(Credit: BioWare)
"Mass Effect Andromeda" is keeping it fresh for fans who love the popular franchise.
The fourth installation in the series, Electronic Arts and BioWare created Andromeda to start it all over again. By choosing a protagonist, one of the twins, Scott or Sara Ryder, they become the "Pathfinder" just like their father before them. "Andromeda" brings incredible travel sequences and a variety of engaging lifeforms and violent enemies to keep fans enthralled throughout.
The game is more overwhelming than your typical role playing game, especially starting out. However, it eases the player into the new concepts and playstyles, which is great for titles to do.
There is the opportunity to give gamers more options to explore and take their time. Enjoying the in-depth and script filled story, with all the different possible outcomes depending on the answers you choose. The open worlds leave you with plenty to keep you busy and search for materials for various upgrades.
Problems arise when there is no end to these concepts, and you have constantly learn and stay updated while dealing with the massive amount of side quests, which can become exhausting.
There are also multiple bugs and glitches that are very noticeable, making play a bit clunky -- something that's not uncommon for an open world type title.
The shooting portion also doesn’t feel as fluid as normal shooters, but "Mass Effect" plays for the most part as it’s supposed to.
There are 3 major skill trees within the game, Combat, Biotics and Tech, each with their own amount of abilities and passive traits to completely customize your combat experience.
Andromeda has a nice feature that allows you mix and match skills throughout these trees, while allowing the player to maximized their favorite abilities.
The combat is slightly faster in Andromeda than the other titles of Mass Effect. There is now a dodge ability where it allows the player to use it offensively or defensively. This with the amazing skill tree makes the combat more exciting than it has been before.
"Mass Effect" has never been a game for everyone. The titles take patience and massive interest in the story to be able to maintain interest throughout the campaign.
While the game may be amazing for the fans of the series, casual gamers might find this more of a chore type of game with all of the dialog and traversing back and forth. The game may play a little unsteady, but it is nothing that fans will not be able to look past.
Verdict: 7/10
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