​Mass Effect Andromeda review: One for the fans

Bugs n stuff

There are quite a few bugs being reported already – that’s not too surprising for a game this enormous when it launches. There are certainly more than a few graphical aberrations that pop up from time to time but the game rarely feels broken because of them. However, it is well worth keeping a decent spread of manual save points as loading screen hangs are very much a thing and we’ve experienced several already. Fortunately, we didn’t lose much progress.

Overall

If you’re a fan of Mass Effect already then this is more of the same but in a bigger arena and with more characters. You’re tasked with moulding an entire galaxy rather than working your way through a storyline. As before, by far the most rewarding parts of the game are the interactions with other characters and the background lore and Bioware has absolutely nailed that (we wouldn't read all the books in Skyrim but we'd read everything written here). In fact they’ve evidently focussed on it much more than everything else which will be a bit of a downer to those hoping for new, glitzy graphics and slicker combat movements. Nonetheless, we’re giving it a high score because there’s nothing else that comes close to this achievement.

If you’re not already a Mass Effect fan, however, unless all of the above sounds like the exact thing you’ve been looking for, it’s probably worth swerving. If you really want to get into the franchise, start with the tighter, quicker-to-grab-hold-of-you Mass Effect 3 (maybe 2) and move on from there. That way when you’re sat through hours of cut-scenes and idle chit-chat wondering why you spent so much on this ‘game’ you won’t be so disappointed.

All pictures by Darksair Sun, Flickr