With less than a week until launch, there’s never been more to say about Mass Effect Andromeda – or more unanswered questions. How does the story hang together? Are the character faces as plain *odd* as the latest trailer? How do the new combat mechanics change the way you play? We’ve been hands-on with Mass Effect Andromeda for the first time to answer all of your questions – and from the perspective of the two lead characters to see how your choices change the flow of play.
Lucas Sullivan and Matt Elliott of the GR+ team were invited to play the opening mission, and a snippet of the game set around 15 hours in, so they decided to approach it in different ways. Were they both sold on scanning? Did the Nomad drive them mad? All the details and more are below.
Sara or Scott? Which character did we choose?
Lucas: I always rock a female avatar when given the choice, so I went with the plucky Sara Ryder as my lead. The option to get wild with your hair customization, as well as tune the look of your twin (of the gender you didn't pick) is a nice touch, even if it seems like your sibling will be MIA for much of - if not all - the game. I like Sara's style, and her voiceover is well done, though I'm already missing the pronounced expressiveness of Jennifer Hale's FemShep. What really struck me is that something seemed the slightest bit off about the cutscene chats: eye movements are wonderfully detailed (if a little bug-eyed), but the lip-sync flapping of the mouths felt detached, as if the two halves of each character's face were operating independently. I got used to it fairly quickly, but let's just say the leap to modern consoles hasn't dramatically improved Mass Effect's facial animations.
Matt: My BioWare characters are typically me, but nicer and in space, so I went with Scott. I was in a hurry to get all the mission stuff done, so I didn’t mess about with the customization options too much (I plan on making Ryder balder and beardier in the final release). The thing that struck me is how sassy Scott is. Considering the team is on the far side of space, searching for a new home for humanity, he’s very free and easy with the quips. It’s not necessarily a bad thing - Shepard was perhaps too stony-faced for some - but it’s different from what I expect from a Mass Effect game. I got a similar vibe to Lucas with the facial animations. Compared to the more stylised design of Dragon Age: Inquisition, for example, they feel like they’re on the unsettling side of the uncanny valley, but it’s not terrible. I’ll be happier when it’s my own (balder, beardier) Ryder.
How does the opening of the game feel?
Lucas: "Peace isn't going to be an option here." That line's uttered by Ryder early on in the opening mission, and instantly shattered my dream that Andromeda would be BioWare's take on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Granted, the members of your crew are almost immediately accosted by the hostile Kett aliens, after you crash-land on the desolate planet that was supposed to be humanity's new home. But to be flung into a firefight so quickly and expectedly was something of a letdown. That said, the linear corridor you start in eventually opens into a massive maze of canyons, and you’re quickly encouraged to scan bits of alien technology or uncover optional side quests. I ended up getting turned around and backtracking over covered ground at one point, but the fact that I had the option to poke around in any direction at my own pace felt refreshing, and I hope Andromeda builds on that openness further as the game goes on.
Matt: I loved the feel of the planet you start on, and BioWare has done an excellent job of giving you an open space to explore from the off, but I agree with Lucas that it falls slightly flat as a first contact mission. It makes it look like human diplomacy is a bullet with ‘hello!’ written on it. It’s perhaps to be expected: it’s similar to the prologue on Eden Prime in the original Mass Effect, where poor old Jenkins gets shot to bits in under 15 minutes. I just expected more nuance from a team hand-picked to represent humanity, perhaps exacerbated by the fact that Scott feels more comfortable with sass than statesmanship. Diplomacy grumbles aside, the mission feels great. We talk about combat below, but the opening mission provided a smart, immediate way of explaining how everything worked. There’s also a decent amount of peril - you’re introduced to characters who are given just enough depth for you to care if they live or die.
How does combat work - and are the Kett a convincing enemy?
Lucas: Though they're a brand new race, the antagonistic Kett feel a bit too generic for my tastes - like Mass Effect 2's Collectors, they're simply bipedal humanoids with hard-to-distinguish faces who shoot at you with laser guns. What I didn't expect were their attack dog-like beasts who can cloak to pounce on you by surprise, which made for some exciting ambushes. The third-person gunplay feels like previous Mass Effect games: a variety of artillery that doesn’t pack a lot of oomph when it comes to the tactile and audio feedback of your firing. But the new smart cover system was giving me some trouble at the onset - without a button prompt, I was constantly sticking to chest-high boxes when I didn't mean to, or stumbling around when I was trying to take cover. An appreciated change for Andromeda is the use of interchangeable 'Profiles' rather than set Classes to let you switch up your skills painlessly, instead of having to make a fresh character or wait for the next game in order to make a playstyle transition.
Matt: It’s hard to say too much about the Kett at this point, other than shooting them in the head still feels lovely. What I particularly liked about combat was how it energised the linear tactics of Mass Effect, but still kept things cerebral. Instead of being sat behind cover, you’re using the jumpjet to find new ways to outflank and overcome. It’s far more mobile, but it still feels like Mass Effect. It feels like there’s an optimum way to approach every conflict, and the variety of skills and enemies tests you in different ways. Shields still need to be overloaded, and armour destroyed, and I love the feeling of adapting my tactics on the fly. I’m hoping the Kett become more interesting and threatening as we learn more about them, but the timeless, implacable space-squid of the original series are going to be hard antagonists to top.
How does the Jump Jet change the game?
Lucas: The freedom of movement is easily my favorite part of Andromeda so far. The ability to super-jump into the sky then air-dash in any direction is just fun, plain and simple, and reminded me of gleefully gliding around the skies with the Angel Boost ability in DmC: Devil May Cry, of all games. When it comes to platforming, the smooth air mobility hits a few hitches due to finicky hit detection on ledge grabs, so you might be grinding up on a rock wall before you finally pull yourself up. Fortunately, should you leap headfirst into an abyss - which I did simply as a test - you'll just be instantly blinked back to where you were last standing. Verticality is being sold as a huge part of the combat as well, and you can indeed hover over an enemy and slam down for a ground pound - but if you miss your target, the stilted melee combat feels like a poor follow-up. Better to just coolly dash away like you're playing Vanquish and resume firing from afar.
Matt: This is a much more mobile game than the sometimes leaden combat we’re used in Mass Effect. It’s twitchy and sharp, but as I mentioned above, you still need to think. It’s not enough just to zip around and outflank enemies; make the wrong decision and you’ll end up outmuscled. It’s still a squad shooter, and it’s impressive that improved range of movement still works with teams of people zipping around all over the place. The mid-air hand feels incredible, too. I loved the sensation of firing off some specials, forcing enemies out of cover, then finishing them off with a series of hovering headshots. I’m not sure the combat in Mass Effect has ever felt this cool. Outside of fighting, I was indifferent about the jump jet. I’m not sure platforming adds much to the experience, but it’s nice to have new options for exploration.
What's the new squad like?
Lucas: Liam Costa feels like he's the Carth Onasi of Andromeda: an average Joe who, by nature of his human species and levelheaded demeanor, seems to be a lot less interesting and appealing than all the exotic, quirky aliens in your crew. But for whatever reason - maybe I'm just boring - I've always gravitated to the Carths and Kaidans of BioWare's character archetypes, so I imagine I'll be fighting alongside this friendly Englishman frequently. By contrast, I couldn't get a good read on Cora Harper, who's quickly revealed to be a Biotic-powered commando. I hope she's not a rehash of Mass Effect 2's tattooed tough gal and Biotic prodigy Jack, but Cora's aggressive personality didn't seem very distinct during the opening mission.
Matt: I really liked Liam. Maybe it’s because I’m British. He seems like the sort of easygoing bloke you’d be happy stuck talking to in the pub, which is apparently a useful metric for deciding who to explore the dark void of space with. In fact, I really warmed to everyone on the Tempest. They’re all brought to life by the little touches that make them feel more human (for the want of a more appropriate word). Peebee in particular struck me as a character with hidden depths, quirky on the outside but with a depth you have to work to discover. And I love how they interact with each other, too. The relationship between the strained and serious Dr. Lexi and boisterous Peebee is especially good, and it plays on your preconceptions about Asari. I came away wanting to go back the next day and talk to them all again, which is a great sign.
How does it feel to drive the Nomad?
Lucas: I never had any vendetta against the first Mass Effect's Mako, so the Nomad felt just fine to me. Driving it doesn't offer the greatest sense of velocity; with the huge scale of the areas you're exploring, even flooring it and/or activating turbo to hit speeds over 100 MPH just feels like a leisurely stroll. Never once did the Nomad flip on me, and I eventually used its hover ability to try and mimic the joy of the on-foot jumpjet movement, using boost momentum to launch into huge jumps. The Nomad can also switch to a slower all-terrain mode, but this didn't feel all that useful outside of sluggishly creeping up steep or slick hills (maybe I'd be more familiar with its function if I hadn't been skipped to the middle of the game). While I only drove around one planet and was admittedly making a beeline for my objective, the landscape felt a bit like Destiny's oscillating level layouts: huge chunks of wide-open expanses interconnected by uninteresting, corridor-like roads.
Matt: The Nomad washes away those dark memories of laboured Mako combat with Geth armature, but it’s a different, more exploratory experience. Like Lucas said, it’s not the fastest vehicle in the world, but it does feel weighty and satisfying in a way that the Mako never did. The abrupt way you exit the vehicle feels a bit jarring - there are no elegant, Batman-style dismounts here - but that’s not a huge issue. It’s a way of getting you across huge locations quickly, helping add a sense of scale and intrigue on alien planets. You won’t hungrily look forward to the Nomad sections, but you won’t dread them either.
Do the expanded dialogue options change the game?
Lucas: I know that previous Mass Effect games' binary morality catches a lot of flak, where dialogue options often boiled to clearly pure (Paragon) or crooked (Renegade) motivations. But I liked the security of always knowing which choice would make my character look better in the eyes of their peers, or tip the karmic scales towards sainthood, so I almost feel lost without the obvious consequences in Andromeda. The range of responses is definitely nice, and the icons for Emotional, Logical, Casual, or Professional quips are just perfect, represented by a heart, gear, loose coil, and rigidly angled spiral respectively. But without being able to sense any immediate reaction from whoever I'm talking to, it makes these specialized dialogue lines feel very interchangeable, as if they have zero impact on the conversation as a whole. I hope that, over the course of dozens of hours, the responses I choose actually affect the way my crew and contacts treat me, instead of every minor dialogue choice I make meaning next to nothing.
Matt: If you want to properly RP your character in Mass Effect: Andromeda, the expanded dialogue options help make that a reality. As someone who’s played Mass Effect as an unwavering good guy, it’s an interesting way of adding depth and subtlety to my options. That said, I do want these choices to have consequences, and it’s difficult to tell if they will at this point. It feels incongruous to be recklessly emotional in one conversation, then logical in the next. I enjoyed the smart, simple implementation of the new dialogue tree, but the true test of success will come from how they affect the course of the story over a 60-hour game.
How do scanning and crafting work?
Lucas: Dragon Age: Inquisition's complex crafting system was not my cup of tea, and from what I saw, Mass Effect Andromeda has the same degree of overwhelming choice when it comes to specializing your gear and optimizing your loadout. There are two separate trees for Research and Development, which weave a colossal web of craftable items from three different branches of technology: Milky Way, Heleus, and Remnant. It's a lot to take in, and I have to wonder how necessary it'll be to actually understand it all, or if you can just get by with some skillful aim and smart ability use. The ability to scan objects in your environment is nifty, and adds some credence to Ryder's mission of mapping out unfamiliar worlds, but I frequently ended up cutting off bits of ambient dialogue I would've liked to hear because a scan triggered an overriding line or two. It feels like the proper way to scan is to stand still, make sure no one's talking, then scan the object and remain motionless while your assessment plays out. Just like in real life. Ahem.
Matt: I dug deep into Dragon Age: Inquisition’s crafting stuff, but it seems like a happier fit in a fantasy game. I’m not expecting to pour hours into tweaking loadouts and crafting new items in Mass Effect: Andromeda, but I did like the scanning. I scanned everything. It’s a cool way of adding depth to all the planets you visit, in a very No Man’s Sky kind of way. It’s also a necessary addition to deliver on the promise of exploring a new galaxy, which shifts the focus from just being on combat. My main focus will still be on character and story, but this feels like a nice bonus to have in the unlikely event I get bored.
