The first hours of gameplay in the new Mass Effect: Andromeda are quite terrible, especially considering the amount of hype that has been built up around the game prior to its release. The game is off to a horrible start that manages to be both slow and awkward at the same time. The facial animations appear exceptionally bad and the entire experience is buggy and falls a bit flat. It seems like the game was produced and released in a rush, when we all know that’s not the case. Even worse, the starting planets and companions did nothing for the game, they actually made it worse.
Does It Get Better?
When I first complained about the game, many people told me that it gets better after a while, if you manage to not completely give up on playing it. And now, having played it more extensively, I’d have to say that’s completely true. The game improves drastically after you get new companions and move further from Eos and Havarl, the starting planets. Once you get deeper and deeper into the story, the missions also become better, with the primary ops missions being particularly fun. The side missions are still sometimes weak.
On top of that, the characters get better too. Even Peebee, notoriously mocked for being a “blue Shrek”, turns into a pretty great character as the gameplay unfolds. Also, she’s not as unattractive as the first press release shots seemed to indicate. However, the game still doesn’t seem to rise up to the greatness of the original trilogy, but it’s not terrible either. Actually, if you’re a Mass Effect fan, I fully recommend you play it, especially if future patches will fix some of its annoying bugs. However, if you haven’t played anything in the Mass Effect series, I recommend you go through the original installment first, because Andromeda is nowhere near an indicator of the game franchise’s quality and amazing gameplay.
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