Review of Mass Effect Andromeda

U Mass Effect Andromeda (Then simple Mea) some kind of misfortune is a truly galactic scale. A strange announcement with the “talking heads” of the developers, a slurred advertising company a couple of weeks before the exit, the departure of past screenwriters and producers of the series, and a lot of problems. And all this is the AAA project from the studio known for its excellent games. What went wrong and can you enjoy the new Mass Effect, just as he received it from the old? Let’s figure it out.

Karpishin, come, put the order!

Background Mea dates back to 2175. Created “Initiative Andromeda” It implies by the colonization of the Andromed galaxy by representatives of the quoted space, these are people, the Azari, the Salarians and the Turians. Kvarians, Elcores and Volus should also fly. But due to the fact that each of the races needs its own atmosphere for a comfortable journey, their ark lingered at the start, and it is not known whether he flew out at all or the scriptwriters simply decided to score and write off these races in the utilize history.

10 years after the creation of the initiative (in time, this is the end of Mass Effect 2), they send to Andromeda “Arks” And “Nexus”. And if the “Ark” is a ship for representatives of a separate race, then “Nexus” is akin to a new citadel, all the main command, shops and other side tasks are located there. All these ships should have reached the goal in 600 years. And everything would be nothing, that’s just the first “Ark” It arrives only 14 months after the arrival of “Nexus”.

You play for one of the representatives of the younger generation of the Ryder family. They allow you to choose between brother and sister, cattle and sarai rider. Having left the six hundred-year-old animation, the riders notice that their “ark” arrived at the destination, a planet potentially selected by the new House of Earthlings. And everything would be nothing, only the ship was faced with a certain unknown substance (in the future called “Fly”). “Pioneer” and part -time father of the main characters, Alec Ryder, decides to gather a detachment and visit the planet, at the same time conduct an intelligence of the area and find out if this planet is connected with the “bad”.

Naturally, everything as always goes not as it is necessary, the shafts suffer wrecks, and the characters are separated with each other. And the player needs to find all the survivors. After the player saved all those who can, it is time to find his father. After the meeting, Alek Ryder offers to go forward and study what the fighters guard the unknown race. After a long shootout, Alec opens a certain bunker, from which a column of blue light pours up upwards. Inside, he and the player find something strange and naturally decide to touch it, after which the pillar of light disappears, and the characters with a powerful explosive wave throws out outside the complex. As a result, the main character breaks up, and Alec decides to save his child at the cost of his own life. So the main character becomes a “pioneer”, the purpose of which is to find a house for his race.

As you can see, the plot of the stars from the sky is not enough, although the most burned fans of the series probably noticed a similarity with the very first Mass Effect. But if the plot of the first part was gaining momentum and at the end gave an epic battle for the citadel, then there is no need to hope for this. At all Mea Trying to put pressure on a sense of nostalgia very much. You can trace similarity with the seventh episode Star Wars. There are three classic episodes (three parts Me), the seventh episode comes out (Mea) who is trying to imitate his ancestor, forcing you to remember the wonderful feelings that you experienced when watching the film (playing in the first part). But this technique will act far from all.

– My cartridges are over! – Fight with your hands!

As I always said: “Mass Effect is, first of all, the story and characters seasoned with a well -worked universe” – So the shooting was a secondary phenomenon in the game. But if with the plots in Andromeda tight, I had to reinterpatient my approach to a new part of the series.

Because THOSE – This is a “console Shutan”, https://nonukonlinecasinos.uk/review/aztec-paradise/ she always had shelters, and rifles were added to the third part. All in the best traditions. And at least here Mea Remained Verne in the series. The game also contains a shelter system, but now it has become active. That is, “pressing” to the wall occurs automatically, as in The Last of Us. No more buttons that go plus more dynamic movement around the battlefield. There is also a plus of the opportunity to make stakes, they came to replace the rifts. And thanks to the jumping satchel, you can completely jump up a couple of meters, hang for a couple of seconds in the air and make a delicious headshot sniper that was sitting in the shelter. Thanks to such opportunities, you can come up with a couple of spectacular techniques that will help you in difficult times.

But with the very shooting of special changes did not occur. Weapons are 80% the same, so the old men of the series will not have to get used to the new. What can not be said about cartridges … If you look at the series as a whole, you can remember that there were no cartridges in the first part, the weapon simply overheated and you had to wait until it cools down to continue shooting. In the second part, we were given thermal surfaces, so as not to wait for cooling. The third part of the mechanics is the second carrier, so it did not bring anything to the battle mechanics. But in Mea went further and remembered the beginning of the zero. Thermal cutters do not fall out of enemies. Instead, the boxes are scattered according to the location from which the ammunition can be replenished (with first -aid kits, by the way, the same thing). Based on this, most of the time you are fighting without cartridges. And since at the initial levels of the game you can not wear more than two weapons, it causes some difficulties. We have to remember about partners, tell them the goals, and sit somewhere on the sidelines and wait until they deal with the enemy. And it happens very often.

And in order not to leave you completely defenseless, the developers have changed the class system. It used to be like this: at the beginning of the game you choose a class for yourself, serious restrictions on both skills and, if possible, use all types of weapons presented in the game. For example, it used to be a biotic and use an automatic rifle. Now the situation has changed dramatically. You need to choose a class only for the first hours of the game, then you are free to pump the skills of a different class and choose it right during the battle. Here you are a soldier without cartridges and a bad, you are a cool biotic, scattering everything to the right and left. There are no more restrictions on skills and weapons, which allows you to adjust your character to a specific situation or under your personal play style at any time.

– Ryder, we need to find a house for thousands of sleeping in cryostasis. – NO! I still collected all the stones on this planet.

If a bad plot can be compensated by an interesting gameplay, then only the shooting component does it here. Since the new Mass Effect – This Dragon Age: Inquisition In space. It is not interesting to explore the planets, all the discoveries that occur outside the context of the main plot are boring and monotonous. The same boring side tasks exacerbate the case.

I will give only one example. After the first return from the “Nexus” to “Hyperion” you can take a task from one person, he asks you to take the medallion to the place where his brother died. You agree, fly to the planet EOS, climb the mountain, put the medallion and … all. This is the end of the task. And this is at the beginning of the game, where sideways should be encouraged to explore the world, show that there is a lot of interesting things in it. But the game does not do this. The only motivation to explore the world and carry out sideways is the experience and resources for crafting weapons and armor.

But this is not just a new planet, it is a whole galaxy. In it one could find so many interesting things, but for some reason this interesting was not brought.

The main task of the pioneer is exploration and the search for a inhabited planet for hundreds of thousands of people. The goal is clear and obvious. But her achievements are always the same. You arrive at the planet, activate the storage that is terraced by the planet, you are shown where you can put the avanthopost, you choose what it will do – scientific research or military training of settlers, future residents arrive and all. Here is the whole search for planets suitable for life. All this is already annoying by the time the second outpost is built.

There are also many tasks for searching for “Nexus” data about Andromed. Flora and Fauna, minerals, knowledge about enemies. The task for mastering the new galaxy is certainly necessary and important. But what’s the matter, for the entire planet of such objects, as a rule, no more than two. Although, moreover, there may be a jungle around you, full of various species of plants or animals, you need only one bush from all this variety of species. Just one of dozens of species that you do not know anything about exactly the same, because you are the first person on this planet. Where is the logic? She is not. Why just not make scanning from the cosmos, but when receiving a signal, that there is something useful below, go down and pick it up? It at least makes sense.

Animation is not the biggest problem.

How many videos, pictures and gifs were done about the front animation Mea. Dozens? Hundreds? But I think, as you already understood from the text above, the problems with the animation are not so significant against the background of everything else.

A spoon of tar to a barrel with honey add flat and not prescribed characters, as well as a very uncomfortable interface. Let’s start with the characters. Total in Mea 6 partners, of which two are people and four – aliens. Of all six, it is interesting to communicate only with three. This: bark, wind, jaal.

In addition to partners, there is a team serving the ship. There are only four of them. Two on the bridge, one doctor and one in a compartment with an engine. Even they are more interesting than some of your partners. How could you write so badly the characters constantly interacting with you, I don’t know. Either the scriptwriters were not at all interested in thinking out not only the plot, but also the characters. Or they did not have the ability to do this. This is a question that requires an answer. Because, I see me, future games BioWare the same fate will befalled as Mass Effect: Andromeda.

As for the interface, it’s just a nightmare. Daddy’s daddy in daddy. Sorting tasks breaks the brain to anyone who tries to deal with it. I’ll just show you this, it will be easier.

What do we have in the end?

The world player set the game average score 6 out of 10. And you know, for the first time in a long time, I agree with them. Yes, we were deprived of him Mass Effect’And which we loved. Instead of him they gave a cosmic drone (good that without towers). We were thrust empty shells instead of characters. Forced to explore the empty nothing. But whether the game has become worse from this? In general, yes. This is no longer fixed. The only thing we can do (if you, of course, have already bought a game), abstract Andromeda from the main parts of the series Mass Effect and perceiving it as a spin-off, good, 600 years have passed, and what happened to life in the Milky Way is not known.

Those who think to buy or not, I will say one thing: if you like jerking off or at least Dragon Age: Inquisition, then this game for you. If not, then it’s better to pass by, you will not lose anything.

Pros: Combat system, skill pumping system, graphics, references.
Cons: Weak plot, flat characters, uninteresting side tasks, jerking off, uncomfortable menu interface, bugs (most likely will fix it).