With Mass Effect: Andromeda’s release a little over a week away, reviews for the game have been pouring in for the highly anticipated return of the Mass Effect Universe. That being said, the game has some very mixed opinions on many aspects of the game that are normally not an issue, at least with the first three installments of the game.
While Andromeda is not part of the story of the original series, the game is set with the same alien races and similar looking worlds. The goal of Andromeda is to find a place for the human race to survive within the Andromeda galaxy. The hostile environment makes this task seem difficult and takes a bit of work to finally accomplish this goal.
While on this journey however, one of the huge critiques of the game is that the facial animations are horrible. I hate to use that word but from what is in the game and what reviewers have noted about them, the game seems to fall way short in the animation department when in cut scenes. Game Informer even noted that, “Lurking beneath the ups and downs of the Andromeda’s gameplay and story is a baffling network of technical issues, clunky menus, and unexplained systems.”
It would appear that the best part of the game however is its multiplayer. Fans of Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer will enjoy Andromeda and the new additions it has made. Take a look at the reviews below and see what some key people think about the game overall.
GameSpot- 6/10
“In many ways, Andromeda feels like a vision half-fulfilled. It contains a dizzying amount of content, but the quality fluctuates wildly. Its worlds and combat shine, but its writing and missions falter–and the relative strength of the former is not enough to compensate for the inescapable weakness of the latter. As a Mass Effect game, Andromeda falls well short of the nuanced politics, morality, and storytelling of its predecessors. For me, the series has always been about compelling characters and harrowing choices, so to find such weak writing here is bitterly disappointing. Yet even after 65 hours, I still plan on completing a few more quests. The game can’t escape its shortcomings, but patient explorers can still find a few stars shining in the darkness.”– Scott Butterworth
GameInformer- 8/10
“When taken as its own journey (and not in comparison to Shepard’s saga), Mass Effect: Andromeda is fun, and the important parts work. The narrative isn’t astounding, but keeps you invested and drives you forward. The combat is entertaining whether you’re in single-player or multiplayer. The crew isn’t my favorite, but I like them and they have some good moments. Even with its other problems, these are the largest forces shaping your experience with Mass Effect: Andromeda, and they make it worth playing. At the same time, I was often left looking through a haze of inconveniences and dreaming about the game it could have been.” — Joe Juba
Polygon- 7.5/10
“After a number of complaints, it might seem odd to end on such a positive note. Let’s be clear: I’m conflicted about Mass Effect: Andromeda. There’s a lot of roughness throughout the game, and the technical issues, while not game-breaking, are often incredibly distracting. But it’s my time with the cast that I’m still thinking about, and the mysteries about the world that haven’t been answered that make me feel like I’m waiting once again for a new Mass Effect game. And if I’m judging a game by where it leaves me, Andromeda succeeds, even if it stumbled getting there.”– Arthur Gies
PC World- 2.5/5
“My point is: It’s mediocre, not awful. This review slants negative because I find the writing mostly bad, but my experience with Andromeda is almost worse in some ways: For much of my 55 hours with it, I felt nothing at all. It just exists, content to let you run from fetch quest to fetch quest, chasing the appearance of importance while saying nothing at all. It’d be easier to just condemn the whole endeavor and write it off, but that’s not entirely fair. I’m mostly ambivalent, or “I’m not mad, just disappointed,” as my parents might’ve said—and ouch, that always stung much worse.”– Hayden Dingman