Mass Effect Andromeda: 10 Impressions From The First 10 Hours

5. The Graphics Are Wildly Inconsistent

Mass Effect Andromeda Ryder
BioWare

On the Xbox One, Andromeda is something of a peculiar, frustrating experience when it comes to graphics and performance. One moment you'll be wowed at the game's gorgeously cinematic feel (such as an early sequence where you fall out of the sky and are free to tilt the camera around), and at others you'll visibly recoil or cringe at a badly-rendered face that would barely pass muster in the previous games.

Conversations in particular feature characters with big, bulging serial killer eyes that are immensely distracting and often hilarious. The lip sync and movement is terrible for a 2017 game, while the running movement often looks goofy (like someone awkwardly running to the bathroom after an "accident"), and at least on Xbox One, there's frequent stutter during cut-scenes.

To describe the visuals in one word? Janky. Some might find it charming and fun, but that just feels like a cop-out, because this shoddy performance really shouldn't be acceptable in a game that's been in production for so long.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.