Re: First Impressions after 2 hours with the game...
Okay, I've finished the game (105 hour play through) and have mixed emotions about it. In many ways it is the best ME game of the franchise and an epic scifi RPG, and in other ways it just so isn't. Most of it's flaws come down to lack of polish, but there are some major detractors in the content as well.
First the good-
1. Stunning environments to explore, both in space and planet side, with plenty of variety. The design of the Tempest and it's external views, really lends to appreciating the beauty of the galaxy Bioware built.
2. The Mako, aka Nomad exploration is back (Yay!!), and is much improved over ME1. The Nomad is a superior vehicle to the Mako, except for the lack of a cannon, and is a lot of fun to drive.
3. So much to explore in so many beautiful and varied environments, and having the Nomad to get around to explore it all is a lot of fun.
4. Good main quest story, despite what some people have said to the contrary. Nothing ground breaking, but entertaining and fun.
5. Planet scanning (now that you can skip the fly in once you've experienced it a few times and have tired of it) is vastly improved over the tedium of ME2, and is a hell of a lot prettier.
6. Combat is fun and challenging, and the jump pack adds a lot to the combat experience.
7. The scanning/SAM interface ads a lot to the game, especially since you are learning about a totally new galaxy, species and tech, and although tedious at some points, for the most part ads a lot to the experience and the fun factor.
8. A TON of stuff to do and keep you busy, and you get a good sense of progression and rising hope as you build up planet viability.
Now the bad-
1. A TON of stuff to do and keep you busy. I enjoy the quests where you are actually doing something that adds to the story or relationships, or even side stories, but all of the ridiculous; "drive to the remotest part of the map to scan a rock quests", are just tedious and aggravating. Give me something real to do when I get to the north 40!
2. Friends and squad mates aren't near as fleshed out as in previous ME titles. Most visits to talk with them, even after IPDM missions when you'd expect them to have something to say, are met with not a single new thing to say to you. The result is not feeling an emotional attachment to them, unlike the prior ME titles.
3. The abilities system seems a step backward, and is just clunky and complicated. Being limited to just 3 skills, unless you do separate ability builds, then wait for a cool down if you swap builds in combat, is just messy. The game doesn't do a good job at all of helping you determine what abilities/builds are good and which will suck, or how to even access/build different builds that you can switch to in combat.
5. Why do every single one of the Asari look like identical twins with different paint? Seriously, all of the other ME games had at least a handful of different looking Asari builds, but in Andromeda, they all look the same. You'd think at least they could have made Lexi and the Doc look different, since you interact with them a lot.
6. While combat is good, the cover system is not. It's reminiscent of ME1's cover system, and about as reliable when trying to get your Ryder to cover up.
7. Whoever built the planet information for the scanning mini game, needs to do some astronomy homework. Having planets 2-3 times the mass of the Earth (with higher gravity) and with Earth like temps, but with 0 atmospheric pressure (due to higher mass/gravity it should have a denser atmosphere than Earth), or planets 100's of AU from their star with .5 atmospheric pressure having 800c surface temperatures, while planets in the same system that are only 16 AU from their star and 64 atmospheres, having -235c temps, is absurd.
8. The bugs, the bugs, the bugs. This game is chock full of them, as well as many continuity errors, and the lack of finishing polish really hurts the game. I think most of the cons could be over looked if it weren't for the serious lack of polish smacking you in the face all over the place, and yanking you out of the immersion.
Mass Effect Andromeda is one big dichotomy. One minute you love it and it's awesome, and the next you're annoyed as hell with it and going WTH? In some ways it's one of the best scifi games and or RPG's ever made, and in other ways it's so not. Obviously different people have different tastes, and some will like aspects that annoy others. Ultimately, it feels like Bioware tried to accommodate too many tastes, and in doing so, didn't make it match anyone's. It's a good game, and in many ways exceeded what I hoped for, but in other's failed substantially. I think the biggest let down for me aside from the significant lack of polish, is the lack of character development with squad mates. It feels like they put too much emphasis on combat and fetch quests, and not enough on what makes a Bioware RPG great, that being story telling and getting to know the people you are traipsing around the galaxy with.
I think part of ME:A's problem is what also hampered ME3. That being the inclusion of multiplayer. It's taking resources away from development of the meat of the project. People who want to play an online multiplayer shooter, are going to play Battlefield or Call of Duty games. People who play RPGs want a good story, not multiplayer. Seriously Bioware/EA, enough with the multiplayer on RPGs! Put that money/time to good use on the actual story and polish.
Ultimately is Andromeda worth your time and money? Yeah, just be prepared to be disappointed with bits of it. Hopefully with the listed upcoming patches, some of my issues with the game will be resolved. Bioware has listened to the feedback, and they have already released 2 patches to resolve some of the issues (like the dead doll eyes), and have listed out more improvements to come. I'm looking forward to another play through after the patches, and hoping for a much improved experience.
At present I rate the game a solid 7. Good, but a bit disappointing since the potential was definitely there for a 10.
