The Red Headed Step-Child of the Mass Effect Universe

Usually I opt to re-play one of my favorite series during the summer months when I have lots of time.  This summer I decided that it has been awhile since I had delved back into one of my favorite series, Mass Effect.  In general, I'm content to play through the three core ME games (which are now nicely bundled together in the Legendary Edition).  This time around, I decided to revisit Mass Effect: Andromeda, the newest, but most reviled game in the series.

I'm part of a very awesome Facebook group of Mass Effect fans (you can find it here--it's very well moderated and one of the least toxic fandom groups you will find) and a question that gets regularly asked is by new players who want to know if Andromeda is worth playing.  In general, the feedback is fairly divisive.  I'm here to say yes, it's worth playing, but just know that it's not the same experience as the core trilogy.  They definitely made an effort with Andromeda to incorporate more open world gameplay and less of the dialogue heavy interactions with squadmates. 

The Andromeda squad.

Part of me has always thought that Andromeda gets a bit of a bad rap.  So many people act like it is an absolutely abysmal game and it's not (although, it's definitely not of the same caliber as the core trilogy).  There are some things that it does pretty well--the combat is some of the best in the series and is challenging at the upper difficulty levels.  It's not perfect, I do wish they had left the ability to give commands to your squadmates (...and that they didn't feel so utterly useless), but it's definitely fun.  The squadmate banter is also highly entertaining and helps to make those long stretches of exploration a bit more fun.  The planets you visit in Andromeda are quite stunning too and piloting the Nomad definitely beats the Mako.

As I've been playing back through it, I've also remembered the things that make it less enjoyable.  The open world format is...mostly okay.  I dislike the fact that they sprinkled lots of interesting Kett outposts, crash sites, and smaller Remnant sites but gave players basically no impetus to stop and interact with those sites (yes, there are the random "task" missions that ask you to find certain objects, but those are some of the most annoying in the game).  In previous playthroughs I've had very few bug/glitch issues, but this time around is my time, I guess.  I've found my Ryder falling through planets just as I have landed on multiple occasions; I've had my Ryder fall through a set of stairs and get stuck...and then found that it had autosaved under the stairs (luckily I had another recent save to re-load).  I absolutely hate the way that Kadara Port is divided up into two separate zones the require you to load into them (and that the doors there are frustratingly slow to open--why do they need so many stupid doors anyway?) The story feels a bit underwhelming too--it's a bit of a re-hash of the Mass Effect story but with different evil aliens with semi-understandable motives.

If you're looking to check out Andromeda the "deluxe" edition can be purchased on Steam for $39.99.  That price seems a bit crazy to me, but you can also subscribe to EA Play for $4.99 a month and check it out.  I've seen it on sale for very cheap, so that is probably the best time to purchase.