The joking title bestowed on the game "Mass Effect Blandromeda" is fitting.
Bioware has earned a reputation for stellar writing complex and emotionally gripping scenes/situations, realistic characters and generally user-friendly games that almost anyone can pick up a controller and jump into.
None of that is true for Andromeda.
The user interface (UI) is clunky, massively cluttered and most of what is offered is completely unnecessary and can be ignored. There are far too many 'currencies' in the game depending on what you want to do (crafting an item, settling a planet, buying items, etc).
The dialogue is immersion-breaking. You get a very early taste of this on the first mission. Where there should be a silent tension as you crash land on your first planet. You've been separated from your father and the rest of the team, attempt your first communication with a new alien species and found them hostile, and then your dude bro squad-mate Liam quips "I think I made him angry. Maybe because I shot him in the face!!" Another point in the game, the protagonist Ryder is confronted with another (supposedly) emotion scene only to declare "Wow, this is some serious sh*t!" in a half bemused tone. Or I could mention Addison's now meme-worthy quip "My face is tired from...everything." In the end though it's not even the terrible animation or the stereotypical trope-y crew that really ruins Andromeda, it's the fact that they're clearly trying to be Bethesda without understanding the slightest reason why games like Skyrim and Fallout are so enjoyable and work.
Bioware clearly learned nothing from the criticisms of it's level design, overly large yet empty maps or umpteen fetch quests from Dragon Age: Inquisition which is also why many fans are calling this "Dragon Age in Space" or "Mass Effect: Inquisition" and rightfully so. It feels exactly the same as playing that did. Hours of searching around bland, overly large maps that tried to compete with Skyrim with none of the charm or effort put in to create unique areas to explore. Bethesda created over 300 unique, handcrafted dungeons, towns, caves and buildings to explore in Skyrim. Bioware apparently can't even be bothered to create more than 5 unique structures. All five planets you can land on and explore are filled with the exact same three (or so) Kett structures, just repetitively copy/pasted every 100 feet or so. I hope you like storming the exact same one or two room structure 200 times because you're going to in Andromeda.
Quests should advance the main plot, tell you something about a main character or be done to introduce you to a part of the level you haven't seen before. They should also have a certain amount of fluidity insomuch that you don't have to return to the same planet or area of the map repetitively, yet Andromeda is guilty of both so many times over. In well designed games, you generally can complete ALL the objectives/quests in a certain area and then move on and never return. In Andromeda? Want to complete this fetch quest you found from a random data-pad about a nobody you don't care about? Drive all the way back from where you came from. Now find these 16 objects scattered all over the maps. Now come back. Now go back to your ship. Now leave the planet. Now come back to the planet. Now leave the planet again and go talk to this person on another planet. Now come back to the planet. Now also check in with this person. Now come back. Now you can FINALLY go back to the very start hand it in. Enjoy that? You better because that's 98% of the quests in the game and where a good 50 hours of content is.
Shepherd never felt like a 'gofer'. Shepherd cured the genophage, united warring species, duelled with Reapers and had UNIQUE knowledge of the situation making him/her irreplaceable.
Ryder runs around picking up errant garbage for everyone who asks, scanning rocks and plants, is only one of many Pathfinders who all have the same SAM (Artificial Intelligence) unit and abilities and never feels remotely important let alone irreplaceable. In fact the Asari Pathfinder goes missing and is replaced before you get to the Asari Ark, and the Salarian Pathfinder dies during a quest and is immediately and easily replaced by a completely untrained fellow Salarian. The game almost goes out of its way to demonstrate just how UNIMPORTANT and easily replaceable a Pathfinder is.
Bioware has earned a reputation for stellar writing complex and emotionally gripping scenes/situations, realistic characters and generally user-friendly games that almost anyone can pick up a controller and jump into.
None of that is true for Andromeda.
The user interface (UI) is clunky, massively cluttered and most of what is offered is completely unnecessary and can be ignored. There are far too many 'currencies' in the game depending on what you want to do (crafting an item, settling a planet, buying items, etc).
The dialogue is immersion-breaking. You get a very early taste of this on the first mission. Where there should be a silent tension as you crash land on your first planet. You've been separated from your father and the rest of the team, attempt your first communication with a new alien species and found them hostile, and then your dude bro squad-mate Liam quips "I think I made him angry. Maybe because I shot him in the face!!" Another point in the game, the protagonist Ryder is confronted with another (supposedly) emotion scene only to declare "Wow, this is some serious sh*t!" in a half bemused tone. Or I could mention Addison's now meme-worthy quip "My face is tired from...everything." In the end though it's not even the terrible animation or the stereotypical trope-y crew that really ruins Andromeda, it's the fact that they're clearly trying to be Bethesda without understanding the slightest reason why games like Skyrim and Fallout are so enjoyable and work.
Bioware clearly learned nothing from the criticisms of it's level design, overly large yet empty maps or umpteen fetch quests from Dragon Age: Inquisition which is also why many fans are calling this "Dragon Age in Space" or "Mass Effect: Inquisition" and rightfully so. It feels exactly the same as playing that did. Hours of searching around bland, overly large maps that tried to compete with Skyrim with none of the charm or effort put in to create unique areas to explore. Bethesda created over 300 unique, handcrafted dungeons, towns, caves and buildings to explore in Skyrim. Bioware apparently can't even be bothered to create more than 5 unique structures. All five planets you can land on and explore are filled with the exact same three (or so) Kett structures, just repetitively copy/pasted every 100 feet or so. I hope you like storming the exact same one or two room structure 200 times because you're going to in Andromeda.
Quests should advance the main plot, tell you something about a main character or be done to introduce you to a part of the level you haven't seen before. They should also have a certain amount of fluidity insomuch that you don't have to return to the same planet or area of the map repetitively, yet Andromeda is guilty of both so many times over. In well designed games, you generally can complete ALL the objectives/quests in a certain area and then move on and never return. In Andromeda? Want to complete this fetch quest you found from a random data-pad about a nobody you don't care about? Drive all the way back from where you came from. Now find these 16 objects scattered all over the maps. Now come back. Now go back to your ship. Now leave the planet. Now come back to the planet. Now leave the planet again and go talk to this person on another planet. Now come back to the planet. Now also check in with this person. Now come back. Now you can FINALLY go back to the very start hand it in. Enjoy that? You better because that's 98% of the quests in the game and where a good 50 hours of content is.
Shepherd never felt like a 'gofer'. Shepherd cured the genophage, united warring species, duelled with Reapers and had UNIQUE knowledge of the situation making him/her irreplaceable.
Ryder runs around picking up errant garbage for everyone who asks, scanning rocks and plants, is only one of many Pathfinders who all have the same SAM (Artificial Intelligence) unit and abilities and never feels remotely important let alone irreplaceable. In fact the Asari Pathfinder goes missing and is replaced before you get to the Asari Ark, and the Salarian Pathfinder dies during a quest and is immediately and easily replaced by a completely untrained fellow Salarian. The game almost goes out of its way to demonstrate just how UNIMPORTANT and easily replaceable a Pathfinder is.