Mass Effect Andromeda Review: 3 Ups & 8 Downs

Easily one of the most divisive video games in quite some time - possibly even since Mass Effect 3 - Mass Effect Andromeda is Bioware's attempt to breathe new life into the franchise's formerly pronounced-dead corpse, as it was left back in 2012.

I'm not going to go over just how monumentally deflating and ill-conceived the "Now you're Space Jesus!' ending of ME 3 was, but sufficed to say, Bioware even considering bringing the franchise back was tantamount to madness. As such, they needed every single part of its conception and reveal to the public to be spot on - something that a lack of pre-launch single player footage and a bug-ridden demo most definitely did not deliver.

Now I've spent innumerable hours with it, Andromeda is quite simply a mixed bag of astounding proportions. As ambitious one moment as it is over-marketed into oblivion and filled with all-frills 'humour' the next, EA clearly wanted a return on their investment, leaving Mass Effect Andromeda to exist more as a box to be ticked on a corporate spreadsheet, than a worthwhile continuation of what went before.

That said, this is one of the richest mythologies and franchise lores in entertainment history - something that - miraculously - manages to elevate Andromeda far higher than it would otherwise deserve.