you can sell your old one, you shouldn't have to find a loadout station. Also it was a pain for me until I finally found the loadout station on The Tempest but that's Typical ME, it's always been that way.

-the Soundtrack could be a bit better. The music isn't bad, but ME2 has the best original soundtrack of any game I've played I think, so maybe that's my fault for comparing it to that.

Overall it's still a really good game I think. There's not much keeping it from being a great game, just some stuff they should of spent a little more time on.

If you liked the trilology, I'd say you have a 91.8% chance of really liking this one. I almost didn't buy it, but I'm glad I did because I'm having a lot of fun.
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What do you think of the planet zooming in animations? Jim Sterling mentioned those as particularly tedious.
 
Switcher
People complain about facial animations and they don't ever talk about this

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They were always pretty corny, but they are a bit worse in this one. Sometimes they just make me laugh, it's really not a huge issue to me. As long as the games still fun. 👍

@Peasantslayer, it's not as detailed as the other ME games, but that's another thing that really doesn't bother me. I really don't stay zoomed in to look at them too long. The scanning of planets is way more streamlined now, it's not like ME1-ME2 where you stayed zoomed in scanning for materials, you do that planetside in the mako now, you mine with that. Besides if I want to look at cool planets and stars, I'll play Elite Dangerous. :)
 
Animations aren't nearly as bad as the internet led me to believe they would be and I'm quite enjoying this game as it is. Sure, it feels a little different than the previous games in many ways and it's hard to connect with new characters, but it feels a lot like ME1. I like it.
 
I have to say I'm enjoying it too! The animation is a bit weird (why do their eyes dart around so much?!) but the environment design is jaw-dropping in places and I'm finding the gameplay solid enough to keep me hooked.

I did laugh at the "sudoku-but-with-symbols-instead-of-numbers" puzzles though.
 
I hate playing it on a console, trying to aim with a controller seems so unintuitive compared to a mouse. It's a decent story though and I'm beginning to like the cast of characters since they feel a bit more diverse than the original trilogy. The worlds are also pretty cool, I've only been to 3 planets so far but they feel varied and their own unique environments.

I am slightly overwhelmed by the amount of quests though, but I guess that isn't a bad thing.
 
Joey D
I hate playing it on a console, trying to aim with a controller seems so unintuitive compared to a mouse. It's a decent story though and I'm beginning to like the cast of characters since they feel a bit more diverse than the original trilogy. The worlds are also pretty cool, I've only been to 3 planets so far but they feel varied and their own unique environments.

I am slightly overwhelmed by the amount of quests though, but I guess that isn't a bad thing.
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isn't there autoaim available when you play with a controller?
 
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Here's the N7 Armour with the Andromeda Initiative colours. This is my permanent armour set for the rest of the game. I don't really like the other "fishbowl" helmets so having the classic Marine helmet was a nice addition for me.

So far, as a huge fan of the books and trilogy, Andromeda is a refreshing take on the formula.

Facial animations aren't a dealbreaker. Mass Effect has never been too great in that regard.

Combat is fun, I like the more open-ends gameplay and the Jumpjet is a great addition.

Lots of missions to get done, it can seem overwhelming even to someone who has a decent amount of down-time. Sometimes you get lost in the side quests and forget to complete the story missions.

Overall, around a 9/10 for me. Worth the full price of admission. I'd also buy any dlc coming to this game in the future.
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I'm just using armor that I find until I can make the top level(either level V or X, I don't know where it stops).

One thing I did find out, if you research a weapon or armor, it gives that item a chance at dropping from enemies. You don't have to develop it, just research it and there's a good chance you'll get it. It won't have the augmentations you want, etc, but that's a cool little deal while you're waiting to get high enough level to research the top stuff, you can wear level 3 stuff you find.
 
Just finished watching TB's review on this game. 2 hours long (!) but it's fair to say that the first bit is him going over the settings. Very minor spoilers but it's not that bad



A rough tl;dw, he felt the game is a 7/10 (interesting he even gave a score, as he really hates scores on video game reviews). A good game but with lots of flaws. Though a bit he didn't talk about in greater detail is no Paragon/Renegade system.
 
I love the game. Grandpa Krogan.

One gripe. If the Nomad is going to be that gaudy and that slow, can we have a patch that turns it into a wood paneled 1984 AMC Hornet wagon? Even with the smog-choked 258, I think the Hornet would smoke the nomad in a race.
 

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