Mass Effect Andromeda Review: 3 Ups & 8 Downs

1. The Lack Of New Races, Technology Or Anything Warranting A New Galaxy

How do you come up with such an awesome reset button for a franchise as culturally and racially diverse as Mass Effect, then completely squander it?

Bioware have literally gone, "Right, let's move away from the Milky Way entirely and start afresh. It's been five years, let's see what we can do!" - or at least, that's what the opening cutscene makes you think is going to happen, as you're then met by many of the same races from the original trilogy.

Across the entire game, you'll meet the Angarans (the cat-faced squid people), the Kett (faceless bone-armoured warriors), the Remnant (a machine 'race' that are almost entirely three variations on gun turrets) and the Jardaan, who only get mentioned in a couple of dialogue lines.

Aside from these 'new races' (of which only two have faces), the fanciest thing you'll come across geometrically are... wait for it... floating rocks - something literally every sci-fi game, TV show, movie and book has done. Hilariously, Andromeda even has multiple characters remark "Hey, did you see those rocks?!" just to elbow nudge you back awake.

It's pitiful.