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

8. Hate: The New Planet-Scanning System

It was baffling they continued it in ME3, and it's a straight-up WTF jaw-dropper here.

Planet-scanning in past games was as simple as running a metal detector interface over a planet, tapping a button whenever spikes registered on your display, before reaping the rewards. In Andromeda, the basics of 'go to planet, scan, get stuff' are the same, but each and every planet, asteroid or ship are modelled in full 3D, and the game insists on you travelling between each component, one by one, complete with unskippable 'flying' animations.

For a system that comes with say, six planets, scanning them means enduring slow travelling cutscenes in between each, and even if you do indulge in this, you only get one material deposit per planet, because you're only allowed to scan one specific spot for one specific thing.

The whole thing feels like this weird space porn photo mode, being you can hit a button to drop the UI out and rotate around said planets and objects in 3D, letting the gorgeous lighting engine fill in some admittedly fantastic background detail.

That said, no one in their right mind could've thought this was a step up from what went before, and although I personally got on board with planet-scanning as a podcast-backed way to relax in ME2 and 3, Andromeda's 'innovation' will send you to sleep.