10 Things Fans Will Love (And Hate) About Mass Effect Andromeda

1. Love: The Open-World Loop Of Combat, Exploration & Dialogue

All of which brings me onto this point: Mass Effect Andromeda can be fun, really fun - once everything clicks.

It takes some time to fully understand what the Andromeda Initiative are, what a 'Pathfinder' is and just what you're doing other than base exploration, but in a way, carving your own path through so much content and side-missions is the new Mass Effect experience.

Landing on a planet and darting between various mission strands can be a fantastic way to play, and it's here where all sorts of gameplay loops start to interweave.

You'll spy a Kett outpost down a ravine and launch down there in the Nomad to take them out with some blistering combinations of Biotic attacks. You'll explore underground ruins and terraform the surrounding landscape, build 'a new home for humanity' that rewards you with materials for more weapons and armour. You'll go on backstory-filling loyalty missions, take down alien dinosaurs with Asari swords, indulge in conversations about determinism, faith and space politics.

In short, you'll 'do a Mass Effect', but that core recommendation comes with one of the most bizarre and off-putting surface layers in recent memory.

Oh, and yes, the human facial animations are hilariously atrocious, but they won't get in the way of your overall enjoyment.

--

Are you picking up Andromeda, or have the mixed reviews truly put you off? Let us know in the comments!