Video Game Review - Mass Effect: Andromeda

Mass Effect: Andromeda is set 600 years after the events of the original trilogy in the new vast galaxy of Andromeda where the Milky Way species are searching for a new home. Your character is one of the Ryder twins, children of the human Pathfinder Alec Ryder with the mission to find a new habitable planet for the human race. Soon after you will come out of the cryo pod you will realize Andromeda is a dangerous galaxy and the “golden” worlds are hazardous planets unfriendly to human race.

Although the story of Andromeda is good I can't stop comparing it with the amazing story of the original trilogy. The strong moments are here too but only a few of them feel as good as the ones in the previous games. Also the morale decision you will take in the game are not so impact full, you could get main characters killed or wipe out whole species in the trilogy, something we don't see here. Although the game is massive and you will need more than 60 hours to complete all the missions the main story feels short, it will take you around 15 hours on normal difficulty to complete it and will leave you with many questions. Questions that will hopefully be answered in DLCs. The squad members loyalty missions are back, revealing some of each member's backstory and let you create stronger bonds with your mates and even romance them. One of the new races you will encounter in Andromeda is the Angara, a very emotional humanoid alien race with a very interesting story and background. Soon after your first contact with them Jaal, a member of the angaran resistance and probably the most interesting character of the game, will join your team and help you built trust between the Initiative and Andromeda's natives.

The combat in Andromeda has been improved, the new jet pack makes your character very mobile allowing him to dodge out of harm ways and hover over the enemies exploiting their cover. The cover system is still there allowing you to hide behinds objects, avoiding damage and regain your shield. There are three different skill trees in the new Mass Effect, Combat, Biotic and Tech. Each one has nine active skills and three passive ones allowing you to build you character according to your play style. You will be able to have three active skills equipped at a time but you can create skill sets and change them on the go giving you more ways to deal with your enemies. Another new mechanic is the Profiles, allowing you to boost the skills and stats of specific skill trees. Unfortunately you don't have much control over your squad members which is a step back from the original trilogy. You are no longer able to equip them with new weapons or command them to use a skill as they act on their own. You can only command them to attack a specific enemy or move to a specific point. The new crafting system allows you to research, develop and craft many new weapons, armor, mods and upgrades for your Nomand making the characters customization even deeper.

There are many planets in Andromeda galaxy but only seven you can explore with most of them being really big full of quests, random events and resources to gather. The new ground vehicle called Nomad will allow you to travel faster on the planets and after you will unlock specific points on the map you will be able to fast travel between them. The travel between the planets is another thing tho, although the traveling animation is beautiful it takes too much time and that can be a real problem when you need to travel to different planets for a mission or you want to scan a system for resources.

Although the graphics of the game are beautiful a poor job has been done when it comes to facial animations. There are times where there are no facial expressions and the talking character feels like a robot, this is more often to human characters. Of course there are some exceptions but they are not enough to save the day. The voice acting is pretty good for most of the characters and can make you forget the problem with the animations. I have experienced minor technical difficulties playing the game on my PC compared to other AAA titles. There are bugs in the game for sure but no game breaking one.

Mass Effect: Andromeda's co-op multiplayer is done right. You can choose between 26 characters, each one with a unique set of abilities and weapons and fight against waves of enemies with three more players. At the end of each mission you will be awarded with items, mods and experience in order to upgrade your character, climb up the leaderboard and progress though more difficult missions.

Mass Effect: Andromeda may not reach the greatness of the original trilogy but is definitely a game worth your time.

PROS:
A vast world to explore
Good voice acting
Upgraded combat system
Multiplayer

CONS:
Facial Animations
Short main story
Can't stop comparing it with the original trilogy

7.5/10