I can’t wait for the Mass Effect trilogy in high definition. I’m so excited, in fact, that I gave in and tried to play Mass Effect Andromeda, a game that I intentionally avoided at launch. It wasn’t due to the wobbly-faced Gifs, although that doesn’t help, but more because of the collective ‘meh’ he drew from everyone who played (including my colleagues).
When I went to buy the game a few weeks ago, I realized that I had already bought it – two years ago. I caught Mass Effect Andromeda: Deluxe Recruit Edition in 2019, for less than ten dollars, straight from the PSN store. (If you want an easy signal that a game did not go well, check how quickly the price drops online.) But I hadn’t played it yet. I think I was coming out of a series of long games and I was not willing to invest time, especially with a game that could ruin a series for me.
But living alone during this pandemic gave me a lot (read: a lot) of time to play with my game card, and now it was time to explore Andromeda.
Now I’ve finished exploring and realize that it’s not a bad game. It is not good enough for those who loved the series. The quality varied enormously throughout the game. Some planets and sections looked lovingly designed and planned, while others looked like areas of a note with a random environmental hazard. (Don’t tell me about all the repetitive parts that seem to fill half the game, like the ‘remnant’ temple structures you need to activate to colonize your pioneers.)
I could tell when one planet received more love and attention than others. The first was Elaaden, the home of Andromeda for the Krogan warriors, a wasteland with enormous wells, soft insects, scavengers and a surface temperature that was not geared towards human biology. The side missions here had a wild west flavor, with new political twists and touches on building their relationship with their squad member Krogan, and the mystery behind what went wrong at Nexus, the basis of collective space for all species. who made the trip to Andromeda.
Without spoiling anything. the final location also looks absolutely beautiful, with lush plants, space battles in the sky and a frantic run that takes you through everything. I later found out that I couldn’t go back to this place to explore in the post-game section. What a waste.
Other planets and locations are typically smaller than Elaaden, and the same criticism could be made in most parts of the original games, which lacked the raw power to render larger areas.
But it’s these larger areas that explore what’s new with Andromeda: exploration. I am not surprised that Bioware planned to focus on exploration with this game, based on the narrative and the refined action base in the first three titles. (Kotaku published a great deep dive into its troubled development.)