Computer games.

[tsubaki]

After finishing Mass Effect Andromeda I'm going to go against the grain and say I loved it, and recommend it to any fan of the prior games.

The problems were blown massively out of proportion, as is the way in this day and age, where people get more satisfaction out of hating things rather than enjoying them. Some of the facial animations were poor, some laughable, but when did facial animations become integral to a good gaming experience? If they were that important LA Noire would be a masterpiece that people still talk about to this day. Remember LA Noire?

Probably not, because the writing wasn't great and the gameplay was non-existent. Andromeda has some great writing. On par with prior Mass Effect games but at times even better. The cast of characters are excellent, but like any good characters it takes time to get to know them and see their points of view. Any character you love instantly is nought but a caricature. The ludicrous amount of dialogue between every combination of character, the little emails they leave to each other, the volumes of engaging lore. If you like that kind of thing, something that was a big part of the original trilogy, then you won't be disappointed.

The graphics funnily enough are gorgeous. Yes some facial animations are poor. There are some visual glitches also (often quite hilarious, and this kind of thing never stopped me enjoying games before, see: Fallout New Vegas). But the concept design, the landscapes, the lighting, it's all superb.

Lastly the gameplay, specifically the combat, is so improved it makes the past games hard to pick up again. Combat was always a weakness for Mass Effect but now it's a strength thanks to the mobility of it all. Throw in a ludicrous amount of content (yes there are some padded fetch quests, which are labelled under 'tasks' and completely avoidable!), layers of extra depth via crafting and strike teams (entirely avoidable if it doesn't float your boat) and a surprisingly decent multiplayer mode and I cannot fathom why this game has the reception it does.

Ultimately if you like Mass Effect you will like Andromeda. If you've never liked Mass Effect then that probably won't change. It's lacking the same level of polish in places but on the flipside it's at least twice the size of the other games. Took me 75 hours to finish all the main and side stuff and I had a blast all the way through. People love to hate things and in the age of gifs, a clip of a game at its worse can come to represent it wholly to those who are looking to indulge in some ridicule. But anyone who actually plays this can't deny the amount of effort and genuine passion for the lore and universe that has gone into it.

I agree wholeheartedly - the panning it got was either because the critics didn't play it for long enough (the very worst environment is the prequel one, after all) or because they thought they would get more attention by slating it. As you say its massive, well-scripted, the characters are interesting, the combat is exceptional, they finally found a planetary exploration mode that wasn't crap or annoying and the whole experience is at least as good as any of the first three games.

The only things I thought were wrong with it was some small bits of laziness (many Asari have the same face, for instance) and also the graphical issues around the faces of some (not all, which sort of makes me wonder whether the default Ryder characters were always thus) options you have when selecting characters at the start of the game.

 

[ijjysmith]

After finishing Mass Effect Andromeda I'm going to go against the grain and say I loved it, and recommend it to any fan of the prior games.

The problems were blown massively out of proportion, as is the way in this day and age, where people get more satisfaction out of hating things rather than enjoying them. Some of the facial animations were poor, some laughable, but when did facial animations become integral to a good gaming experience? If they were that important LA Noire would be a masterpiece that people still talk about to this day. Remember LA Noire?

Probably not, because the writing wasn't great and the gameplay was non-existent. Andromeda has some great writing. On par with prior Mass Effect games but at times even better. The cast of characters are excellent, but like any good characters it takes time to get to know them and see their points of view. Any character you love instantly is nought but a caricature. The ludicrous amount of dialogue between every combination of character, the little emails they leave to each other, the volumes of engaging lore. If you like that kind of thing, something that was a big part of the original trilogy, then you won't be disappointed.

The graphics funnily enough are gorgeous. Yes some facial animations are poor. There are some visual glitches also (often quite hilarious, and this kind of thing never stopped me enjoying games before, see: Fallout New Vegas). But the concept design, the landscapes, the lighting, it's all superb.

Lastly the gameplay, specifically the combat, is so improved it makes the past games hard to pick up again. Combat was always a weakness for Mass Effect but now it's a strength thanks to the mobility of it all. Throw in a ludicrous amount of content (yes there are some padded fetch quests, which are labelled under 'tasks' and completely avoidable!), layers of extra depth via crafting and strike teams (entirely avoidable if it doesn't float your boat) and a surprisingly decent multiplayer mode and I cannot fathom why this game has the reception it does.

Ultimately if you like Mass Effect you will like Andromeda. If you've never liked Mass Effect then that probably won't change. It's lacking the same level of polish in places but on the flipside it's at least twice the size of the other games. Took me 75 hours to finish all the main and side stuff and I had a blast all the way through. People love to hate things and in the age of gifs, a clip of a game at its worse can come to represent it wholly to those who are looking to indulge in some ridicule. But anyone who actually plays this can't deny the amount of effort and genuine passion for the lore and universe that has gone into it.

I think it looks ok too. It's not my sort of thing by a bloody long way so won't go near it, but i'm glad you're like me and tried it despite the poor-ish reviews. You're a fan of the franchise so stuck with it and enjoyed it.

I was the same with Mafia 3.

 

[RFUS]

I agree wholeheartedly - the panning it got was either because the critics didn't play it for long enough (the very worst environment is the prequel one, after all) or because they thought they would get more attention by slating it. As you say its massive, well-scripted, the characters are interesting, the combat is exceptional, they finally found a planetary exploration mode that wasn't crap or annoying and the whole experience is at least as good as any of the first three games.

The only things I thought were wrong with it was some small bits of laziness (many Asari have the same face, for instance) and also the graphical issues around the faces of some (not all, which sort of makes me wonder whether the default Ryder characters were always thus) options you have when selecting characters at the start of the game.

Good points. I concur about having some good exploration for once, in part because of the Nomad, which they cleverly never shoehorn into missions, thus avoiding the dreaded Mako sections of the original. On the flipside there are flaws and definitely things which you could call lazy. But given the amount of effort put in elsewhere I feel like it's probably a case of them being stretched too thin/EA putting pressure on the devs to release it. It had the exact same budget as Mass Effect 3, a five year old game, yet this is so much bigger. For context The Witcher 3 had twice the budget, which I found surprising.

Almost every opinion I've seen of those who've actually dug into it and even finished it is positive. It definitely starts slowly and the facial issues are brought to the forefront straight away by having the default female protagonist look quite odd. So I can see why people might be negative at the start.

I saw someone refer to it as the reverse Dragon Age Inquisition, which I thought was apt. That starts off well and seems so impressive but the more you play it the more hollow it feels. At least to me. The characters were so dull and mostly never developed, and I struggled to finish it, whereas with Andromeda every story twist, each bit of character development, every new skill I unlocked, it all just kept getting better and I didn't want it to end.

 

[Norwegian Cow]

I've completely fallen out of love with footy manager. Far too much nonsense in it these days, give me a flashing bar at the bottom of the screen anyday, it was fun back then, just pick your team, buy and sell players and play games. It's all to much now so they can justify people spending £40 a year when they really don't need to. There's been some good engines in the past all they should do is constantly update the database but that wouldn't make much money would it. hmmph.

I agree. its far too much stuff where u have to choose dialogues, like with players and media. They should go back to their roots. make it simpler. I want to spend my time playing games, buying players and setting up tactics. not all that other crap.

 

[Duncan Disordely]

After finishing Mass Effect Andromeda I'm going to go against the grain and say I loved it, and recommend it to any fan of the prior games.

The problems were blown massively out of proportion, as is the way in this day and age, where people get more satisfaction out of hating things rather than enjoying them. Some of the facial animations were poor, some laughable, but when did facial animations become integral to a good gaming experience? If they were that important LA Noire would be a masterpiece that people still talk about to this day. Remember LA Noire?

Probably not, because the writing wasn't great and the gameplay was non-existent. Andromeda has some great writing. On par with prior Mass Effect games but at times even better. The cast of characters are excellent, but like any good characters it takes time to get to know them and see their points of view. Any character you love instantly is nought but a caricature. The ludicrous amount of dialogue between every combination of character, the little emails they leave to each other, the volumes of engaging lore. If you like that kind of thing, something that was a big part of the original trilogy, then you won't be disappointed.

The graphics funnily enough are gorgeous. Yes some facial animations are poor. There are some visual glitches also (often quite hilarious, and this kind of thing never stopped me enjoying games before, see: Fallout New Vegas). But the concept design, the landscapes, the lighting, it's all superb.

Lastly the gameplay, specifically the combat, is so improved it makes the past games hard to pick up again. Combat was always a weakness for Mass Effect but now it's a strength thanks to the mobility of it all. Throw in a ludicrous amount of content (yes there are some padded fetch quests, which are labelled under 'tasks' and completely avoidable!), layers of extra depth via crafting and strike teams (entirely avoidable if it doesn't float your boat) and a surprisingly decent multiplayer mode and I cannot fathom why this game has the reception it does.

Ultimately if you like Mass Effect you will like Andromeda. If you've never liked Mass Effect then that probably won't change. It's lacking the same level of polish in places but on the flipside it's at least twice the size of the other games. Took me 75 hours to finish all the main and side stuff and I had a blast all the way through. People love to hate things and in the age of gifs, a clip of a game at its worse can come to represent it wholly to those who are looking to indulge in some ridicule. But anyone who actually plays this can't deny the amount of effort and genuine passion for the lore and universe that has gone into it.

I managed to miss the original ME trilogy, but picked up Andromeda despite having read the reviews etc as I love RPGs, and had heard really good things about the older games. I'm something like 64hrs into it and have done 50% completion.

There are one or two characters where the faces really bugged me out (Addison looks like her make-up was put on with a cannon) but they've addressed that in today's patch. I've only had two bugs that have forced a reload. The most noticeable error in the game is they way Ryder leans at angle when changing direction sprinting, but again that's been patched today I think.

I originally was running a pure combat build but have switched to a more war Mage style with lots of points in the biotics once I had the hang of them. I like that you can really tailor your build to different playstyles.

Whilst it's no Witcher 3, it's still a good game and I am enjoying it a lot.

The problem is though, it'll soon be over and then I have the decision to make of Nier, Nioh or Persona.

 

[RFUS]

I managed to miss the original ME trilogy, but picked up Andromeda despite having read the reviews etc as I love RPGs, and had heard really good things about the older games. I'm something like 64hrs into it and have done 50% completion.

There are one or two characters where the faces really bugged me out (Addison looks like her make-up was put on with a cannon) but they've addressed that in today's patch. I've only had two bugs that have forced a reload. The most noticeable error in the game is they way Ryder leans at angle when changing direction sprinting, but again that's been patched today I think.

I originally was running a pure combat build but have switched to a more war Mage style with lots of points in the biotics once I had the hang of them. I like that you can really tailor your build to different playstyles.

Whilst it's no Witcher 3, it's still a good game and I am enjoying it a lot.

The problem is though, it'll soon be over and then I have the decision to make of Nier, Nioh or Persona.

Addison was the worst offender. But she's in the game for a grand total of about 5 minutes, with 80% of that at the start. And Ryder runs weirdly but then so did Commander Shepherd! That kind of visual weirdness adds to the charm in my opinion haha.

The respec option is appreciated. As is the class system, which tailors itself to how you build your character, rather than you having to pick a style then hope you like it. I ended up putting a near equal amount into combat, biotics and tech so the Explorer style (a mix of all 3) was levelled up automatically. I then did a respec and vanguard worked wonderfully. The biotics are so much fun. A fully upgraded pull+throw combo turns you into a full on Jedi. Charge is excellent too. There's so many ways to play and it never stops you trying whatever you like and never punishes you if you want to change it up. Really wish more RPGS could take this approach. Best I've seen since Dragon's Dogma in this regard.

Starting Persona 5 now myself. Nier I've said enough about and can't recommend it highly enough. A genuine masterpiece. Persona 4 was one of my favourite games ever so I'm hopeful for 5 too. Apparently it's about 120 or so hours long so if you've got a budget maybe go with that!

 

[Durham Toffee]

After finishing Mass Effect Andromeda I'm going to go against the grain and say I loved it, and recommend it to any fan of the prior games.

The problems were blown massively out of proportion, as is the way in this day and age, where people get more satisfaction out of hating things rather than enjoying them. Some of the facial animations were poor, some laughable, but when did facial animations become integral to a good gaming experience? If they were that important LA Noire would be a masterpiece that people still talk about to this day. Remember LA Noire?

Probably not, because the writing wasn't great and the gameplay was non-existent. Andromeda has some great writing. On par with prior Mass Effect games but at times even better. The cast of characters are excellent, but like any good characters it takes time to get to know them and see their points of view. Any character you love instantly is nought but a caricature. The ludicrous amount of dialogue between every combination of character, the little emails they leave to each other, the volumes of engaging lore. If you like that kind of thing, something that was a big part of the original trilogy, then you won't be disappointed.

The graphics funnily enough are gorgeous. Yes some facial animations are poor. There are some visual glitches also (often quite hilarious, and this kind of thing never stopped me enjoying games before, see: Fallout New Vegas). But the concept design, the landscapes, the lighting, it's all superb.

Lastly the gameplay, specifically the combat, is so improved it makes the past games hard to pick up again. Combat was always a weakness for Mass Effect but now it's a strength thanks to the mobility of it all. Throw in a ludicrous amount of content (yes there are some padded fetch quests, which are labelled under 'tasks' and completely avoidable!), layers of extra depth via crafting and strike teams (entirely avoidable if it doesn't float your boat) and a surprisingly decent multiplayer mode and I cannot fathom why this game has the reception it does.

Ultimately if you like Mass Effect you will like Andromeda. If you've never liked Mass Effect then that probably won't change. It's lacking the same level of polish in places but on the flipside it's at least twice the size of the other games. Took me 75 hours to finish all the main and side stuff and I had a blast all the way through. People love to hate things and in the age of gifs, a clip of a game at its worse can come to represent it wholly to those who are looking to indulge in some ridicule. But anyone who actually plays this can't deny the amount of effort and genuine passion for the lore and universe that has gone into it.

You know what? Next payday, I'm purchasing it - purely because of this little review!

I'm a big Mass Effect fan, but had resisted temptation due to other priorities, etc and had convinced myself I didn't need it...

I'm now of the opinion I can't possibly deny myself such an experience...

 

[RFUS]

You know what? Next payday, I'm purchasing it - purely because of this little review!

I'm a big Mass Effect fan, but had resisted temptation due to other priorities, etc and had convinced myself I didn't need it...

I'm now of the opinion I can't possibly deny myself such an experience...

Only advice is stick with it. First few hours are a bit slow going but once you're out exploring planets and getting to know all the squad members it's a blast.

Don't bother with tasks as they're mostly menial, unless you happen to be by the objective anyway. But there's tons of side missions for each planet which are almost all good, and the loyalty missions are excellent. Liam's is my favourite loyalty mission from any Mass Effect.

I can't fathom how a mass effect fan wouldn't really dig the game. By the end I was both supremely satisfied with the conclusion but also itching for the next game/dlc. That's one difficult thing to accomplish, but it's the perfect way to handle the first entry in the new Mass Effect iteration.

 

[Zezti]

If anyone's stuck for something to play, haven't played NieR Automata and are unsure about it; watch this review:
It's quite long but even the first couple minutes I think will put doubts to rest.

 

[Armel]

Played Andromeda now for around 50-60 hours. Finished the mainstory, it's a great game. The reviews are baffling, happens quite a lot nowadays.

Good review @RFUS . Although I still like LA Noire. Are you referring to Liam's movie mission?

Looking forward to trying the multiplayer aspect of Andromeda. MP was my favorite thing about ME3.

 

[chicoazul]

Hello lads. I'm currently reviewing your clique's position on the site and at present you're vying with the wrestling virgins and the transfer lizards. Will keep you updated as I evaluate you.

 

[RFUS]

Played Andromeda now for around 50-60 hours. Finished the mainstory, it's a great game. The reviews are baffling, happens quite a lot nowadays.

Good review @RFUS . Although I still like LA Noire. Are you referring to Liam's movie mission?

Looking forward to trying the multiplayer aspect of Andromeda. MP was my favorite thing about ME3.

I liked LA Noire at the time mate. I was wowed by the tech and enjoyed the setting. But by the end I found the story events rather lame and the characters hollow. The gameplay was poor and the open world empty. It was not memorable. Whereas by the end of Andromeda any facial animation problems were forgotten and I adored it and its characters. Totally different games mind, I was just trying to highlight how miniscule the importance of facial animations is, despite what the ME:A hate brigade would imply. And to be fair the recent patch has massively improved them anyway.

The movie thing was quality but no I mean Liam's final, proper loyalty mission. At the top of the quest log it will say if it's a loyalty mission in green text. Perhaps you missed it? Usually they come about by talking to your squad mates a lot throughout the game. I believe you can still do them post game though. The mission is called "All In".

 

[Kiwi]

Hello lads. I'm currently reviewing your clique's position on the site and at present you're vying with the wrestling virgins and the transfer lizards. Will keep you updated as I evaluate you.

Take care mate, i'd be watching out as someone might DDos you or sneakily hack your computer so that they have full access and can play moaning videos at the worst of times.
If you're concerned I'd contact @bizzaro, he's the man to see about keeping your online security up with the very best #alwnv

 

[orly]

Hello lads. I'm currently reviewing your clique's position on the site and at present you're vying with the wrestling virgins and the transfer lizards. Will keep you updated as I evaluate you.

*adjusts hymen nervously

 

[ijjysmith]

Hello lads. I'm currently reviewing your clique's position on the site and at present you're vying with the wrestling virgins and the transfer lizards. Will keep you updated as I evaluate you.

Mate you're more excited about the next Red Dead Redemption than anyone!!