This is usually unorthodox of me to do, but due to the mixed responses to this game I need to clarify what I saw in the game, how it played out, how fun it was, the good, the bad, and the middle ground. I'm going to try to keep this spoiler free, but if I need to spoil something, I'll inform you ahead of time with bolded and underlined words like this and with that warning said, let's get into this review.

PREFACE

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After 5 years since the release of the final game of the original Mass Effect Trilogy; Mass Effect 3, there was a long silence with no news about any new Mass Effect games, until Andromeda was announced. Everyone was excited, but the game wasn't shown all that much during it's development or even during the year before it's release. Until then, fans anticipated the return to the universe of Mass Effect as a new character other than Commander Shepard, theories were made, money was saved, and hopes were up. Suffice to say, people were hyped up for this upcoming game.

On March 21st 2017, the game was finally released in North America and later, the rest of the world. After a few days, reviews came in, the game was received poorly by some, some praised it, it is hard to trust who has the right idea of the game. This review is to help guide new players and game enthusiasts about what this game is, to verify what is being said about the game is true, exaggerated, or false. I even have my own compliments and critiques about the game myself. So enough of this explanation, it's time to delve into this game review.

SPOILER WARNING

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If it isn't obvious enough, there will likely be story and general spoilers in this game, if you don't care, proceed with the review. If you do not wish to be spoiled, either avoid the areas that are highlighed with bold and underlines, or just come back to read this after you played the game.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

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This is the first topic I wished to speak upon. Mainly because this is the reason WHY this game failed in many fan's eyes, expecting the game to be the way they wanted, the way the original games were like. Unfortunately for them, they didn't get what they wanted, because Mass Effect: Andromeda is completely different from the original games, it's a whole new galaxy, new characters, new story, new mechanics, new gameplay, new engine, and it takes place in the same universe.

Some things to keep in mind about this series though will be listed, so please keep in mind about these while reading the review or playing the game any further:

1.

2. 

This game takes place in the Heleus Cluster of the Andromeda Galaxy, not the entire galaxy itself, but merely a system for the Andromeda Initiative to start from and further expand later in what I hope will become another trilogy based in Andromeda. More on that later in the review. Many people were disappointed in the fact that only two intelligent life species were discovered in the cluster, but what these people don't realize is that this is just a single cluster of stars in the Andromeda Galaxy, there is so much more to explore in the future, if we get sequels, which I hope we do.

3.

The characters and your character aren't the hero yet. Unlike Shepard who was already put on a pedestal from the start, your character is put in a position where everyone is counting on you against all odds as you are plunged into a star cluster that yielded promise back in the Milky Way, but now is hardly viable now. I'll explain more on that later on, but just know that who you play, Pathfinder Ryder (Male or Female), needs to earn their hero badge, and the choices you make define who you become, even the way you choose to speak will show who you are.


Those are the main three complaints from people I've heard that have no real basis, the others that are major complaints have some validity which I'll cover later.

GAMEPLAY ~ 9/10

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Easily the best part of the game besides the story in my opinion. The gameplay is everything Mass Effect could and should have been previously, but this is what defined what Andromeda games in the future will be like, and it will get better as time goes on. The best part would be the jump and boost features your character possesses, this easily makes the game more challenging and fun as you explore the Heleus Cluster. The combat gets more vibrant and exciting as I found myself jumping around all over the place, taking cover when the heat was too much, acting fast when enemies flank me, etc.

One complaint was the choice to remove the powers wheel, which was something I enjoyed having in the previous games to plan out my attacks and powers effectively before my foes hid from me. But, it isn't something that hurt the game for me too much, I still managed to play it just fine. I'll go over this a bit more in the mechanics section, but the powers have been limited to three when you are out on missions, I can only assume why Bioware chose to go down this route, perhaps to simplify the choices and keep it simple. I liked this three powers mechanic, but many people despised it. To be honest, I only recall that in previous games we only had 3 actual powers, the rest were ammo modifiers which aren't really powers in this game.

Unlike Mass Effect 3, this game hosts a variety of hub worlds, open worlds, and hybrid worlds. The Nexus, is the main hub in this game, it's a parallel to the Citadel but a slightly smaller scale. Among that, there is Eos, Voeld, Aya, Havraal, Kadara, Eladeen, and a couple others that are either one time visits for missions or less significant areas. Movement through these areas are mostly easy, Kadara is easily the worst to navigate in my opinion, the doors at the port take forever to open up for no reason. As for the open world itself, it's just hard to navigate without having a pirate band come down on your ass to shoot you up. Speaking of open worlds...

The Nomad, the parallel to the Mako from the first Mass Effect game but highly improved. The Nomad is your vehicle to get around the open worlds and unlike the Mako, you can upgrade your Nomad via the Research and Development terminals in the game to make traveling around easier. Fast travel is implemented into this game on the open worlds in the form of Forwarding Stations in set locations for you to find and establish. These serve as your places to travel to, refill ammo, power cells, change your loadout, and call the Nomad if necessary. A downgrade from the Mako to the Nomad is that the Nomad has no weapons, meaning if you get into trouble, you need to exit the vehicle and fight, which can get annoying from time to time, but isn't a game killer.

STORY ~ 8.5/10

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Probably one of my favorite parts of the game was the story. I felt like it was very rich with lore in the codex, the missions always revealed something new about the cluster, our foes, friends, and anything to do with establishing a home in the Andromeda Galaxy. SPOILERS AHEAD The game starts out as the Ryder you picked, in my case, I picked a female Ryder because I played a male for most of my campaigns in the original trilogy so I thought I start out the new series as a female so I will refer to Ryder as Sara Ryder and as a her/she from here on out. You are being awakened from cryostasis to learn that you have arrived in the Heleus cluster of the Andromeda galaxy, immediately when going to Habitat 7, the world picked for the humans from the Milky Way, is surrounded by a space anomaly known later as the Scourge, a radioactive tentacle like ash looking mass that seems to have spread throughout the cluster affecting countless worlds, including Habitat 7. Due to the Hyperion, the Human ark that came to Andromeda, being hit by the Scourge, Cryo pods were damaged including Sara's brother, Scott's pod. The ship sustained some damage, but it still is able to fly. Alec Ryder, your father in-game, takes you on a mission to investigate the new world only to crash land on the planet due to the extreme weather conditions on the planet. It is then discovered that the world that was supposedly a golden world is irradiated, has poisonous argon air, and storms are out of control with floating rocks everywhere, plant life seems to be absent mostly as well. 

Upon further investigation and trying to regroup with your allies and your father, you encounter a hostile alien race later known to be the Kett. And further on, you learn about the Remnant via the Remnant sites on the planet's surface as you explore. After reuniting with your crew and father, you plan an attack on the hostile Kett and see about getting to what they seemed was important; a control tower of some kind, something to fix the planet perhaps? They had no idea, but they charged in anyways and found that whatever Alec Ryder did to the Remnant technology, seemed to help stabilize the weather, however, when it was over, a wave of energy flung Sara and and Alec out into the wilds. Upon getting up, Sara's helmet was broken open and she was exposed to the argon atmosphere. Alec, quickly gave her his helmet and passed down command of SAM and the pathfinder ID down to her. (SAM is the artificial intelligence that each pathfinder has to help them become stronger through implants. They are also used as a way to give information to the pathfinders). With that, Sara passes out and is found by her crew. She is taken back to the Hyperion as she learns that she has become the pathfinder and her father has died.

A lot happens in the first few moments of the story, but to sum it up, you navigate your way to the Nexus, the hub for all the other arks to come to, but you find out that they have gone dark for sometime waiting for the arks, but when none came, they abandoned hope. You later learn that the founder of the Andromeda Initiative died due to the Scourge impacting the Nexus on their arrival, along with the chain of command. So now you have a makeshift bunch of commanders trying to do their best with their failing initiative. On top of that, a rebellion rose up while the arks were still traveling to Andromeda and have since been exiled, the Krogan who helped stopped the rebellion were not given the rewards they were promised by a racist Salarian who runs the initiative now and the Krogan left the Nexus to found their own colony. So yeah, on top of your world being unsuitable, the Nexus barely functional, your father being dead, the other three arks (turian, asari, and salarian arks) have all gone missing without any word, and everyone is excited and happy to see a pathfinder (You) is there to help save this mess of a program and save the lives of everyone who came on the trip to Andromeda.

I won't spoil everything from there, but throughout the game the pathfinder must prove themselves, whilst ensuring the safety of their people while maintaining a peaceful coexistence with the other alien species you encounter SPOILERS the angara; a unique species to the Heleus cluster whom express their emotions openly and have rather large families. The angara are weary to trust you and the rest of the Initiative due to the Kett invading the cluster and declaring war on the angara after trusting the Kett upon first contact many years ago. The angara are split into two factions, the resistance against the Kett, and the Roekaar, angara that taken arms against all aliens including you and the imitative. The choices you make in the game affect the cluster, the angara, and your own people, either choice you make, has an effect on everyone so be careful on your actions.

You eventually discover the leader of the Kett known simply as The Archon, a Kett Military leader determined to conquer the Heleus cluster among other things which I don't dare spoil. He also is obsessed with Remnant Technology which plays a big part in the story if you so choose to watch or play the game yourself.

The story is full of mystery as what you thought was going to be easy and a paradise turns out to become a fight for survival in the new galaxy as foes rise on all fronts and allies are short to come by, so you must make new ones in the game.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END OF THE GAME

In the final battle against the Kett, the choices you make affect how the end of the game plays out and what potential sequels will end up becoming. You will always end up defeating the Kett and the ending is usually the same, but depending on what you do, some people may or may not be present in the final battle. The final battle is reminiscent of the final fight with the reapers in Mass Effect 3, but on a smaller scale against foes who compared to the reapers is childs play, but still a threat nonetheless. The final boss is fun, but it could have been better, it's more or less a battle against enemies you faced before but under the control of the Archon.

The game definitely sets it up for sequels, so I hope Bioware makes Mass Effect: Andromeda 2 in the future. If anything, they will likely make it similar to Mass Effect 2 with changes. But, don't get your hopes up.

CHARACTERS ~ 7.5/10

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Ryder and the crew are fantastic to me, the way you can speak to them is similar to the original trilogy, but now the paragon/renegade system is gone and choices are based now on four types; emotional, logical, casual, and formal. Romances are no longer tied to being the good guy or being emotional all the time either, romances can be followed if you flirt, which is an option on the side when talking to crew members and unlike the previous games, the relationships feel more real, it takes time for the relationship to form. Among other things, you can have multiple relationships depending on whom you are with. Some are more committed to having you be with them only rather than having an open relationship. There are options for homosexuality and bisexuals, not that I care for them personally, but they are there. Fair warning though, SPOILERS there is nudity in this game, to my shock when I played as a female Ryder I romanced a character (wont say who) but suffice to say you will see full on breasts and 'booty' in the game if you choose to romance certain characters. I wasn't expecting that, it was something I'm not sure if I'm alright having in the game, but nonetheless, it's artist integrity, and it's a choice to romance, so if you don't want it, you don't need to.

Your crew starts off With Cora and Liam, they accompany you on the first few missions until you run into Vetra, Drack, and Peebee later on. SPOILERS And shortly later, you meet an angaran (Jaal) who joins up as your last crew member. Among the normal crew you have, you also have the pilots to talk to, the engineer, and med-bay doctor. You ride upon the Tempest, an exploration ship designed to explore the Heleus Cluster.

Other than your crew, other characters like the Ryder family play an important role in the game. Your deceased father locks crucial information to you from SAM and as you explore the cluster and progress in the game, you unlock the memories and learn truths and unravel a secret hidden from you and your sibling. Your sibling, in my case, Scott, plays a part in your game too more so in the third act of the game, for most of it, he is in a coma on the Hyperion.

The Archon, the main villain, is an alien warlord who has invaded the Heleus cluster and is trying to control it using ancient Remnant technology, and you and your friends have to stop him. The Archon is cunning, and a brilliant strategist as he is able to lead his armies against Ryder, the angara, and the initiative.

You'll also discover and meet other people on the various worlds you explore who either help or complicate relations, depending on your actions, the path for the future is in your hands based on your interactions. No everyone will be pleased to see you, or what actions you make, so be prepared, not everyone will like or adore you like they do in the original trilogy mostly.

GRAPHICS ~ 9.5/10

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The graphics in this game are stunning, not as well hyped up to be in the trailers, but I figured it wouldn't end up like how they looked in the trailers. I also had to play on high, not Ultra while playing on my laptop, so I have no idea how much better it will look once I play it at home on my main PC. But other than a few graphical errors in some places, the game runs very smoothly, the lighting is wonderful, shadows work well, and textures look outstanding. The Bioware team obviously spent a lot of time making sure the game looked very well. I just wished they spent more time on another part of the game...

But compared to the original trilogy, this game's graphics far exceed that of the previous games. Not perfect, but damn.

MECHANICS ~ 7.5/10

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Mechanics have changed considerably, there is now a crafting system which allows you to make upgrades, make armor, make your own weapons based on data from the Milky Way, Heleus Cluster, and the Remnant. Most of these weapons and armor will need to be researched in the Research and Development terminals in the game, you can augment your weapons and armor to give you an edge, and make stronger armor as you level up in game.

Multiplayer I haven't tried yet, but I assume it's similar to ME3 except you aren't fighting Reapers, Geth, Collectors, or Cerberus and the situations are different. Mass Effect 3 tried to incorporate multiplayer into the games story by making it Effective Military Strength against the Reapers (EMS) but it didn't really change anything, and due to the endings, getting the highest number possible was pointless as +4000 EMS was enough to save Shepard if he chose the destroy ending and nothing else. In Andromeda, the multiplayer is referred to as strike teams which help around Andromeda, in the campaign, you are able to deploy strike teams you earn over time by recruiting them at the strike team terminals. You send out these teams and they level up, earn XP, positive and negative traits depending on how the mission went, and so on and so forth. Time passes by in game and while you are out of game and once the mission is complete you debrief the team. If the team succeeded, you earn some packages (bronze, silver, or gold depending on the mission type) for you to open and gain what is in them. The strike team also gains XP and a possibly a positive trait. If they fail, they get XP or possibly a negative trait. APEX missions allow you to go to the mission as your multiplayer character I assume, I never tried them. For all I know, you go as Ryder and a team but I don't know for sure.

The AVP (Andromeda Viability Points) is another mechanic to discuss, these are the points you earn after completing tasks, missions, and other assignments in the Heleus cluster that help improve the viability of living in this new galaxy. The points go to Cryo pod opening, which allow you some bonuses to gain over time or immediately, some give credits, others give locations to new mining locations, you decide who is worth opening out of Cryo as the viability of the cluster improves through your actions.

The galaxy map is also a major mechanic overhaul, now that you are only exploring a single cluster in the Andromeda galaxy, you explore individual star systems rather than areas that Mass Relays are at in the Milky Way galaxy. You can explore the star systems as you please, you can look at new planets and if one of the pilots mentions an anomaly, you can scan and find resources, data, or XP. There are only a few select systems that have anything to do with the plot of the story, and a lot of the systems are not open until you complete more in the story.

The biggest problem with the galaxy map is the transitions between worlds and systems... Every time you move to a new location, an animation plays of you in the ship moving to said new location, EVERY. TIME. And before you say it, yes, they are unskipable as of 3/30/17. I hear Bioware is planning for an update to the game soon, perhaps they will add skippable cut scenes when it comes to exploration and leaving planets. 

One thing that upset me is the removal of the quick save function... so if you want to manual save, you need to go to the menu and save if you can. I got used to it, but I feel like it would have been simpler to just quick save if I could.

REPLAY-ABILITY ~ 6.5/10

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Replay-Ability I marked pretty low because as the game stands, it will be hard to replay this game after all the story has been revealed to you already. The sense of mystery is gone and you have already done everything before hand. But yet, I replay Mass Effect 1-3 all the time, so what makes this game different, easy; the size of the game. Normally, I like these kinds of games, lots of missions, lots to do, it's like Skyrim in space. But these kind of games you can only play once or twice a year if you really feel like it. Unlike Skyrim though, Andromeda has thing set in stone, the only thing that changes are your choices in the game, and once you've done them already, it won't really feel like a surprise anymore.

I'm likely to play this game again during the summer as Scott Ryder, but only when I have time, got other projects to do during the summer. But other than that, I can see people playing this game only once every few years until ME: Andromeda 2 comes out... If it comes out.

NOTEWORTHY FLAWS (flawed, but still a good game)

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I already mentioned the slow doors on Kadara, and the painful unskippable cutscenes when traveling to planets and exploring the system, but there is one thing I haven't mentioned yet until now. The animations.

The animation in the game is severely lacking in majority of the game. Characters seem unemotional in their faces 84% of the time when talking to them and when they do emote it is limited. There is a lack of body motion in all characters when speaking to them, lip sync is off in a lot of the game, and I've seen Ryder twist her head around too far too many times...

The animation is easily a game killer for many gamers, for me, I acknowledged it, but I didn't let it ruin my game too much.

Among other things, there are sometimes problems with the AI in the game, enemies sometimes float in the air doing nothing or standing in a place not doing anything, but that only happens rarely. There were a couple of times where the game bugs out and I can't complete a mission so I need to reload a save and it works fine.

Finally, crashes. Surprisingly, I had more crashes with the previous titles than this one. I only had one crash and it wasn't a CTD. The game put a notice out to me and told me something occurred and they had to quit the game (in-game, not in windows). So, other than that, the game functioned perfectly.

CONCLUSION/FINAL RANKING

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I'm getting tired of writing so I'll make this short and simple. My review is as honest as it can get. I have no bias on this game, I was hoping this would turn out to be different from the original trilogy, and I'm happy it turned out that way. It was supposed to be different, so the people EXPECTING and getting hyped for a game that they hoped would be like other previous installments were wrong and shouldn't have gotten that excited or hyped for such content. It's why there is a mixed reaction to the game, adding to that, the animations were the biggest target which I cannot deny.

But the flaws in this game DO NOT kill this game, it was an an incredible game in my eyes and I thoroughly enjoyed it and I look forward to playing it again during the summer and possibly for a sequel in the near future I hope.

Final ranking is: 8.4/10

Recommendation: If you are a Mass Effect Universe fan or are planning to get into it, buy the game right now, you won't regret it. If you loved the original titles but want more of the same, steer clear and wait until the game drops in price in a year or two, it probably won't be worth full price to you. 


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As comics on here... with Andromeda finished, I'll need to attend to my homework and once thats taken care of, I'm going to work more on my comics again... sorry for waiting on me everyone.