Author: John Bakker

So in the first part of the review I mentioned a couple of bugs. One of the biggest ones seemed to be problems rendering hair and faces.

Does it get better?

Now the walks are still there. But this can probably be fixed with a bug fix since it is there so consitently. The horror show that is weird the eyes and patchy hair is actually fixed. And it was fixed by switching video cards. A GTX 960 to a GTX 1060 to be exact. The hair for the characters is no longer patchy. So one problem solved. I was also able to max out all the graphics settings without reducing my frame rate.  The faces look a lot better. This leads me to believe that they developed this game towards to the latest and greatest videocards and just forgot about QA-ing the minimal spec.

Was all the bad press deserved?

Sort of ? There are definitely problems with the game. The characters look more cartoony than realistic. Especially Cora and the cookie cutter Asari. Hopefully these will be fixed soon. But in this age of drama games journalism (See “No man’s sky” ) things get whipped up a lot. And seriously there are issues with the game but they have been whipped up quite a bit.

So has my opinion changed since the start?

Hell yeah. While playing the game for over 17 hours over the last 3 days I ran into a lot of bugs. They got hilarious from time to time. Spinning heads that are more reminiscent of the horror genre than science fiction. Unhealthy hairdo looks. But the more I played it. The more I was impressed with what I saw. The game felt more like an RPG than a shooter I got used to in ME2&3. And this is something I really enjoy. But will also alienate a lot of gamers who were expecting another shooter.

The music

The music for Andromeda will keep me company in the next few weeks while doing coding. Wow it sound great. A lot more electronic feel to it than ME3. This is a good thing as its something I really like. The track “Heleus” is an example of something that I really like. It is the game’s galaxy map music. And from what I can tell it is a remake of the original galaxy map tune for ME1-3

Manufacturing ?

I have yet to try it. But so far I had trouble even modifying the colours of Sara Ryder’s outfit.  There is no system as far as I have seen to indicate the blueprints are unlocked for something I want. No way to say “I want this thing”. So it is an aspect of the game i have yet to check out.

Interface interface interface

The UI for this game is not a prize winner. It is the cause of most of my grief with this game. It is confusing and almost requires a search field to be able to find most things. Switching your team is hidden behind an icon on the top. While in previous games this was always a step in the process of departing the ship. This part is the most frustrating part of the game.

Finishing the game…

There is not a lot less pressure to finish things. I get to walk about do my thing. And really explore all the different areas and people. There are a bunch of quests to finish. But its very hard to keep track of the quests. This is the problem with the way the game handles quests and markers on the map. The map has overlapping symbols and can be called messy at times. It took me a while before I figured out fast travel. So finishing this is going to take me a lot of time.  And you have a chance of getting the 100% completion 😉

Switching videocards

It got a lot better after switching to the GTX 1060. I bet it gets even better on a 1080. A lot less distracted by the weird faces. The game looks a lot better. Who would have thought. I think they should say the min spec is the 1060. Not the GTX 660 they mention. So my hunch of getting the 1060 really panned out.

My Verdict

I will replay it after finishing it in new game + because I think I already missed a heap due to the problems with the game’s UI and bugs and glitches. The game is an ok first instalment in the new franchise so far. And I think we’ll see some more games in this universe in the future. At least I hope so.

I played this on my pc called Galadriel. This is my own opinion of this game. I purchased this game with my own money. 

This is a two part review. The first part is my about my initial experiences in the game.  The second post will be made next Saturday after I’ve played a bit more of it.

Having to wait for a game to release while everybody across the pond already has access is always a bit annoying. But I finally got access to Mass Effect Andromeda last night. I played from 00:00 till 02:30.  I had to update my videocard drivers before I could get started playing. Then when I woke up of dreams filled with aliens and lightning storms I got back to playing through the part until I got access to my ship. Now there are plenty of negative reviews out there. We live in the age of people having a bug up their butt about things in games journalism. And I had already pre-ordered the game at the beginning of the year. And took two days off to play a good chunk of this game. Sooo I’m getting my money’s worth out of this game.

My experiences so far

The story so far has been interesting. Lots of questions out there to solve and there is plenty of content. The game looks pretty in most respects. The story so far has me hooked. There are plenty of side quests to complete. The addition of a crafting system is wonderful I have already crafted my first sniper rifle. I have no idea on how to equip it though. I have sniper specialisation. Just no idea on how to equip it. During the intro mission I wanted to return to check out a ruin. But was unable to do that due to lightning almost killing me and my team. That is a way to push people forward in a mission. But it felt forced. And thats pretty much the sense I get from this game. I’m pretty sure the people working on this weren’t ready for release. It was forced.

The not so good bits

I ran into a few infuriating bugs and gameplay issues:

• Auto clicking conversation options: Not getting a choice it just picked the one preselected and continued. This pissed me off the most.
• Had to restart the game a few times to get things fixed.
• Auto graphics settings made the game ugly. Had to tweak them to be pretty.
• Game progression is a bit slow at points. And sometimes hard to follow where you need to go.
• Rain falls on faces and runs down the skin while there is a face shield…. Weird.
• Characters talking through each other. Especially one guy saying “Hey look at this toy”… a lot. And over and over.
• The UI is horrible. The game’s menu is confusing. And when you press M to go to the map, and then escape it takes you to the game menu instead of back to the game. All these design choices make for a bad experience and you just dread even going through that menu.
• And of course the faces . Now not to band-wagon this thing. It is true. There are some major mess ups in this game in the face department. The faces of some of the people you meet look like something I would do after a non inspired art session. Awkward, horrifying, and most of all disturbing looking faces are there. Not everyone though. Actually not that many. Just that anyone who is not main cast looks like cookie cutter or character randomiser work.
• The ministry of funny walks will be proud of this game.

But does this detract from the game experience?

For me , not really. I am really exited to play a new game in this universe. And the mass effect games have always had menu issues. So the story is pulling me through. The same way a narrator in an audiobook is secondary to the story. The game here is doing its job good enough. The only thing that has really bugging me is the auto clicking of conversation options. This irked me.

Should you buy this game?

Are you a Mass Effect fan ? Then Yes. Are you new to the franchise? Then pick up 1-3 for cheap and play those first.  By the time you are done with the other games, the bugs in this one will be fixed and the price sliced in half or even lower. Depending on how much of a completionist you are in 1-3.

This game will be worth it. It won’t cover every mystery in this new galaxy. But it is not supposed to. I will be back to deliver my final verdict after I’m a little further into the game.

[Link to part two & video will be here on Saturday]