Mass Effect Andromeda isn’t merely one game, but two folded in upon themselves. One is exactly what we had hoped for, a Mass Effect version of Dragon Age: Inquisition, with all the exploration and ideas any fan could hope for. The other verges upon self-parody so often that you only need Mel Brooks’ involvement to turn the game into a Spaceballs reboot. The sad thing is, you can’t separate one from the other.
This makes me quite sad, though I love the image used here.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of this series and for a while I don't know what it was but I'd had my doubts about this one, and this on top of what's happened in the forums just confirms what I was afraid of.
In case you're curious about what happened on the forums, it was stated many times that this was developed by a different team and apparently had many people on it who loved the earlier games and were very excited to work on this one, despite their lack of experience. I can appreciate the effort but I guess I'll be waiting a while to pick it up.
Rewarding competence isnt the EA way...
DeleteYeah, the image does unfortunately sum up the game in its previous state rather well. The writing has plenty of big flaws or problematic elements, but even when it did get going the animation nor notable glitches just kept undercutting any drama. Case and point- The game pulls off a pretty damn great twist involving the krogan and sets up an interesting dynamic involving a power play. It's enough to get you hooked, but it then tries to have a duel between the krogan which looks as if it was designed for completely different models. Or, in another case, a crime boss is lounging on a sofa and leans slightly towards one side in the classic "i'm in power" body language. The game doesn't know when to stop though, so throughout the rest of the scene she's cramming herself into a corner, contorting her body. Most of these are admittedly being sorted out, but it's still an okay game rather than a truly outstanding one.
DeleteAs for the development points from the forums, that doesn't surprise me. I did a bit of digging to follow up on that comment, but truth be told this sort of thing has been going on for a while Bioware has name and brand appeal, and it's seen as a seal of quality even after Mass Effect 3's original endings. EA seemed to realise this and, well, there's now several Biowares with little to no connection with the original like this one. I'd still say Andromeda is worth picking up a few months down the line though, once most of the technical issues have been sorted out and it's going for a discounted price.
Glad I didn't buy it straight out of the gate.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, though they are fixing a lot of the animation issues and major gaming glitches. It's worth keeping an eye on this one for a while and picking it up later on if you do like what you see.
DeleteYou can't fix a poor story, underdeveloped plot, bad voice acting, non existent character development and poor dialogue. That would require redoing the entire game from scratch and yes it's that bad.
ReplyDelete