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Mass Effect Andromeda

Mass Effect Andromeda is the start of something beautiful, even with its glitches as you explore the unknown.
62%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
stability, grinding
68% User Score Based on 20 reviews
Critic Score 72%Based on 61 reviews

Platforms

Xbox Series X|SPCXbox Game PassPlaystation 5CloudPlaystation 4Xbox OneXbox Cloud GamingXboxEa OriginPlayStationWindows

About

Mass Effect: Andromeda is a Sci-Fi shooter game with single-player, co-op, and multi-player modes, set in a distant galaxy. The game features excellent mechanics, visuals, and customization options, including additional armor, weapons, and a space-monkey pet with the Deluxe Edition. However, it also includes extensive grinding and bugs that may impact gameplay.

Mass Effect Andromeda screenshot
Mass Effect Andromeda screenshot
Mass Effect Andromeda screenshot
Mass Effect Andromeda screenshot
Mass Effect Andromeda screenshot
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68%
Audience ScoreBased on 20 reviews
story19 positive mentions
stability17 negative mentions

  • Mass Effect: Andromeda features vastly improved combat mechanics and fluid gameplay, making battles feel fast-paced and engaging.
  • The game offers a large, diverse universe with stunning visuals and a wealth of content to explore, including numerous side quests and planets.
  • The character development and interactions can be enjoyable, with some memorable characters and a narrative that becomes more engaging as the game progresses.
  • The game suffers from numerous technical issues, including bugs, glitches, and poor facial animations that detract from the overall experience.
  • The story and dialogue often feel lackluster and predictable, with many choices leading to the same outcomes, reducing the impact of player decisions.
  • Many side quests are repetitive and lack depth, leading to a feeling of padding that makes the game feel longer than necessary without adding meaningful content.
  • story
    124 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story in "Mass Effect: Andromeda" is a mixed bag, with many players noting that it feels padded with repetitive side quests and lacks the depth and engagement of the original trilogy. While some missions and character arcs are compelling, the overall narrative is often criticized for being predictable and uninspired, with many characters feeling underdeveloped. Despite these shortcomings, the game offers a vast universe to explore, and some players appreciate the emotional moments and potential for future storylines.

    • “The richness and depth of the story, the character development, and the sense of 'this is important...' contributed to a deep and satisfying emotional experience as well as a fun 'bang-bang-shoot-em-up' thrill ride.”
    • “The story becomes bigger and bigger, and especially once you start terraforming your first planet by 'rebooting' it, you will get a feeling of where this story is heading to.”
    • “A welcome return to Bioware’s space opera, introducing great characters, an interesting story, and some fantastic designs, always providing things to do.”
    • “The problem is that there's just so much filler; it's hard to follow the already very lackluster main story.”
    • “Way too many quests play out like 'talk to character A' -> 'visit planet site 1' -> return to ship to check email -> 'talk to character B' -> visit planet site 2 -> return to ship to check email -> 'return to talk to character A', etc., which gets extremely repetitive and tedious with zero discernible impact on the story.”
    • “The story itself, while lacking the depth of any of the first three, is at least interesting enough to keep me playing.”
  • gameplay
    33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many praising its fluid combat mechanics and strategic elements like jetpacks, which enhance multiplayer experiences. However, players have noted issues such as bugs, slow pacing in the early hours, and a lack of engaging story elements, leading to a perception that while the gameplay is enjoyable, it doesn't fully meet the expectations set by previous titles in the series. Overall, the gameplay is considered a highlight, but it is marred by technical problems and narrative shortcomings.

    • “One of the highlights of the game is not only the excellent graphics, but the gameplay itself.”
    • “The gameplay is fun, fast, and exciting.”
    • “This one feels completely reversed as the gameplay is loads of fun, with a lot of experimentation, and is also well executed.”
    • “A week after installing the game, it is still stalling and timing out during gameplay.”
    • “Just play Deus Ex: Mankind Divided if you want to endure terrible combat and movement mechanics.”
    • “Sticking around long enough for the story to grab you is an arduous task; gameplay out of combat can be quite stiff, with plenty of bugs.”
  • graphics
    24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics in the game have received mixed reviews, with many praising the stunning visuals and detailed environments, particularly in space, while others criticize the character animations and optimization issues on lower-end systems. Players noted that the art style and world design are impressive, but some experienced graphical artifacts and performance problems. Overall, while the game showcases beautiful scenery and immersive worlds, it falls short in character detail and optimization for a broader range of hardware.

    • “One of the highlights of the game is not only the excellent graphics, but the gameplay itself.”
    • “The graphic designers, world designers, texture artists, and effects artists put an incredible amount of work into bringing these worlds to life, and it has paid off in ways anyone would be hard-pressed to beat.”
    • “If you have a top-end system that can run everything on ultra, the graphics for the game are gorgeous.”
    • “The character creation felt really old, very limited and graphically very dated.”
    • “My laptop (4700mq, gt750m, 16gb ram) is barely able to run this at the lowest quality and resolution settings (720p), at which this looks far worse than ME1, which tells me this is not a well-optimized game graphically.”
    • “Even with the shiny new graphics, everything just seems better designed in ME3 and I can't think of a system that is actually better here.”
  • stability
    17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The stability of the game has been a significant concern among users, with many reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and animation issues that detract from the overall experience. While some players noted improvements after initial patches, the game still feels unfinished and riddled with technical problems, particularly during the early stages. Overall, unless players are particularly eager to engage with the game, the persistent stability issues may lead to frustration and a lack of enjoyment.

    • “I wanted to give this game at least a 2, but the buggy download and install was simply unacceptable.”
    • “Update 21 April 2017 on my second playthrough, and this game is buggy beyond belief.”
    • “Mass Effect Andromeda is clearly unfinished and remains riddled with countless bugs and glitches.”
  • music
    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the ambient tracks that enhance exploration and the combat music that matches the intensity of battles. However, many feel that the overall soundtrack is a step down from previous entries in the series, lacking the emotional depth and distinctiveness that characterized earlier titles. While there are enjoyable tracks, the music is often described as feeling contrived and less impactful compared to the original Mass Effect trilogy.

    • “The loading screen soundtrack is mesmerizing, evoking a sense of mystery and wonder that promises adventures to come.”
    • “The universe, characters, tone, the music… everything plays a part in this game and melds together in a way that feels like this could be where our technology heads towards in 600 years.”
    • “Ambient music can be nice while exploring.”
    • “The music seems like a small step down, but there are some tracks that I've enjoyed.”
    • “Some facial and body animations are not polished; the music is undistinguished.”
    • “Mass Effect Andromeda feels like a rushed entry into a struggling IP - a poorly executed swan song aimed at rinsing a game's last market value down to a dry sponge.”
  • grinding
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Reviews indicate that the grinding aspect of the game is largely viewed as tedious and repetitive, with many missions feeling like filler and lacking meaningful impact on the story. Players express frustration with the convoluted crafting system, cumbersome quest management, and unnecessary animations that contribute to a sense of monotony. Despite these criticisms, some players still find enjoyment in the game overall.

    • “Way too many quests play out like 'talk to character A' -> 'visit planet site 1' -> return to ship to check email -> 'talk to character B' -> visit planet site 2 -> return to ship to check email -> 'return to talk to character A', etc... which gets extremely repetitive and tedious and with zero discernible impact on the story.”
    • “[doesn’t feel much like a new galaxy at all, most missions feel like pointless filler, and quite a few repeat ad nauseum, dialogue often cringeworthy or—worse, maybe—just bland and tedious]”
    • “[not well optimized on PC, atrocious character animations during cutscenes, cumbersome menus, managing multiple quests at once is incredibly tedious, investigating optional planets is unrewarding.]”
  • optimization
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, the game's optimization has received significant criticism, with reports of texture pop-ins, performance dips during cutscenes, and poor graphical fidelity even on lower settings. Users have noted that the game struggles to run smoothly on various hardware, particularly on consoles, and suffers from glitchy animations and cumbersome menus, detracting from the overall experience. While some aspects like exploration and combat are praised, the technical issues overshadow these strengths.

    • “Exploration and combat are excellent, with massive worlds featuring hundreds of quests and beautiful graphics optimized for PC.”
    • “Not well optimized on PC, with atrocious character animations during cutscenes and cumbersome menus.”
    • “Some texture pop-in and performance dips during cutscenes.”
    • “The series has stumbled into a new generation, weighed down by tedious open world tropes and a catalogue of performance issues on the PS4.”
    • “Glitchy, with performance issues, poor character models and animations, and a predictable narrative.”
  • character development
    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development in the game is praised for its richness and depth, contributing to a satisfying emotional experience alongside engaging gameplay. While some players note the simplified character design and limited options, the overall exploration and lore provide a rewarding experience for fans who appreciate character growth. The combination of diverse combat and strong narrative elements enhances the game's appeal.

    • “The richness and depth of the story, the character development, and the sense of 'this is important...' contributed to a deep and satisfying emotional experience as well as a fun 'bang-bang-shoot-em-up' thrill ride.”
    • “Fantastic diverse combat, strong character development, killer soundtrack.”
    • “The first of these is the simplified character design.”
    • “Yes, there are limited options, but having logged hundreds of hours with the trilogy (playing every character class multiple times), the character design can end up being a little too much of a good thing.”
  • humor
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is characterized by intentional spoofs and comedic elements, such as the absurdity of gameplay on outdated hardware and humorous in-game references. However, some players find certain mechanics, like the invisible animal warning, to be more frustrating than funny. Overall, the humor adds a lighthearted touch, though it can be hit or miss depending on the context.

    • “One thing that would be funny if it weren’t such a pain is that Drak tells you to listen for growls because an invisible animal is sneaking up on you.”
    • “The folks in Redwood City, CA are laughing all the way to the bank.”
    • “Some of those videos are spoofs from people who purposely break the game by running it on old hardware; it's meant to be funny, and they want to cash in on YouTube views.”
  • replayability
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    While some players rate the game's replayability highly, citing an 8.5 to 9 score, others feel that the lack of significant consequences from their choices diminishes the incentive to replay, resulting in limited overall replay value.

    • “Overall, I would give this game an 8.5, maybe a 9 for its replay value.”
    • “The variety of choices and outcomes makes me want to play through the game multiple times.”
    • “I think the biggest problem I have with the game is that whatever decision I make doesn’t seem to have any major impact on the ending, so there isn’t much replay value.”
  • emotional
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players highlight the emotional depth of the game, noting that the rich storytelling and character development create a profound and satisfying experience, balancing intense action with meaningful moments.

    • “The richness and depth of the story, the character development, and the sense of 'this is important...' contributed to a deep and satisfying emotional experience, as well as a fun 'bang-bang-shoot-em-up' thrill ride.”
  • monetization
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Reviews highlight concerns regarding the transparency of monetization practices, with users questioning the alignment between advertising claims and actual game content.

    • “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, as it prioritizes profit over player experience.”
    • “I can't believe how many microtransactions are crammed into this game; it feels like a cash grab.”
    • “The constant push for in-game purchases ruins the overall enjoyment and immersion.”
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