10 Essential Tips For Actually Enjoying Mass Effect Andromeda

1. Pretend It Isn't A Mass Effect Game

Mass Effect Andromeda isn't a terrible game, but it sure is a terrible Mass Effect game.

Everything that made the original trilogy so immersive (yeah, even ME 3) is either not present in this sequel or rendered so limp that it actually might have been better if they cut it completely.

For one, there's no winding plot, no complex villain, and no way to meaningfully impact the story. The great narrative heights of the previous games aren't even attempted to be matched, and it's clear that this a much more mechanically driven spin-off that's more concerned with gameplay than it is with story or characters.

Which is fine in itself, but expecting Andromeda to play like its predecessors only leads to disappointment. Small side-quests don't morph into something more important like they used to, and for the most part, loyalty missions don't change the course of the plot or the fate of your crew. In fact, in general, there's just no real sense of danger or consequence to your actions.

Expectations have not done much to help Andromeda's middling reception, and to really enjoy it, you have to pretend that it isn't even in the same franchise as the previous games - something that's fairly easy to do, once you get to grips with its various new mechanics.