One of the most anticipated games of the year has just launched, and as is the case with any such colossal launch, it has been engulfed in controversy. What am I talking about? Well, Mass Effect Andromeda of course.
So, let’s start this review off with the positives. The game is a gorgeous one, the worlds that you visit have been expertly crafted especially some of the ones that you get to see later in the game. Exploring these worlds feels extremely gratifying and I never had a dull moment while I was off doing my own thing in the various worlds. The thing that lends itself most to the awesome and immersive exploration is the fantastic combat system and sound design. Each gun has its own distinctive and punchy sound and the movement is near seamless, specially when you move from cover to cover. You get to play whatever class you choose and whichever way you feel. I played through as a biotic soldier and had a blast carving through my enemies with my bullets and telekinetic abilities.
Sadly, that is where the positives end. I mean you all would have, by now read and seen all about the abhorrent facial animations, so I’ll just leave it at that. For me, what was the deal breaker was the absolutely atrocious voice acting and the mediocre story. In a day and age when we have already seen games like The Witcher 3 and The Last of Us, I find is inexcusable that a game with a budget as massive as this fails to deliver the most basic standard of voice acting. Poor voice acting becomes even more jarring when a lions share of your time is spent in cut-scenes. I lost interest in the story some six hours into the campaign all thanks to the horribly written and poorly executed dialogue. Even the music here isn’t up to the standard that we have come to expect from big budget titles like this. While certain tracks are great, most of the ambient music falls well short of the mark and there are stretches of time where there is no music playing what so ever, and these stretches feel particularly barren. It’s not like The Division, where the lack of a thematic score was purposely done so as to accentuate the feeling of isolation, here, it just feels empty.
Yet another irritating aspect of the game is the horribly clunky UI. You will be spending quite some time exploring the galaxy, mining resources and gathering intel so as to be able to upgrade your armour and weapons. However, the way to do it is so jarring and counter intuitive that it may put people off farming altogether, which would be a shame, as the guns and the armour are literally the only saving grace this game has to offer.
In conclusion, Mass Effect Andromeda doesn’t live up to all the hype. In fact it falls way short of the mark and in my humble opinion, it doesn’t do justice to the amazing trilogy that it’s trying to spring-board off. The only reason this game will sell is on the pedigree of its name alone, and that too ought to be short lived.
