So for anyone wondering where I have been for the last few weeks, I have been travelling throughout the Andromeda galaxy.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. When this game was released, there was a lot of negative views going around about poor animation and issues with game itself, to that end I will state this: In my 65+ hours of campaign (and countless more in multiplayer) I have encountered the stated issues, BUT in my experience and the experience of those I have discussed it with (majority on Xbox One), those issues are comparable in quantity to other games where the campaign would be 80-100 hours and upwards.
For those of you wondering, there have been multiple reported issues of animation (facial and character movements), loading glitches and issues with texture mapping. I have experienced them throughout the game, some frustrating, some hilarious, in fact, I wish I had captured the occasion where an NPC had a conversation with me, and the only animated part of her face was her upper lip.
Sample animation glitch
Having said that, though present, these glitches have no more effect on the enjoyment of the game than the glitches in games such as those from Fallout or The Elder Scrolls series.
Storywise Mass Effect delivers a story to encompass moving about a vast area, both in terms of space and planetfall, that won’t see you lacking for things to do. They have gone a lot less linear in the required missions as well, given that the main method to progress through any planet requires the playthrough of multiple side missions and NPC tasks in order to reach a required threshold, but not to the detriment of the game.
The game brings you into the story and objectives in such a way as to never leave you feeling overwhelmed with choices at any point, whilst still allowing you a decent number of choices to decide in which direction you wish to proceed.
Gameplay compared to previous games is a step up. Travelling and exploring is not tedious (though space travel can at times push the limit of that statement), and there seems to be the right number of fast travel points that you never have to travel too far later in the game, but also you don’t skip using them just to travel the distance quicker yourself. The Nomad does not have the tedious behaviours of the Mako from the previous games, and the players jump jets and boosting allow for much more versatility in exploring and getting around.
Combat, both in single player and multiplayer, has taken the proven system used previously in Mass Effect games and given you more flexibility in moving around. You almost wonder how you could have played the previous games without the ability to traverse the map by jumping or boosting around. This not only allows for a much more fluid combat experience, allowing for you to easily move your teammates, or yourself, into flanking positions, but also to get out of trouble quickly if your shields and health drop too low.
Adding to that an added focus on achieving combos with powers, you have a great opportunity to deal out damage in great amounts at a fast rate. Several abilities now have a listing as a ‘primer’ or a ‘detonator’, in the world of combo detonations, a primer is a fuse, and a detonator is a match. Pairing them up causes damage not only to the target but usually to an area of effect associated with the detonation causing damages to enemies close by.
I am not a fan of star ratings, but I have to say that if space faring games, with adventure, exploring, shooting, attack robots, sex with aliens and space magic are your thing, this is definitely a game to get and enjoy.
Farreg 