Mass Effect Andromeda Reviews
There are a handful of good stories to be found in Andromeda, but they’re hidden away, worthwhile moments tucked within hours and hours of disposable ones. In an effort to be as comprehensive as possible in tone, styles of mission objective and purpose, the game ends up feeling as impossibly vast as nature but as rigid and artificial as a computer system.
Andromeda is not a terrible game, but it's not what could have been. I applaud BioWare for what they've done with the game and their willingness to accept the original trilogy "as is" while branching out into a wildly different territory. The introduction of the Kett, the mystery surrounding the Remnant, and the new combat system makes this game a fun experience in its own right. Tossing in the extra baggage of tedious/pointless quests, annoying glitches (hopefully fixed by the first major patch), and a general empty feeling makes me wonder about what might have been.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is a game for a different kind of gamer. Those who can appreciate the lore and immense depth of stories upon stories, upon stories. However, if you're a newcomer and are interested in the content that this game brings, I encourage you, it is a wonderful ride. The universe, characters, tone, the music… EVERYTHING plays a part in this game and melds together in a way that feels like this could be where our technology heads towards in 600 years.
A worthy entry into the Mass Effect series on the basis of lore, story, and characters. However, technical failings hold it back.
Mass Effect: Andromeda presents plenty of great ideas, but these tend to be either aped too closely from its predecessors or buried under issues that are surmountable yet frustrating all the same.
Mass Effect: Andromeda manages to successfully bring back the sense of exploration and discovery that fans have longed for since the original Mass Effect, whilst honing and improving the already enjoyable combat mechanics of Mass Effect 3. The result is something truly special – a metaphorical slow burn, a hybrid that is sure to appeal to fans of both the original game and its flashier sequels. Despite this, Andromeda is hampered slightly by its lack of visual polish and presentation, which can kill the wonder and fantasy as quickly as it builds it.
You might initially turn your nose up at Mass Effect: Andromeda, but stick with it and you'll be richly rewarded with a vast space opera that gets better and better. It has problems, but they pale into insignificance once you're swept up in the exploits of Mass Effect: Andromeda's Pathfinder.
Andromeda is superb, easily jettisoning Ryder and crew ahead of Commander Shepard and his team.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is a huge and addictive game which stands for nearly 100 hours, but unfortunately is suffering from a few irrelevant ideas. If Bioware did not look for changes where they were not needed, the end results would have made a better impression.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Great combat and decent story ideas are largely squandered by a game that buckles under the weight of its technical flaws
A divisive entry in a lauded series, which manages to succeed despite encumbering its open-world design and interesting upbeat narrative with lacklustre combat and poor UI.
Mass Effect games usually have decent gameplay and focus on an exceptionally written story with very engaging characters. This one feels completely reversed as the gameplay is loads of fun, with a lot of experimentation, and is also well executed. The story on the other hand suffers from major problems along with most of the characters being bland and boring. Multiplayer may be fun to play, but very little has been added to the mode to keep you engaged for long unless you’re a hardcore fan of the mode. Overall the game doesn’t really innovate much in the way of newness and there is some work to be done to make the sequel to be a success the Mass Effect that surpasses the original games. However, there is a lot of potential to explore in this brand new galaxy.
Mass Effect Andromeda is a huge space opera, made by interesting character stories and a beautiful and dynamic combat system, set up in beautiful planets rich of activities and sub quest.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.
Mass Effect Andromeda is a little rough around the edges but still provides fans of this series or newcomers an immersive experience in another part of this universe. There’s some good storytelling and world building with interesting gameplay mechanics to help keep you invested. I like my protagonist of Sara Ryder and even though she’s no Commander Shepherd, we did have a connection and I look forward to visiting this universe time and time again. Sure, the graphics can cause some issues at times and as mentioned, hopefully these will be resolved in the future but overall, Mass Effect Andromeda ticks all the right boxes when it comes to space exploration as it channels its persona from science fiction. Sure, there is still grinding involved as you ‘level-up’ your character but if you make the investment, Mass Effect Andromeda delivers on most levels.
Exhilarating combat, marred by awkward interactions and pervasive bugs.
There's a decent game in here somewhere, but Mass Effect: Andromeda feels like a collaboration from Mass Effect fans rather than a group of known and established developers.
Despite its vague links to the trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda can largely be described as a soft reboot for the series. For the most part, this has worked out really well for Bioware, giving them a launching pad to take the story ahead in future installments. The game is not without its problems, but the wealth of content on offer here will suck you right into the experience.
Whether it’s the combat system that is both new and familiar or multiplayer with its improvements or the interesting variety of quests or the epic score that screams Mass Effect, it all gels together into a whole. Ryder’s galaxy is as well-suited to her as the Milky Way was for Shepard. If we’re lucky, there are a lot more adventures in store for Ryder and her crew. To take a phrase from the original trilogy’s Anderson, “You did good, BioWare. You did good and I’m proud of you.”
At times, Mass Effect: Andromeda can feel like an expansion and not a true follow-up.