Mass Effect: Andromeda

[Waco]

I picked up ME3 for $5 a few weeks back and I'm working my way through. If MEA turns out to be good (based on reviews) I might actually give EA some money for a nearly-full priced game for the first time in many years!

[InCrYsIs]

I picked up ME3 for $5 a few weeks back and I'm working my way through. If MEA turns out to be good (based on reviews) I might actually give EA some money for a nearly-full priced game for the first time in many years!

Did you play ME1 and 2 already?

[Waco]

Did you play ME1 and 2 already?

Of course. Many many hours in both.

[bp9801]

The early access trial for MEA is now live on PC and Xbox One to Origin/EA Access subscribers.

[bp9801]

[Nyt]

Tried it out for 2 hours. Enjoying it so far, but there's definitely room for improvement.

 

- Character creator seems basic. Beards are lacking. 

 

- Tried out preset 9 on Fem Ryder, and lightened the skin color with a few changes

It seems if you choose an black character preset and change the skin color, it still keeps the father as the original color. 

So that means the father is based off the preset you chose as a base for the custom character, and not based on the custom character themselves.

Was odd having default Scott Ryder, with his white sister, and really African father.

Would be nice if you could choose what the father looked like (not completely custom, just a simple preset for each race with the ability to change hair/eye color)

 

- Also, the face might look good in the creator but bad in the real world. My custom Sara Ryder's mouth look a bit weird in some cutscenes. I changed to default Scott Ryder and it looked pretty good.

 

- Default Scott Ryder is really growing on me. His facial expressions are miles ahead of default Sara.

- The male voice actor is great. Really good. Was surprised it wasn't Troy Baker or Nolan North, because this guy sounds so much like them. 

 

- Combat is pretty fun. Cover is a lot like Ghost Recon Wildlands.

- Combat FOV is way too restrictive. Had to up it two notches for it to be easier to find enemies and not be motion sick.

 

- First map you explore feels a lot like an Inquisition map. Exploration definitely draws from Inquisition. Not necessarily a bad thing, I loved Inquisition (besides the "Collect 10" fetch quests).

 

- Graphics are absolutely gorgeous. The cutscenes especially. The lighting on the armor and the condensation on the helmets are wow.

- The world is incredibly detailed. So much detail in the surrounding mountains and environment. 

- Ultra preset doesn't max out lighting, effects and HBAO so you have to increase each of those by one notch to max it. 

- However this maxed out beauty comes at a price. Stable 60FPS at 1080p for 95% of the time on a GTX1080, with a slight dip once in a while but that may be because I was playing while the game is downloading. 

 

- Some bugs here and there. Like character models behaving inconsistently. Cora walks weirdly.

- Characters also behave weirdly. In some of the opening stages, the other characters run far ahead of you as if they are in a rush to get to their destination, and it makes it feel unrealistic if you want to hang around and admire the scenery. 

The characters should follow you, or at least run ahead of you and stop if you stop - especially when you are having a conversation with them.

- Facial expressions look weird sometimes. Odd, because previous MEs and Inquisition were really good at faces.

 

Overall, I'm enjoying it. I really hope they fix the bugs and oddities though. It doesn't feel polished like a game that took 4+ years to make.

I would probably wait for it to be polished in a patch or two, or for the likely special in the Summer Origin Sale if I wasn't a Mass Effect fan.

[InCrYsIs]

Mediocre reviews from most of the main review sites.

 

Gamespot 6/10

PC Gamer 80

IGN 7.7

Game Informer 8/10

 

The way the reviews read, it sounds like it should have scored worse than the scores given with the exception of Gamespot.

[Waco]

I've heard it's like Dragon Age: Inquisition, in space (Ars Technica).

 

Can't say that means it'll be great, but it sounds good if you like DA:I.

[bp9801]

I'm enjoying it immensely. There are some minor issues (facial animations could be improved in some spots, menus are a little clunky at times), but nothing that's taking away my enjoyment from MEA. Haven't encountered any bugs that some have and I look forward to playing it every single day for a long time to come.

[HarryTaco]

Well well I had cruised the Internet looking for reviews and even actual players like you and me and not Media Critics... it seems the game will be a fine piece of entertainment by my standards.   I think I will enjoy taking many extra hours to gather mats and then craft my weapon load outs.  I love wasting time in games.  Its not always about finishing as fast as you can. I am still having lots of kicks with Ghost Recon Wildlands, but I think I will buy and Download this one today.  Cheers.

[HarryTaco]

I bought this yesterday.  Got it DL'd and did a defrag on my Gaming HDD.  I am very glad I did, as most of the game was horribly fragmented.   Once the Defrag was done, I got into a few hours of the game.  I am still a firm believer in "Defrag/Optomize" for the Gaming HDD.  I had no bugs at all, but I did die a lot as coming from GR:Wildlands to this is an adjustment for me.  The current survivability of my character is not optimized, nor are my weapon choices at the moment.   Still deciding how I want to develop my character.  In the mean time just exploring and proceeding with the story line is very good.  

[ir_cow]

Got my copy on Monday thanks to Amazon. I put in about 5 hours that day and haven't touch it since. Yes I got past the first planet and a few more. I suggest anyone who is a Mass Effect fan to actually skip this game. For someone like me who beat the first 3 multiple times, this game is a serious let down.

 

If you never played a ME game, than the "new" lore may be enough to keep you playing, but for everyone else, its a poor mans rehash of something that was done nearly 10 years ago with the first game.