Mass Effect Andromeda, finally done.

Since I have had this game from release day, I thought it about high time I sit down and finish it.

Now I was/am a huge fan of the original Mass Effect Trilogy. I grew to love the characters, the story, the game play and even didn’t mind the crappy ending of the final act. It was a series about the journey and not the destination. A great sci-fi game and story told over three games.

Now Mass Effect Andromeda comes along. I dove in and started playing and then I trailed off and stopped, started and stopped again. I just didn’r have the love or drive like to play like the previous Mass Effect trilogy.

Here the setting is another galaxy 600 years away from Earth. The task is to colonize this place and all that fun stuff. After some ship, space and alien issues your craft arrives in the Andromeda galaxy. Now it is time to start exploring and start to colonize. Well that is until some group of aliens called the Kett begin to cause issues. Plus there is this wyrd robot tech on planets that needs to be interfaced with that might be the key to terraforming. Plus the majority of the big Arks (ships full of friendly known aliens) have gone missing during/ after their arrival in Andromeda. Your sibling is in a coma, your dad is dead, the  bureaucracy is all heads up their ass and you are the new Pathfinder for the mission.

You know all the staples needed to get you out exploring the galaxy.

The Kett. The bad guys for this game.

You play one of the Ryder siblings and are a Pathfinder. A fancy term for scout, first responder, diplomat and black ops team leader. There are all the class choices like in the previous Mass Effect games: biotic, soldier, vanguard etc. You can mix and match  a bit this time through. Why not be a sniper with crazy metal powers? How about a soldier that can hover and throw out robotic gun turrets? You can more easily tailor your play style this go around.

I went full tech guy for electrical powers and robot sidekicks. I also threw in a sprinkling of soldier for the gun bonuses. It was effective and fun.

You of course gather a drew and begin to build friendships and a love interest if you care to do that bit too. Sadly, I didn’t care about the crew stuff. The previous Mass Effect games I really grew to like having Garrus, Kaiden, Ashley, Jack and Liara around to listen to their banter and such. Andromeda was different. I just didn’t really care what my crew was up to and didn’t really rotate people in and out of the group, unless I had to for missions. So yeah the whole social aspect of the game was a real blah for me, but that was due to the supporting cast. I just couldn’t get excited about dealing with any of them. I just seemed to keep Vetra and Drax in my party because I liked their skills in battle.

Speaking of battle the combat system here was alright. A third person shooter with a lot of cover, much like the previous games. They did throw in a jump pack for some shenanigans in combat. You still have loose control over your teammates too. Really it was almost identical to the previous games. Fast and fluid without a lot of thought.

The conversation wheel is back, but the moral choices aren’t. You have logical and emotional choices this time. There was no feeling of cause/effect with your choices. It really was just do I want to be Spock or Kirk while talking and that was it. A big downer from previous games where being a nice guy or utter jerk face was much more fun.

The story was alright even if it was fairly predictable. They had a minor plot twist that was just kind of  “meh.” It did leave itself open for a sequel, that will sadly never happen with the news that Mass Effect was being shuttered and shelved.

Some of the animations were off, but everyone knew that day one. I didn’t find it too jarring. Sure the lips and voices didn’t match 100% of the time. Was it annoying? Not really. Did the occasional background character have a spastic fit or walk like having rickets? Sometimes. Once again it was not an issue. I mean I have seen much worse and more frequent animation issues in the Elder Scrolls games and Fallout 4. I’m not sure why people lost their minds over occasional wonky animations in this game.

Multiplayer is co-op and just little fire team missions against waves of foes. I played enough to get a guy to level 20 and then never went back.

Not a bad system and a must do for completest or achievement hogs.

Planet exploration was good times!

The planet and space exploration is what I really enjoyed. The semi-open worlds were fun to drive around looking for loot, missions or stuff to shoot. The weapon and armor crafting system was simple and just enough to not be overly cumbersome and tedious. I did find great pleasure in making rifles that either shot concentrated beams of energy or lightning.

Space planet scanning and such was kind of  a waste this time around.

Mass Effect Andromeda is a mixed bag game for me. I like the game play, character and weapon customization. The overall story was ok. The lack of morality choices was a bummer. I mean playing a full paragon or renegade is much more fulfilling than what was given out here.  The characters and their story arcs were just not engaging enough for me.  

If you are a fan of the franchise there is enough here that feels like Mass Effect for a play through.

I’m not made at Mass Effect Andromeda, I’m just disappointed.