I went into this game completely blind, I had heard of the Mass Effect series before but for whatever reason I'd paid little attention to it. Seeing as I was desperate for a lengthy single player game, I purchased Andromeda on a bit of a whim, and I don't regret it one bit, despite it's flaws I hugely enjoyed this game from start to finish.
I have only played one Bioware game before and that was the superb Knights of the old republic, so I had an idea of what I was getting myself into. Andromeda is set over six hundred years after Mass Effect 3, in which the Andromeda initiative has arrived at a new galaxy (Andromeda), specifically in the Heleus cluster. On arrival at Habitat 7, a planet they had planned to colonise, they find that it's not quite in the condition that they had assumed it to be, which brings them into contact with the main villains of the game, the Kett, which is being led by the Archon. As a pathfinder it's up to you to explore the cluster and find worlds to colonise whilst helping the locals fight against the Kett.
Andromeda is an open world, science fiction, adventure game that gives the player the freedom to choose their own path through the story. From the start you can pick between a male or female character, if you want you can customise your character's appearance, the customisation is basic but good enough to toy around with.
The game progresses through numerous types of missions, you have your priority missions which you have to complete to get through the main narrative, you have allied missions in which you help your crew members for personal reasons, and then you have various tasks on each of the planets that you visit. The missions are a bit mixed, the non priority missions can be really monotonous and repetitive, typically consisting of going from point A to Point B, and then back again. What saves this is the effective third person gameplay, the shooting is frantic, fun and runs smoothly. The automatic cover system is a blessing and sometimes a curse, it allows the action to flow with a high pace, and it's responsive for the most part. But it does take away a little agency from the player, it narrows the scope of how the player can approach certain moments, and you are sure to find yourself (particularly on the higher difficulty levels) in situations where the level design just doesn't fit the cover system, the constant barrage of bullets often leaves you stranded with no way to escape, no matter what you try.
The crafting is a little complicated at first because the game doesn't really do a good job of explaining the intimidating amount of menus and text you have to go through. It wasn't until the halfway point that I got the hang of it. Each time you level up you'll get skill points to use how you wish, you get a choice of upgrading your combat, biotic and tech, and from each of these you get a variety of choices to use as your three special abilities whilst in combat. There is something for everyone, whether you like to be aggressive or more cautious, you can create your character's abilities to fit your playing style.
Companions...
It wouldn't be a space adventure without an ensemble of supporting characters, the good news is that Andromeda does have interesting supporting characters, all with their own unique combat skills if you choose to have them in your three party team while exploring the different planets. But it's done in half measures.
While there's a few standout characters, the majority of them are kind of passable at best, and I had little motivation to go out of my way to get to know many of them. Which is what you will have to do because it's only inbetween the missions and once you complete the allied missions that you will get an understanding of who they are. Which is a shame because I think there could have been a better way to have done this through the main storyline rather than through what can sometimes feel like busy work.
Planetary exploration and visuals...
The various planets you explore are your typical kind, the desert planet, the ice and snow planet, the forest planet. This is not a bad thing, they are all visually interesting and colourful, with a great scale to them. As with most open world games, these maps will have marker points dotted around, each of them presenting different tasks you have to complete until the planet is one hundred percent viable to live on. The planets are reasonably big and quite barren in truth, but you have a large vehicle called the 'Nomad' which you can navigate across the various kinds of terrain. It's actually rather fun to skirt from one point to the next.
The 'Tempest' spaceship that becomes your home and way of exploration through the galaxy is wonderfully designed inside and out, you can explore the inside whenever you please. You'll eventually wish that it was a real place that you could go to. While on the spaceship you can also talk to the other characters, buy and sell items, research and develop weapons, amongst other things.
Now let's talk about the character animations shall we, by now they have become infamous since the game's release. And they aren't really up to scratch for this generation (even with the current patch). While it can be distracting, it never took me out of the game, even in the few emotional moments that there are I never felt that it was a problem. Much like Life is strange, the story and gameplay are at the heart of the game, and in both cases I was more than pleased.
The path you take...
Although this is my first Mass Effect, I am familiar with the different dialogue choices that is a staple of the series, and they return for Andromeda. However the scope of your choices has changed, now there are four choices you can pick from, logical, professional, emotional and casual. I applaud any game that allows the player to widen their own path through the story, it's what I loved about Knights of the old Republic, and it's one of the reasons why I liked Andromeda, but it's unfortunately not used to its full potential. Many of the choices are too similar and few of them make any real difference, the original trilogy had a more black and white path where you could choose between renegade and paragon. On reflection it might have been best if they had stuck to it, it could have given Andromeda more potency to its story, which quickly fizzles out by the end.
Technical glitches...
I can't finish this review without mentioning the numerous glitches in the game, which include enemies spawning in mid air, the main character suddenly slowing down while walking, I've even had moments where I would be stuck in the environment unable to move no matter what I tried. These are just a few of the minor technical problems. In this day and age these kind of things should be unforgivable, but while it caused some frustration it never killed the experience.
Verdict
Despite the shortcomings of its story (of which I was always invested in), and lack of direction in its uneven missions, Andromeda had me hooked from the start. While repetitive, the gameplay was addictive and rewarding, by the end I felt I'd made real friendships with my crew members, and I'd been on a journey of discovery. If you are fan of the original trilogy then I'm sure you will feel at home here. For those like me, who had never played any of the Mass Effect games, if you are keen for a lengthy and rewarding single player game, then perhaps you should do what I did and take a leap into the dark, because I recommend this game.
8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment