[Review] In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

Every few years or so, I get the urge to play some Mass Effect again. The game series has had a big impact on me, the kind I didn't really think was possible at the time, as sci-fi RPGs didn't excite me at all (yes, that includes the Fallout series as well). The only reason I even decided to try the first Mass Effect is because BioWare made KotOR a few years prior and I trusted them to make something on par with it (how the mighty have fallen...).

Mass Effect tickled my fancy for sci-fi shooters, since I used to play a lot of Unreal Tournament and Quake, and it brought with it a cool story and a cadre of lovable characters that most people remember fondly to this day. The fact that the series managed to maintain momentum up to the very ending of ME3 is an achievement in itself (and we've since managed to fix the ending with mods as well).

In any case, instead of going for another run through the Shepard saga, I decided to instead give Andromeda a try. After 7 years, I figured most of the issues that people had at release would have been remedied in one way or another. Let me preface things by saying that this is absolutely a Mass Effect game and it scratched the itch just fine. That said, all the issues they've had during development are clearly reflected in the quality of the final product, so here's the good, the bad, and the ugly of it.

Story

In Andromeda, humanity (and other major races) have decided to settle and explore the Andromeda galaxy. You take the role of Ryder, a Pathfinder responsible for finding and preparing worlds to be settled by your people, and you go about doing just that after finding out that none of the worlds that were deemed habitable prior to the journey (600 years ago) are actually fit for living.

The story of Andromeda doesn't quite achieve the level of storytelling that we're used to from the original trilogy. Many of the themes it explores are generic or uninspired. One thing in particular that bothered me was the lack of strangeness. You travel 2.5 million light years just to be met with more of what you're already used to. I mean sure, there are some elements of strangeness, like the Scourge, but a large cloud of dark energy in space isn't particularly interesting.

I think a major problem of the game is also the illusion of choice. The majority of choices you make have no bearing on anything down the line, which is in stark contrast to the previous titles where almost every choice mattered in some way. Of course, ME1 and ME2 both left plenty of loose ends as well, so maybe they were just hoping to close them in future installments, which never came to be.

Gameplay

Gameplay-wise, the game follows the example of its predecessors. It's still a third-person shooter where you explore various planets with a 3-man squad. Dialogs offer the standard wheel-based choice menus. Characters still develop in three main categories: soldier, biotics, and tech.

This isn't to say that Andromeda doesn't bring anything new. Combat is now even more dynamic. Pausing the game isn't really a thing anymore and the space (pause) button has been replaced by a jump button. That's right, Andromeda is the first game in the series that makes full use of the z-axis (except in non-combat areas). I didn't start out liking this feature much, but it grew on me. It adds another dimension (literally) to both combat and exploration, so a definite plus.

The game also did away with character classes. Your character can now invest into skills from any of the three ability categories and, as you invest points into them, you unlock "profiles" that you can select (which map to the original 9 classes), gaining additional abilities that complement your style. I like this change as well. I've always been a fan of games that don't try to limit your character development choices.

Mako also makes a reappearance in Andromeda (albeit without the almighty cannon). It handles well and allows you to make upgrades, both to its capabilities (but still no cannon!) and its appearance, so you can cruise around in style. Since several of the planets are very large, having a way to get around quickly is paramount, so I think this was also a good decision on their part.

The morality system has been scrapped in this installment. Instead of the paragon/renegade choices that we're familiar with, we get to choose the conversation tone (emotional, logical, casual, or professional). The choice of tone has no effect on gameplay, like morality used to have, but only affects NPC reactions to what you say. Although this makes conversations feel more organic for the kind of character you want to play, it also takes some of the fun out, in my opinion. You still have the option to perform certain actions in conversations, much like the interrupts from the previous games, but these don't affect your personality in any way and there is no prerequisite for using them.

Andromeda goes back to its roots with inventory management, where players have limited inventories and collect heaps of items as loot. Although it's marginally simpler than in ME1, this is one thing I absolutely didn't miss from the original. I would have much preferred the ME3 equipment system, but collecting loot and resources is a major part of Andromeda. In addition, the game offers a crafting system, allowing you to craft just about anything you could want, instead of collecting it as loot, which I also think misses the mark. If I'm gonna explore an ancient ruin on a new planet and find a big chest of loot, it better be something more unique than what I can put together from scrap at my workbench on the ship.

Space exploration is more or less the same as in ME3 but without any required resources (i.e. no limited fuel or probes). And there's no reapers chasing you around, of course.

The minigames have been reduced to just one: A sudoku-like game that occasionally needs to be solved to unlock some chests or activate alien technology. It's fairly simple and doesn't outstay its welcome, but you can also bypass it with special consumable items.

I didn't bother trying any multiplayer features. Mass Effect isn't and never will be a multiplayer game, no matter what kind of features they try to push.

Companions

The number of companions you can recruit in Andromeda is smaller than in previous installments: six in total. Looking back, that's the same number that you had in ME1 (and you had to leave one behind there), but I've grown so accustomed to having a large number of companions and acquaintances in ME2 and ME3 that it just feels odd now.

The companions themselves are okay. They have personalities, they banter, and you can romance them, but overall, I can't really say that any of them stuck with me. If I were to put a finger on it, I would say they lack interesting "quirks" that would make them stand out. Everyone's seen a grumpy Krogan warrior before, so for example, if Drack's only unique trait is that he's old, you won't really care.

Art

A major criticism of the game is the animation quality. This has been partially addressed in some of the patches, but it's still noticeably worse than what people have come to expect from a Mass Effect game. Lip movements, natural gestures, walking animations, etc. are all a bit janky. Not so much that it would ruin your entire experience, but enough that you're going to notice.

Environment designs, both interior and exterior, are good, if a bit uninspired. Habitat 7 (the world you first visit when you enter the galaxy) shows some promise, and even then it's just some floating rocks and big luminescent mushrooms. Not exactly mind-blowing and it doesn't get any better.

There are only two new alien races that you encounter in the game, both of which were consciously designed so as to be cosplayable, which in turn makes them boring if you ask me. I wanted to see some fun new races that don't follow the same old pattern of humanoid races that are native to the Milky Way. The wildlife is equally familiar and uninspired.

Most of the characters in the game also feature rather uninteresting or unattractive faces (including the companions). Not sure if that was a creative choice since the Dragon Age series also suffers from the same problem (in my opinion).

The music is good and unintrusive. Unfortunately, like the rest of the game, none of it really stuck out for me. There are no iconic moments where the music particularly affected me. Your mileage may vary. I'm not much of a music guy anyway.

Conclusion

As a whole, ME: Andromeda is a flawed game that went through a lot of development issues and came out the other end still feeling like a decent Mass Effect game. The story might be nothing to write home about, but the gameplay did get an overall upgrade, and there's enough content that is just good enough to keep you entertained for the entire playthrough.

Despite all its faults, I'd say it's a game worth playing if you're a Mass Effect fan. If I had to put a number on it, it's in the 7/10 range.