Mass Effect: Andromeda

 Xbox One
User Score
5.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1225 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 548 out of 1225
  2. Mixed: 154 out of 1225
  3. Negative: 523 out of 1225
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  1. jfish718
    Mar 21, 2017
    1
    For a gaming company I once considered the most innovative, most provocative story tellers with some above par game-play, I cannot express enough about my disappointment for "Mass Effect Andromeda." Bioware's nature to decline in quality from the glory days of "Dragon Age Origins" and the original "Mass Effect" series continues here.

    This game is a glorified terrible sequel/reboot. The    For a gaming company I once considered the most innovative, most provocative story tellers with some above par game-play, I cannot express enough about my disappointment for "Mass Effect Andromeda." Bioware's nature to decline in quality from the glory days of "Dragon Age Origins" and the original "Mass Effect" series continues here.

    This game is a glorified terrible sequel/reboot. The animations are some of the worst carny looking examples that are full of bugs and baffle me how they got through testing with someone thinking anything beside "This looks horrible." (They're almost disturbing)

    The game feels rushed, underwhelming and the story is a shell of the former glory of the original series. It's actually a very shocking result after the debacle of a ending that was the climax of the first trilogy. The characters are all worse than their original counter parts, and when you naturally compare them to the original cast all you can feel is a longing that you were back with your original gang from the first series, they were at least interesting and left the player with a emotional connection. You cannot grow a attachment for these lifeless monstrosity mannequins.

    The games FILLED with uninteresting, none engaging filler side-quests, If I wanted to play a MMO style game i'd simply play a MMO, there is absolutely no excuse for quests that have no meaning to the game or story, it's off putting and makes the gamer want to stop playing. The tragedy of this is that there are some actual decent quests in the game. Unfortunately, there is no way to differentiate between a engaging quest and another pointless fetch filler quests - leaving you to ultimately abandon side-quests all together because of how off putting the filler quests are. It's very shameful considering that decade old bioware games didn't suffer from the misery of fetch quests yet almost every recent "Bioware" title thinks implementing them in their games is a good idea.

    The illusion of choice is also apparent in this game. There are less than a handful of meaningful choices in a game which is supposed to have story driven content based of the users decisions, which I find a cardinal sin as this being a "Bioware" game. Casting out the "Paragon/Renegade" system is fine and dandy. However, removing the element of choice all together is completely unacceptable, it feels like fallout 4 all over again. It's truly heartbreaking.

    The combat is below mediocre and a let down in general, you also cannot issue commands beside "stand here" to any of your companions. I'd give it a pass however, when the rest of the of the game truly lacks any strengths it's just another terrible example of why Biioware getting in bed with EA was the absolute worst idea for the studio. It's also mentioning that the game does not have a "quick save" option IN 2017! Terrible, and you also run the risk of corrupting your save if you save inside your ship.

    A truly buggy experience that I'm shocked pass the editor's floor, this game at the very least should have been delayed and fixed all of the terrible bugs that hinder the game. Even then, I truly doubt it would be enough to save this terrible example of a game. A tremendous disappointment and every single person involved in this projected should be ashamed of themselves. It's more of a insult to the "Mass Effect" universe and those who loved this franchise than the original's trilogy's ending. Congratulations Bioware/EA you did what you seem to do best lately, disappoint.    … Expand
  2. jcanfis
    Mar 21, 2017
    4
    I will try to review this Game on how well the different parts work together.
    This game had a lot of good opportunities and the foundation for a good start. Unfortunately the overwhelming amount of small annoying bugs, rushed developments and bad choices breaks the flow of the game on the players immersion in a terrible way.
    Negative: - UI is suffering from a lot of bad decisions    I will try to review this Game on how well the different parts work together.
    This game had a lot of good opportunities and the foundation for a good start. Unfortunately the overwhelming amount of small annoying bugs, rushed developments and bad choices breaks the flow of the game on the players immersion in a terrible way.

    Negative:
    - UI is suffering from a lot of bad decisions (Profile Swap is not swapping weapons, inconsistent button settings, overcomplicated menus like quest tracking)
    - missing save options can get players pretty angry
    - stuck several times so badly that i had to return to orbit.
    - you know about the animations :/
    - planets feel huge and empty
    - dialogues are a pain
    - story copycat from ME3. Once again assimilation :/
    - scan simulator 2.0
    - decisions have no impact
    - you can read or hear about important news but often you are not seeing them/taking part in them on the nexus
    - Quest design

    Positive
    - Great object animations in space
    - Nice quest start with the environment. Explosions on Nexus starts quest. Firework on the sky
    - Combat feels fast paced and clean
    - The Tempest is looking awesome !!!
    - Loading times
    - I like the profile switching (without the weapon part mentioned above

    Resume: Overall i think a more linear approach would have been a better decision. The quality of the different development parts differs greatly. Many of the problems and bugs can not be patched (Quest placement, Dialogues). Sorry but this game is good in concept but the lack of practise in this development team shows.
    Q&A not existing.

    On my Rating:
    Andromeda got a 4 from me although it might have been a 6. My main reason for only giving a 4 is because of a very personal emotional dislike of a story/dialogue option.
    The conversation with my twin in coma did disturb me so much that i walked away from my console and did not want to play for some time.    … Expand
  3. Merostin
    Mar 21, 2017
    4
    This deserves no Mass Affection.

    I keep it short:

    ME1, ME2, ME3 are about story, characters, species and relations between the latter two.

    ME Andromeda tries to be the same, but it also includes new gameplay layers due to its focus on an outdated openworld concept. The result: It fails at both ME's core elements (see above) and at being a great openworld game.

    Sad, but true.
  4. lastghost68
    Mar 21, 2017
    2
    What has happened to Biowate? They are getting worse with each new game! I used to love the Mass Effect Series, but this is just a big Mess! From ugly characters that look like they are made of plastic to laughable animations, bad writing, voice acting sounds like teenagers voiced it! Just terrible.
  5. redman443
    Mar 21, 2017
    1
    I am a huge mass effect fan. I played and beat the 3 original games till I was blue in the face and loved them. I even read one of the novels and loved it. Naturally I was excited for this game. I was willing to look past the new galaxy and ship and characters. I pre ordered it and picked it up from gamestop. I started playing it and at first it was okay but as I got into the main story,I am a huge mass effect fan. I played and beat the 3 original games till I was blue in the face and loved them. I even read one of the novels and loved it. Naturally I was excited for this game. I was willing to look past the new galaxy and ship and characters. I pre ordered it and picked it up from gamestop. I started playing it and at first it was okay but as I got into the main story, it seemed very repetitive and bland to me and not the story I was used to from the first 3 games. I was willing to look past the horrible face animations which looked downright creepy not gunna lie and tried to get into the plot but I just wasnt feeling the magic from the original series. The animation sucks, the story was written by an 8th grader and is bland and predictable, the weapons crafting system is incredibly confusing. The characters do not have any emotion. I cant name a time one of the characters got angry or happy or sad. It was like a robot was talking and not a human character. Now if you are new to Mass Effect, you might like this game but if you loved the previous games. its pales in comparison to 1 2 and 3. Thank you Bioware for wasting my time and money. I ended up returning my copy and trading it in for another game.… Expand
  6. Azeriel
    Mar 31, 2017
    0
    Remember when they said they wanted to make a game that rivals "The Witcher 3"?

    Kinda made you wonder if they were saying that ironically because at this point they are not even playing in the same league anymore. The best part about one of the high scoring reviews on this site was and I quote "Bioware was never known for their strong dialogue". HAH! Shows you the level of exposure    Remember when they said they wanted to make a game that rivals "The Witcher 3"?

    Kinda made you wonder if they were saying that ironically because at this point they are not even playing in the same league anymore.

    The best part about one of the high scoring reviews on this site was and I quote "Bioware was never known for their strong dialogue". HAH! Shows you the level of exposure these "high-scorers" have with Bioware games.

    If you're an old-school Mass Effect fan (like I am), feel free to skip this one - or get it once it's heavily discounted with all DLCs included. There is nothing Mass Effect about this except in name and the "sci-fi" theme. You lost control over your squad, you lost squad customization, you lost paused strategy, and you lost having all your abilities instead of just 3 loadouts per combat. Furthermore, this is not a Mass Effect story you'd love and respect. Facial animation and all the other glitches are one thing, the simple fact that you simply couldn't care less to the two main protagonists (because they're as bland as a sack of potato) is another. Unlike Shephard, the game removes majority of you meaningful interaction and decision by removing the Paragon/Renegade option. All four options of your dialogue wheels pretty much saying the same thing with a different intonation or sentence structure. If the original Mass Effect trilogy is an epic full-length premium cinema, this is their direct-to-DVD spin off.

    If this is your first RPG however, and you never played Mass Effect before. Go for it. You have no greatness to base on, and the simplified RPG system of this game will serve you well as a training wheel of such genre going forward. Not to mention there will be more than enough flashy combats to keep your attention glued to the screen before you can repeatedly press skip on the next conversation.

    TL;DR, if you're a Mass Effect fan, let the taste of that great masterpiece fade with Shepard instead of being marred by this new release. If you're new to the genre, the franchise, or just looking for a mediocre cover-based shooter masqueraded as a Fischer-Price RPG. This is for you.

    In the era where we seen The Witcher 3, GTA V, and Horizon Zero Dawn, in what way this garbage release is deemed acceptable?    … Expand
  7. Nareke
    Mar 21, 2017
    0
    The AI is a mess. If the AI is bad in the first 10 hours, it's going to be bad throughout the game. There's no reason why it would suddenly magically improve later.
  8. frans_nordstedt
    Mar 21, 2017
    0
    this quality is simply unacceptable for an triple-A title in 2017.

    -A 12 year old could write better story and dialogues -Characters and Animations are simply unacceptable -Buggy as hell -Boring/arcade-ish gameplay that feels targeted for small children -Mediocre graphics most of the time -Exploration is pointless (unless youre only searching for loot, dont expect to find any    this quality is simply unacceptable for an triple-A title in 2017.

    -A 12 year old could write better story and dialogues
    -Characters and Animations are simply unacceptable
    -Buggy as hell
    -Boring/arcade-ish gameplay that feels targeted for small children
    -Mediocre graphics most of the time
    -Exploration is pointless (unless youre only searching for loot, dont expect to find any exciting story elements at all)

    I tried really hard to finish the game, just to make my money worth something, but unfortunately i couldn't    … Expand
  9. TheTG
    Mar 21, 2017
    0
    Absolute garbage and waste of my money, very bad game. Full of glitches and bugs, boring gameplay and terrible story and animations. Poorly optimized, everything about this game is an epic failure, how could this have happened?
  10. GsPlayer
    May 15, 2017
    4
    As the 810 reviewer, I understand this wont get read much. But the game was such a disappointment, I couldn't help but put a review in.

    The tone of the game is just terrible. Travelling to a new galaxy should bring high levels of excitement and 'fear of the unknown' to the characters. Instead, it's self-consumed whinny wimps, asking for you to make them feel better everywhere you    As the 810 reviewer, I understand this wont get read much. But the game was such a disappointment, I couldn't help but put a review in.

    The tone of the game is just terrible. Travelling to a new galaxy should bring high levels of excitement and 'fear of the unknown' to the characters. Instead, it's self-consumed whinny wimps, asking for you to make them feel better everywhere you turn.

    Ryder talks like a civilian and lacks any true leadership skills or toughness, although he/she is a good smart ass at times.

    Driving around in the future's worst off road vehicle is just brutal. And made three times worse given you have to listen to your team member's P@ssy Whinny Wimpy Self Absorbed banter the whole time.

    Gameplay is long and tedious, and outside of a handful of good battles the shooting is easy and repetative.

    Im just finishing the game in hope of the next game being better, and to see if any of my choices actually matter to the ultimate outcome.    … Expand
  11. CTDave
    Apr 10, 2017
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. ******MILD SPOILERS******

    I was a huge fan of the original trilogy, though I was critical of the final 20 minutes of the ME3 to the point where I stopped playing the games entirely until the ending got patched up.

    I went into playing this game with some expectations, as BioWare had done an awesome job on Dragon Age: Inquisition and had seemingly redeemed themselves in my eyes, and thus, I relinquished $90 for the deluxe edition of Andromeda. I sincerely wish I hadn't. I should have waited until Black Friday to scoop the game up on sale.

    The game is unoriginal and liberally borrows/steals from the original trilogy. Essentially, this is Mass Effect, just with: slightly upgunned graphics; a slightly new galaxy (where it seems physics really took a holiday); gender swapped, carbon copies of old squad mates; even the new enemies, the Kett, are essentialy dumbed down Reapers.

    It was a tough to slog through the first 8 hours, where I'd give the game a 3/10, but then the game opens up and BAM! 7/10. The next 30 hours were a delight to sit through...

    But then, 80 hours and far too many fetch quests later, the game has left too many threads open for the sequel rather than wrapping things up. After 80 hours, you begin to really see that the graphics were not where they should be with the current power of consoles, with too much texture pop-in, frame rate drop, and weird animation glitches. The game beat me down via poor design.

    They had 5 years and $40 million to get this done. They relied far too heavily on name recognition to get them through, and have lost me as a day 1 buyer. I will wait until their new titles go on sale before laying down my hard earned cash on them again.

    My final score is 4/10. Sad given that I really wanted to like this game.    … Expand
  12. sadamo1
    Apr 6, 2017
    4
    This is not a fully baked game. The game play isn't snappy at all. "Cumbersome: is a better word to describe it. Controller inputs are "drifty" so when you point Ryder in a particular direction there seems to be too much momentum. Also, the graphics are almost laughable for an XBox One game. The characters graphics in the first three were much better which is an enormous stepThis is not a fully baked game. The game play isn't snappy at all. "Cumbersome: is a better word to describe it. Controller inputs are "drifty" so when you point Ryder in a particular direction there seems to be too much momentum. Also, the graphics are almost laughable for an XBox One game. The characters graphics in the first three were much better which is an enormous step backwards. You would almost have to try to mess them up given the advanced power of a third generation console. All in all I'm disappointed so far. I have heard that the "updates" will improve the game but this is a perfect example of a developer bringing a product to market well before it is ready. Even worse, it is not like there was a huge lead time issue here. It had already been several years since ME3. Why not hold the release until you are ready? Really disappointed so far, especially considering this is one of my all time favorite franchises.… Expand
  13. sikfuk
    Apr 8, 2017
    0
    BW needs to hire competent people to make their games in the future. this is not good. i miss the good old games like Kotor, Jade Empire, Dragon Age: Origins. back then the company had a passion for making great games with a fantastic story. now the company has been infested with sick people who focus more on pushing their twisted political and social agenda rather than making good games.
  14. ZMannZilla
    Apr 9, 2017
    4
    Mass Effect Andromeda has a lot of hurdles to overcome, the biggest being "the new chapter of an epic IP famous for a deep rich storytelling experience". I went into ME:A trying to be fair and remembering that this was supposed to be a whole new story set in the Mass Effect universe. This means I was able to find wholly unique reasons to dislike it on its own merits.

    While the game    Mass Effect Andromeda has a lot of hurdles to overcome, the biggest being "the new chapter of an epic IP famous for a deep rich storytelling experience". I went into ME:A trying to be fair and remembering that this was supposed to be a whole new story set in the Mass Effect universe. This means I was able to find wholly unique reasons to dislike it on its own merits.

    While the game wasn't entirely terrible, here are the other hurdles I had to get over to find the little nuggets of fun:

    - BLATANT palette-swapping: You can look at so much and tell which Mass Effect things they were either smooshing together or baltantly lifting. Peebee = Liara/Jack, Jaal = Javik/Garrus, Remnant = Geth/Proteans, and so on. There's also a lot of things that make the game feel like Dragon Age Inquisition wearing a Mass Effect skinsuit - Architect (read: dragon) battles, the crafting system, and the strike teams thing come right to mind.

    - So... Much... Busy work: There are way, WAY too many missions in this game that boil down to "go to 3 places and do a thing", and/or include "go to 3 or more planets to do things", because spending 30% of your total mission time sitting through transitional animations and load screens counts as play time, I guess?

    - The scanner is just obnoxious: What seems like it should be a cool feature ends up becoming the bane of your existence, as you'll waste so much time (which again, apparently counts as play time) trying to find the tiny thing that's making your controller vibrate.

    - The entire "twin sibling" thing: Without spoiling anything, I felt like they did nothing good or fun with this otherwise intriguing concept

    - Lame payoffs: Again, no spoilers, but SO MANY stories and missions in this game end with lame payoffs, and the cheesy unsatisfying conclusion of the final battle, followed by a sudden cut to credits, should take the crown away from the end of ME3 as the worst official ending in the series.

    - Obvious sequel setups: Not to nitpick, but ME1 didn't actually leave any gaping cliffhangers in its subplots. By contrast, ME:A leaves you hanging SO HARD on multiple fronts.

    - Planet Kadara. Just... ALL of it. Movement in Kadara is unnecessarily clunky, between the "switch from city to surface" thing and the doors that open way slower than literally every other door in the galaxy. But hey, it adds play time! This game deserves Hell just for turning its version of Omega into the most annoying place to spend any time. Honorable mention: Planet Havarl can also go sit in the corner and think about what it did.

    - And yeah, blah blah bugs, blah blah bad faces, blah blah et cetera, honestly this stuff didn't bother me nearly as much because I already knew about them and frankly, that's just AAA gaming these days.

    OK, so I got through all that... what was good about it? What kept me playing to the end? Here it is:

    - The angarans are actually kind of cool: I really like the new race they introduced. The angarans have a unique culture and philosophy that make every encounter with them engaging, as well as a history so in tune with the colonial/expansionist undertones of the plot that their inclusion adds so much towards making the struggle feel real and important.

    - Decent combat: I really enjoy having the freedom to build my Ryder in whatever direction feels good (even if I basically just made another by-the-book Vanguard by the end of it all). The combat isn't without its problems but at least this way you can really develop your own unique personal Ryder. I never actually used the profiles system but I'm sure it was pretty cool.

    - Romance options out the wazoo: There's multiple choices for everyone here. Multiple gay options, multiple straight options, even options if you just want to be a horny Captain Kirk type and get randy with anything that has a heartbeat. They even added a krogan romance option. Sort of. Yeah, I went for it. Then reloaded my save.

    - Dat sarcastic dialogue tho: It's not exactly genius-level dialogue, in fact in places it's clunky and horribly read. But trust me, if you choose the "casual" response whenever possible, you're gonna have a good time. In a lot of ways, it feels like the writing team from the Citadel DLC had full creative control over Sarcastic Ryder.

    All in all, I highly recommend that casual fans of the series wait for this one to hit bargain bins. Hardcore fans should... lol, we already bought it, and we're gonna buy the next one too. We're in an abusive relationship with BioWarEA. They steal our money and insult us constantly, but at least the sex is fun.    … Expand
  15. SpartacusNZ
    Apr 13, 2017
    0
    You greedy ar__holes Bioware. Sort out your **** with EA - stand up to them and delay release until testing AND corrections are finished. This is full of bugs and looks appalling. Get is right! You had an amazing franchise and you let greed get in the way.
  16. Mustakrakysh
    Apr 28, 2017
    1
    This game is a disgrace to the Mass Effect series. The writing is TERRIBLE. The Story makes no sense. This game is such a disappointment that even a lazy person like me who never writes reviews felt I had to. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. Let Mass Effect be over with the original series. This game will ruin Mass Effect for you.
  17. HunterCZE
    May 2, 2017
    3
    One big disappointment. Everything I have loved with the original trilogy has been just thrown to the garbage. I had big expectations from this title but it turned out to be a massive let down.

    - very poor main story line - terrible animations - absolutely disgusting characters (ME 1 characters were created far way better and that!s a decade ago) - zero impact with the choices made    One big disappointment. Everything I have loved with the original trilogy has been just thrown to the garbage. I had big expectations from this title but it turned out to be a massive let down.

    - very poor main story line
    - terrible animations
    - absolutely disgusting characters (ME 1 characters were created far way better and that!s a decade ago)
    - zero impact with the choices made during the gameplay
    - very limited conversation options
    - voice acting is hilarious and very bad
    - totally boring multiplayer (it's just a waste of time)

    + worlds look so amazing
    + buildings and ships are beautifully made
    + planet exploring is very interesting
    + loyalty missions and side quests are enjoyable

    In the state the game is (even with the latest patch) it's just a poorly made game. Not worthy of the money and the time. Every single ME game made you to want to play it again in a different way. Here unfortunately you don't get this kind of feeling at all.

    ME Andromeda had such a potential was completely squandered. Makes me wonder how the official reviewers can give this such a high score ... it appears they played a completely different game than the normal players got.    … Expand
  18. cobwil
    Apr 30, 2017
    0
    This is the first time I've ever breathed a SIGH OF RELIEF upon finishing a game. I was glad it was over. The entire thing was a grind. Had it been any other game I'd have returned it many hours prior, but this was Mass Freakin' Effect, so I stayed with it, hoping that at some point there would be SOMETHING in it that would validate the hours I was putting in. Never happened. Here's why:This is the first time I've ever breathed a SIGH OF RELIEF upon finishing a game. I was glad it was over. The entire thing was a grind. Had it been any other game I'd have returned it many hours prior, but this was Mass Freakin' Effect, so I stayed with it, hoping that at some point there would be SOMETHING in it that would validate the hours I was putting in. Never happened. Here's why:

    THE CHARACTERS: As boring as they are unpleasant to look at. It's as if designers deliberately went out of their way to create mannish facial features (PeeBee), gross hair (Cora), or just overall unattractiveness (Vetra). None of them had much of interest to say; I found myself pressing /x/ to skip through dialogue A LOT (which I typically never do in rpg's of any sort, much less BioWare games). The bland dialogue is typical of everything else: I just wanted it to be over.

    THE COMBAT: Solid, if not particularly memorable, for two reasons. First (and this may not bother anyone else), they've removed the time-slow mechanic for snipers, making playing as a stealth-sniper much less satisfying. Why? I had similar problems with the way they neutered mages in D.A: Inquisition, taking away a lot of impressive offensive spells (particularly the AoE variety) and making them more dependent on defensive ones. For whatever reason they seem intent on scaling back their most powerful (and fun) playstyles. Secondly...

    THE VILLAIN: I won't look back fondly on the combat in this game because I was so unengaged by the enemy I was fighting. The Kett were never very threatening (unlike Superman's "Doomsday", who they seem to be modeled after) or interesting; I realize not every enemy can be something on par with the Reapers, but how about the level of Saren or The Illusive Man or the Shadow Broker? Granted, the Archon finally gets a BIT more sinister toward the end, but it's too little too late... capped by a yawner of a "climax".

    THE SIDE QUESTS: Talk to this guy, go here, fetch this, then fetch two more, go back to guy, he sends you to another guy, fight some more humdrum kett... blah! In between each step, you're trying to figure out frustratingly placed nav points, and you end up doing a lot of running-in-circles-around-landform and jumping-repeated-alongside-landform attempting to access things or get to certain places, because the maps are so vague and inadequate. Now someone might say, "Well in real life an explorer would face those challenges so it's realistic!" I agree. In real life, explorers also have to stop to go to the bathroom occasionally, but I certainly don't want THAT experience incorporated into my video game either. When your game consists of 75% uninteresting fetch quests, and you then make the fetching as frustrating as possible with misleading nav points, you're not winning points for the realism.

    THE ENVIRONMENTS: THIS they got right. The game LOOKS gorgeous (with the exception of every romanceable female character).

    THE SJW FACTOR: We all know it exists, but most of us are afraid to comment on it because if we do, angry trolls label us as hatemongers and bigots. So we tiptoe around it. But look... nobody's being fooled here. Certainly, humanity's diversity must be reflected in games (as BioWare has always done well), but they're now going so overboard with it that it's no longer an accurate reflection of the population. And when you hire angry bigots to oversee the development of your games, that's going to happen.

    PUT IT ALL TOGETHER, and it adds up to the biggest disappointment I've had since the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man.    … Expand
  19. Shiranui
    May 22, 2017
    0
    This game has dragged Bioware's name through the mud. An absolutely broken mess with absolutely awful story writing and you still dare to charge people micro transactions for this... EA you ought to be absolutely ashamed of yourself.
  20. EggShen
    Apr 25, 2017
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is not Mass Effect, this is Dragon Age: Inquisition in space, right down to the "dragon" boss encounters on each world. Something has gone horribly wrong at Bioware. For a series that was built on engaging choice driven stories, interesting characters, well written dialogue and a sci-fi world with characters and lore to become invested in... none of that is present in ME Andromeda.

    Very little about this game is memorable. I've reached 100% completion and can barely remember anything about this experience that stands out, at least in a positive way. The writing is poor by any standard but its almost unforgivably so for a Bioware game, you'll be hard pressed to take anything this crew says seriously without shaking your head at how cringe worthy the dialogue is.

    The story is a poor rehash of ME1: Ancient and absent technologically advanced species left behind tech that humanity can use. Oh and apparently only humanity can use it and does so immediately after arriving in a completely new galaxy. The Kett are the bad guys and are as generic as they come and even have a process that echoes indoctrination from the original trilogy. You're crewmates are also pale rip offs of the previous games. Jaal = Garrus, PeeBee = Liara, Chora = Ash, Drak = Wrex, Liam = Kaiden and Vetra is literally a female Garrus. Vetra and Jaal come the closest to being interesting.

    The Archon is the stand-in for Sovereign, voice and all, but unlike Sovereign before him the Archon is about as menacing and threatening as a muppet. You don't even get to fight him in the stories climax (unlike Saren 10 years ago).

    You're the Pathfinder and that means instead of using sensors or science teams to determine planetary viability, they send you because: video game. The entire Andromeda Initiative literally waits on one boring guy to give the okay on habitable worlds. Luckily Ryder and his crew gets along with everyone in the Universe save the Kett. Not one argument, not one disagreement, not one raised voice, not a shred of personality can I remember in this game. They're the most agreeable bunch in the entire universe.

    The plot is forgettable, like everything else. The Archon wants control of Remnant technology to convert the galaxy to Kett... or something. The Kett can only reproduce through "Exaltation", even though exalting the Andomeda galaxy would basically mean there's no one left to exalt and continue the species.

    Then there's The Scourge and The Remnant. The Remnant were at war with... something that left the Scourge behind as a weapon against the Remnant, who themselves vanished for an unknown reason and now the Kett are trying to conquer the Angara but lucky for them humanity is here to do in days what they couldn't in decades... The plot manages to be boring, confusing, unoriginal and nonsensical all at the same time. Oh and first contact with the Angara? Forget about that being an epic moment. Luckily they all speak fluent English, right after the game establishes that they don't.

    Combat is an improvement for the series but pales when stacked up against any other modern shooter. The controls are clunky and while the dash ability is handy, the game is too glitchy (especially multiplayer) for this to be anything other than passable. Its good, not great. Enemy encounters quickly get repetitive.

    2/3rds of the game is driving around boring empty "open worlds" with tons of unrelated side quests. Actual story content is probably between 8-12 hrs with the rest being filler side quests.

    Its not a Mass Effect game. This has nothing in common with the series apart from the art design. This was a cash grab from EA and Bioware using the series name to sell it. You're still better off playing the original trilogy    … Expand
  21. pnathan28
    Mar 29, 2017
    4
    This game is a massive disappointment. I am a huge Mass Effect fan, having played the first 3 games multiple times and in comparison Andromeda falls woefully short. First, the combat is smoother and faster but they have removed direct control and customization for squad members. The facial animations are HORRENDOUS and really take you out of the game, but the environments are done prettyThis game is a massive disappointment. I am a huge Mass Effect fan, having played the first 3 games multiple times and in comparison Andromeda falls woefully short. First, the combat is smoother and faster but they have removed direct control and customization for squad members. The facial animations are HORRENDOUS and really take you out of the game, but the environments are done pretty well. The writing is also mediocre at best, given that Mass Effect writing hasn't always been high literature but at least it was funny, charming and enough to get you invested in the story. I'm already 25 hours into Andromeda and i just cant get myself to care about the stories and the characters. My biggest disappointment were the mundane fetch quests that just littered the game. It seemed like a majority of the quests were a simple go here find 3 of these and sent you off to all corners of the map, and it got really old really fast. Which is really sad because there is a good game in here somewhere, the areas are massive and there is plenty to explore.… Expand
  22. LucasGreen
    Mar 30, 2017
    4
    So to begin this game is a great game if it had come out during the Xbox 360 days. Yes to everyone the game play is tedious with no way to tell where you are going. The story is decent but could use refinement. and finally the cut scenes are terrifying with graphical glitches. This is Mass effect by the big dogs at Bioware I expect a better game from them not what honestly feels like a AASo to begin this game is a great game if it had come out during the Xbox 360 days. Yes to everyone the game play is tedious with no way to tell where you are going. The story is decent but could use refinement. and finally the cut scenes are terrifying with graphical glitches. This is Mass effect by the big dogs at Bioware I expect a better game from them not what honestly feels like a AA title put out in the dry summer lull where bad games go to die.… Expand
  23. MrWax
    Apr 6, 2017
    4
    I gave it a four. It really is a 5 or maybe 6 game, but I deducted 1 because of the hurt I felt with the disappintment. This is what happens when executives take Excelsheet-decisions, as in opposed to letting the creative and real gamedevelopers decide what is best for the game.

    So much potential in the predecessors, in the the universe they've built, and in the obvious huge budgets a    I gave it a four. It really is a 5 or maybe 6 game, but I deducted 1 because of the hurt I felt with the disappintment. This is what happens when executives take Excelsheet-decisions, as in opposed to letting the creative and real gamedevelopers decide what is best for the game.

    So much potential in the predecessors, in the the universe they've built, and in the obvious huge budgets a game like this carries. Still, 50-60 hours in the game and I am slowly realising that it is not going to get any better.

    Bugs I forget. Graphics is only so-so important to me. This game just lacks playabilty, and the story is a boring one so it doesn't make it better. In all, it just feels like no love has been put in this game. Not the love a creator has for his work, so this game probably lacks just that ... Someone with a vision. This, I think, is to much influenced and shaped by a board or people who don't game themselves.

    Dammit.    … Expand
  24. rodericrinehart
    Jun 24, 2017
    3
    Loved the first 3, would put the trilogy in my top 10 series ever. Mass Effect Andromeda is BORING and POORLY DESIGNED above all else. Poor animations, empty areas, pointless fetch quests, and just no respect for the time of the player. Finished it despite really not liking it. Probably done with the series now. Lost a loyal fan and customer Bioware/EA.
  25. Koristo
    Oct 27, 2017
    0
    0 out of 10. Which to me is bland. IOt's not terrible, the combat saves that. But the story is poor, the animations terrible, the character customization is weak.The quest system is like WoW which is in a genre where bad quests are sorted expected...that's like 20 years old now. The exploration would be nice, but since the maps are mostly empty and the quest softly bland the visual becomea0 out of 10. Which to me is bland. IOt's not terrible, the combat saves that. But the story is poor, the animations terrible, the character customization is weak.The quest system is like WoW which is in a genre where bad quests are sorted expected...that's like 20 years old now. The exploration would be nice, but since the maps are mostly empty and the quest softly bland the visual becomea as appealing as a well painted empty hallway.

    I'd say buy it when its 20 bucks. A huge step back for the series, and arguably the worst Bioware game to date. At least DA 2 had a few solid characters and some eye candy. In this game the characters are as stale as they are repulsive. I don't mind you making all females in your game looking like they were smacked with an ugly stick for days. If you can make them funny, witty, engaging. I loved tali and I never saw her face. After DAI and MEA Bioware has lost alot of respect in my eyes as a consumer and gamer.    … Expand
  26. polygon3d
    Apr 2, 2017
    0
    Basically everything that made the original trilogy great will not be found here. The characters have 0 depth and the story is completely dull when compared to the old games.
  27. Kenmei
    Apr 3, 2017
    4
    I got the distinct impression that Bioware didn't learn anything from the failures of Mass Effect 3, beyond the crappy ending. Andromeda is a very disappointing next step in the Mass Effect world and has no baring on the original series. What was supposed to be a new beginning for the series gets off on a very mediocre note filled with tons of bugs and glitches and just generally boringI got the distinct impression that Bioware didn't learn anything from the failures of Mass Effect 3, beyond the crappy ending. Andromeda is a very disappointing next step in the Mass Effect world and has no baring on the original series. What was supposed to be a new beginning for the series gets off on a very mediocre note filled with tons of bugs and glitches and just generally boring gameplay. And while there are some very good moments sprinkled in the game, there are far too many mediocre/bad ones that those moments can't rise to the surface.
    The story is a mix bag. With a slower beginning/middle and decent end part. While the ending is very open to another game in the series, there were tons of unanswered questions left open from the main important quests you could do. While there's tons of potential for DLC there, it's a wonder what Bioware will actually do here. Especially about half of the life forms from the Mass Effect universe aren't in this game (I'm particularly upset there are no Quarians in the game world so far). The two new races are a mixed bag as well. The Kett being very similar in look to the Protheans from the first game and the Angarans not being very interesting honestly. And your crew is also shortened up by quite a bit with only 6 choices to choose from, and 2 of them being regular humans. No one stands out in this group like Garrius or Tali from the first series but there are some good ones here. The best parts of the game are the crew interactions with each other and how witty and clever it can be while driving over planets. And some of their loyalty missions are great, including one that I personally felt was the best mission since ME2. But on the flip side there's also some very boring characters, including the new female Turian who is just boring and doesn't contribute much to the story.
    Gameplay hasn't changed much from the ME3, with the addition of a jetpack that is kinda neat. However the jetpack got me stuck a few times, which leads to the biggest problem with the game: the bugs and glitches. I personally didn't have too many problems with this until the mid point of the game where it became almost crippling. Tons of lag and pop-in, doors not opening, glitched cutscenes, freezes, you name it. I had just about every bug type known to gaming hit me during the last half of the game and it almost caused me to quit the game. It feels like the game wasn't finished with testing before it was released. And this is supposed to be with a patch to fix these things.
    In the end, I can't recommend this in it's current state because of the bugs and glitches. There are things here that fans will like and the few missions that I loved and the crew interactions are pretty much the only reason why I'm giving this game the score I did. However it's a broken mess that needs patching asap to fix all the problems before answering any questions there might be about story continuation or even a ME:A2. Because Bioware has shown they didn't learn anything beyond not making a crappy ending when they went from ME 3 to this. And I'm losing hope with them that they're figure it out for the sequel.    … Expand
  28. peabuddie
    May 25, 2017
    4
    Let's all just agree that Shepard is a hard act to follow. Any thought of going into this thinking that it's going to be like the trilogy is unrealistic. It IS Mass Effect but in a way we haven't seen before.Having completed the game I have lowered my score from a 7 to a 4. It is just that bad.
    So first the negative:
    I'm with the rest when it comes to the menus, they are a mess and not    Let's all just agree that Shepard is a hard act to follow. Any thought of going into this thinking that it's going to be like the trilogy is unrealistic. It IS Mass Effect but in a way we haven't seen before.Having completed the game I have lowered my score from a 7 to a 4. It is just that bad.
    So first the negative:
    I'm with the rest when it comes to the menus, they are a mess and not very intuitive. There are WAY too many menus, It's ridiculous.
    Planet scanning: there are 4 steps of fancy graphics just to scan the planet. Why? When will publishers learn to quit wasting our time. YOLO and I don't want to spend it going through 4 stages to scan a planet. Also apparantly there are anomalies detected even after I've scanned the entire system and found every thing and scanned every planet. If there is still something out there where is it? How did such a simple mechanic become so cumbersome?
    Remember how you could set up your team's load out? Well, if you still can I haven't been able to figure out how. 20 hours in and I don't even know what weapons my team is using.
    Again too much talk, I'm still trying to get past simply competent when it comes to combat because I've experienced so little of it.

    Graphical problems yes, they are there but I don't really care that much.
    Character models, expressions ( there aren't any they are all blank faced models), horrible, but whatever.
    When not in combat I can't get away from the feeling that I'm playing an electronic barbie house. It's too much Mass Effect the Social Game for me. Way beyond anything in the trilogy.

    It doesn't give clear enough information on how to do basic things. Healing is completely different as an example, but I don't recall ever being told how to heal. I just ended up figuring it out after x amount of hours. Considering the difference, it's rather important strategic information when your in the middle of a fire fight. And that's just one example that extends to crafting, resources, etc.

    Too me the resource gathering and crafting is a slow and painful process. I have found no joy in it thus far. It's frustrating. The separation of research and crafting uhhg ain't nobody got time for that. Does Bioware think that we live and breath their creations? so much of this game seems so self-involved of the devs. Like they live in a world where everyone has 20 hours to figure out their cumbersome systems for doing things and we're supposed to like it. Games are meant to be fun, not tiresome.
    It seems that EVERYTHING is way more complicated and time consuming than is necessary.
    .
    The creative decisions above and many more are mind boggling. They just make no sense.
    The writing is the worst writing of any bioware game ever. It is amateurish, immature and boring. Absolutely nothing about Andromeda's mission makes any logical sense on any level.

    There is plenty to do (way too much actually) and much of it may keep your attention. There are interesting worlds and situations and pretty environments. The combat IS fun, I just can't get enough of it.
    The ships are cool, the Nexus is cool as far as concepts go and there is plenty to see and explore. There is some fun to be had here.

    If you want to try this game out, first say your goodbyes to ME as you know it. Let Shepard rest and enter a new world in the ME universe. The cheaper, more amateurish, emptier universe. A universe that exploits the once mighty name of ME and Bioware.    … Expand
  29. smokestorm9121
    Apr 4, 2017
    1
    Oh my god.... do you know how much I wanted this game to succeed?... Man I was so ready to pop this in and be transported back to the world of rich story, awesome character development, and fun battles. Unfortunately this game screws up on so many things that made mass effect good. I feel like i'm going through the 7 stages grief man! No **** joke! I think I made it past denial andOh my god.... do you know how much I wanted this game to succeed?... Man I was so ready to pop this in and be transported back to the world of rich story, awesome character development, and fun battles. Unfortunately this game screws up on so many things that made mass effect good. I feel like i'm going through the 7 stages grief man! No **** joke! I think I made it past denial and somewhere between sadness and anger, probably entering anger right about now... anyways to break it down because a lot of people have already made it clear here it is... Bland dialogue, **** ass facial AND BODY (no one ever mentions that) animations, OK graphics. The sound is... oh my god the sound... the thing that actually did it for me was the stock audio you would get at like free stock audio . com or something. And to those who are saying the sjw **** Have you seen Suvi Anwar if you haven't stfu that would be sjw target number 1... anyways games **** And suvi is f***ing hot. Case Closed.… Expand
  30. sdwillie
    Apr 18, 2017
    0
    It's broken garbage.

    The multiplayer isn't fun to start with, and quickly becomes boring. The campaign was dull until it locked up on an autosave, causing me to force quit. That led to the game failing to load, with the stupid ring in the corner spinning endlessly. For some reason this also caused EA Access to do the same, endlessly trying to connect to their servers. I guess I have    It's broken garbage.

    The multiplayer isn't fun to start with, and quickly becomes boring. The campaign was dull until it locked up on an autosave, causing me to force quit. That led to the game failing to load, with the stupid ring in the corner spinning endlessly. For some reason this also caused EA Access to do the same, endlessly trying to connect to their servers. I guess I have to take them at their word that they fixed some of the creepy faces.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

83
#83 Best Xbox One Game of 2017
2
#2 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2017
4
#4 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 35 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
  1. games(TM)
    Jun 14, 2017
    50
    A new low for the Mass Effect series. [Issue#186, p.71]
  2. Gamers' Temple
    Apr 20, 2017
    82
    Overall, despite its shortcomings Mass Effect: Andromeda was an enjoyable experience for me. The first few hours feel like a grind, but you will be rewarded for sticking with it. The game is dragged down a bit by all of the reading that must be done and some overly long conversations, but this is rather typical for the genre. The game really shines when you're exploring an alien world and battling the local fauna, and when you get down to it that's what you really want out of a space-based RPG.
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  3. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Apr 15, 2017
    80
    It can't match up to its predecessors, but Andromeda is a thrilling adventure nonetheless. [May 2017, p.73]
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