14 DAY TRIAL // 
Mass Effect: Andromeda has finally arrived, and despite some minor criticism that any serious player would have, it's a great entry into what we hope is a brand new series.
Electronic Arts is not a publisher known for making the best marketing decisions over the year, but I have to say that making the game available for trial way before the actual launch was a bold move. It shows that they have faith in their product, and that's usually just as important as anything else.
For the longest time, people have been complaining, and justly I might add, about the fact that game demos have been dropped by the publishers as a means to promote a game. After being absent for so long, demos are now making a comeback, albeit in another form.
In the case of Mass Effect: Andromeda, people have been able to play a trial version of the game, which is quite extensive, before the official launch. Being available to a large audience is a good thing, but it also opens up the game to criticism, making any problem look much worse than it actually is. In any case, let's move to the review and cover all the good and bad bits about this new game in the Mass Effect universe.
The Story
We must not forget that the game was made by Bioware and they are masters at their craft. Most of the titles they built over the past couple of decades have been amazing and are present in the collective memory of the gaming community. The main reason for the level of quality exhibited by Bioware is their ability to write a proper storyline, with compelling and exciting characters.
Now, I'm a really, really big fan of Mass Effect and I know everything that has to do with this universe. It means that I played the games numerous times, I went through all the quests, and I read all the books, including the comic book series. The only thing I couldn't do was to save Kaidan, in any of my playthroughs. I mean, really, who does that?
With that in mind, I wanted a new adventure, and it turns out that I had to go to another galaxy to get it. Before getting on with the story, I have to say that this is also a problem that's been bugging me from the start. Writers and people, in general, don't truly understand the size of the galaxy. It's yuuge. You can fit another 1000 games with stories in the Milky Way and you would still be left with 90% of unexplored space.
Someone calculated the number of Mass Effect relays in the Milky Way and the most generous estimation is at about one million. The ships are not using the Mass Effect relays to travel to Andromeda, which means they have a new kind of propulsion that would be more than adequate to explore our backyard. The distance to the nearest galaxy is about 2.5 million light years, and the diameter of our galaxy is about 100,000 light years.
Assuming that there are one million relays spread across the Milky Way, that still leaves at least 200 billion solar systems not covered by the network, and which are much easier to reach with the conventional engines used in the new game. In 200 billion star systems you can easily hide a thriving Prothean empire that managed to avoid the Reapers by staying out of the relay system. Space is so vast that you can have ten empires and they would never meet.
My guess is that they really wanted to move the story to the Andromeda galaxy since it sounded cool and worked their way backward. Then, there is a second problem. It takes them 600 years to reach Andromeda. This is the main dilemma with generational ships or which use cryogenics.
They need a very long time to arrive at their destination and the technology employed by them becomes obsolete. In 600 years, the people left on Earth could make much better engines or find much faster ways of getting to Andromeda. There is a good chance they'll wake from cryosleep and discover that the "new" galaxy has been colonized already by people getting there faster, although they have left after you.
Since the events at the end of Mass Effect 3 hint at a major setback for all the races, the premise for Mass Effect Andromeda might just work, but it's a stretch.
Long story short, all of the major races in the galaxy built massive ships with colonists ready to settle in Andromeda. Humans, salarians, turians, and assari managed to launch their arks towards our neighboring galaxy. The journey would take 600 years, and they would rendez-vous on the other side with the Nexus, a central hub ship rather similar to the Citadel that left just a year earlier.
All of this happens well before the events in the third Mass Effect 3 game, which gives them the ultimate reason. If the Reaper threat in the Milky Way cannot be contained or defeated, moving to another galaxy would ensure the survival of the species. Funny enough, a few of the species we knew and loved, like the Hannar for example, are nowhere to be found, which means they were left behind.
I'm not going to spoil the story for you, but here is the outline. As soon as the human ark Hyperion arrives in Andromeda, it gets damaged. To make things worse, the Nexus is not ready to receive them, the other arks are nowhere to be found, and the golden worlds targeted for colonization have been corrupted by a spatial phenomenon known only as the Scourge.
To make things even more exciting, all of the colonizable planets have evidence that another ancient race once inhabited them, leaving behind strange technology. And since any adventure needs a villain, the ancient technology is being sought after by alien species named the Kett that stop at nothing to obtain it.
In your role as a Pathfinder, your job is to either find new worlds to colonize or fix whatever is wrong with the ones that were supposed to be occupied in the first place.
Gameplay
First and foremost, Mass Effect Andromeda is an exploration game, much more than the previous ones, and I dare even to say more than the first titles in the series. It's a massive endeavor and it dwarves any other concerns you might have about the quality of the product.
It's impossible to say how big the game really is, but an average user would probably sink about 100 hours without having to do all the side quests. There are five major planets that have to be explored, and dozens others that can be scanned from orbit.
Even after you get to explore the first planet, you still have to return later in the game and find that you've probably covered just 50% of the total surface. The quests are diverse enough, so they don't get boring, although some of them seem like they take forever to complete.
With all the exploration that has to be done, which is an important aspect of the game, the combat is actually the bread and butter of Mass Effect Andromeda. The developers said early on that it was redesigned and they weren't kidding.
Everything happens fast, and players won't be hanging around corners, taking part in fights that seem to go on forever. The gameplay is quick paced and visceral and feels natural most of the time.
The combat is elevated by an optional part of the game, which is research and development. Among the many things you'll have to gather in the game, such as resources, items, weapons, and armors, you'll also pick research data. This can be used to unlock new enhancements and more advanced versions for pretty much any type of hardware. Furthermore, all of the resources you gather will be used to develop those items.
I said that it's optional because it's possible to ignore this aspect and just use what you find or what you can buy. But, if you choose to go deeper, you will discover that some of the modifications that can be applied to weapons change the gameplay significantly.
Also, since many of the planets are massive, Bioware reintroduced an exploration vehicle, the Nomad. It's really fast and useful, not to mention that it can be used to find and gather minerals from the planet's surface.
Graphics and sound
I know that a lot of people in the gaming community have said that the facials animations are weird and unfinished, and a few other bugs have been noticed, but I'm here to say that it doesn't really matter, and I'll explain why.
Mass Effect Andromeda is like a Ferrari with a busted light or a scratch on the hood. It's still a fantastic car even if there is a defect that will put off some people. Given the massive scale of the game, the problems I observed with the animations don't really count. I noticed them when I fist started, but after the first few hours, I didn't even acknowledge them anymore.
Now that we got the elephant out of the room, let's talk about the graphics. Simply put, they are outstanding. It's the same Frostbite engine used in Battlefield 1, and it's one of the most advanced available right now. Everything looks great, and in combination with a ton of Nvidia technology, it makes a memorable experience.
Furthermore, I have to mention that it's extremely well optimized for a PC title. I managed to crank everything to Ultra settings without meeting the requirements to do so, and I still get 60 FPS.
I played Mass Effect Andromeda on a GeForce 970 GTX, which also means that I have access to the Nvidia Ansel technology. Think of it as a screenshot tool on steroids. Just press Alt+F2 (by default), and the gameplay freezes; you're now in control of the camera in a 3D environment. The screenshots that can be made in this way are unparalleled.
As for the sound department, I can underline the same issue that everyone has mentioned as well - that it's not unremarkable. It's not bad by any measure, but it lacks that oomph. It needed something to set it apart, and it's only a throwback to the old games, at most.
Multiplayer
The game features a multiplayer component that's very similar to the one in Mass Effect 3, meaning that it's a cooperative endeavor. There are three levels of difficulty, with various missions. Get resources, but packs from the store and unlock more powerful items. Rinse and repeat.
A cool aspect is that the single player and the multiplayer have a connection, meaning that it's possible to play Apex missions with other players and get resources to be used in the main campaign.
The Good
- Exploration and combat are excellent
- Massive worlds with hundreds of quests
- Beautiful graphics optimized for PC
The Bad
- Some facial and body animations are not polished
- Music is undistinguished
Conclusion
The scale of the new Mass Effect game, combined with the intense gameplay and exploration, makes this a must have. Don't be fooled by some of the issues justly reported by the community and give it a try. The trial version of the game is still available through Origin, and I'm sure that people won't need more than a couple of hours to decide if they like it.
I, for one, am going back to Andromeda, fighting the Kett and the Remnant, and I'm going to enjoy every second of it.
