Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
I Wanted Mass Effect 4 But Got Something Better - Mass Effect: Andromeda Review - MMORPG.com
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
I Wanted Mass Effect 4 But Got Something Better - Mass Effect: Andromeda Review - MMORPG.com
Before I press on to an actual review, I want to ask this. Do you love Mass Effect series as much as I do? Have you re-played the trilogy in preparation to the latest addition to Mass Effect family and fought the urges to get all the spoilers? If so, this review is tailor-made for you. If it cannot be said about you, the review you will find below comes from someone who is somewhat biased towards the series.
Comments
Except that things like this completely ruin any immersion. Just check that facial expression in dialogue at 38 second +
I have no idea why is there so much hate for Bioware, is it just because they are with EA now? Because honestly all of their games were great, no exceptions. Even the latest DA:Inqusition, which was heavily hated on the internet won quite a lot of GOTY awards.
My biggest gripe with ME:Andromeda are the facial animations, they aren't bad, but neither are they great. When the rest of the game is AMAZING, it's hard to understand why didn't they bother to improve them. Hell they are way better than those in Fallout 4 (which are really bad), yet somehow FO4 is still better than 99% of the games released in this decade.
This is definitively a GOTY material. If 2016 was a pretty disappointing year for gaming (in terms of GOTY contenders, and in general game quality), then 2017 is definitively shaping up to be way better.
I actually had a ton of laughs watching it, yeah, they did a very bad job, the comparison with the witcher shows that well.
Basically clicking away text windows ruins every MMO, try to have fun instead of rushing things. Without story and lore all there is left is a bunch of mechanics.
Reply
Add Multi-Quote
Yup. That was me. Not only have I spent the past couple of months replaying all the ME games I went on to replay the DA games when I was done with that
Good review. You touched on a lot of the same things I did with my mini preview from the 7 hour mark. The story is very enjoyable as is the combat but the interface and folder nesting is annoying.
"Additionally, due to new “compass” (hello, Elder Scrolls) type navigation and multi-layered locations, it can be frustratingly hard to find exactly what you need to scan."
Yeah I noticed the Elder Scrolls type compass also. I could get used to that since I've played a lot of ES games as well as ESO but their implementation of that system with near identical icons for different things and just 2 colors, white or gold, make it annoying. I often couldn't even tell which were mission objectives and which was my waypoint.
And yes, the facial animations and especially the eyes are occasionally off but it isn't the huge deal some are making it out to be.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
http://i.imgur.com/qD7bu2I.mp4
http://i.imgur.com/tCYBGVR.gif
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
I agree with every word. I suppose I would have understood the huge hype people have over animations if previous BioWare games were known to have an amazing quality of them, and Andromeda was a huge let down in that department. But that obviously is not the case.
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
If it were sponsored, it would say so.
In the meantime, God forbid a well-known company actually releases a good game with some existing, but not game-breaking flaws, right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
They must have been paid to like it, amirite ?
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
Gamespot: 6/10
GamesRadar: 3.5 out of 5
IGN: 7.7 /10
I played the EA like SB a super bioware fan.. it wasn't OMG this is amazing but it def not omg this is HORRIBLE. So far what iv'e played is GOOD game. Unlike others I actually like the depth of the crafting system but to be fair, I enjoy crafting in all games that offer it. The crafting in MEA is deeper than a lot of other games but It can be a bit of a treasure hunt trying to find the right resources. The animation does not bother me enough to act like the game is ruined because of it.
The game for me lacks in the story department which is what I enjoy the most about Bioware Games. I think so far the characters i've met seem to be not as "thick" as previous crew members. The way they did conversation is a neat touch but it doesn't really seem to hold any true meaning other than just small talk.. for me at least, like I said i only played the 10 hour thing nothing more. Hopefully it gets better there. Maybe its not fair to compare this crew to Shepards crew but one cant help but draw comparisons. I noticed a lot of the Bioware archetypes as far as companions go, which was welcome but they just don't give me the initial excitement that others like Garus, Jack and Tali gave me.
A lot of the reviews are putting much weight on animations and graphics when really the writing/story is why Bioware fans really play their games. Hell even the SWTOR companions gave me a better initial impression than these guys.. again this is my opinion after 10 hrs so maybe it gets better? For me so far 7.5/10 with weight going to characters/writing Maybe because the overall tone is optimistic (diff for ME) so it just makes everything feel less serious or epic than it actually is.
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
The irony runs deeps wouldn't you say?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
From what I've gotten from other reviews is that the answer is no. Could you shed some light on these points that I've seen?
Side quests are dull, long and unfulfilling, there's no real exploration of the human condition when discussing things with NPCs, the conclusion of the main storyline is not satisfying, not enough to do on the other worlds. One review I think specifically mentioned the bottle thing and said that there wasn't anything like that in Andromeda. Now reading your writeup, I'm wondering if there's some chain dialogue or actions that they missed that you experienced?
On the BSN forums this guy did a review, is a diehard ME fan, he touched on the topics you discussed; but he had an entirely different take on it.
http://bsn.boards.net/thread/5579/vgs-reviewer-answered
Additionally, those quests trigger when you actually speak to your party-members while aboard the Tempest so, perhaps, someone not as keen on chatting things up as I am could have missed them.
Just for people who can't work with a scale of 10... 5 is what is called the middle, start using it properly instead of having everything in the high range even with some glaring flaws.
All those little conversations and interactions are what ME games are all about for me. Those side stories are often better than the main quests.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
The first one was epic