Mass Effect Andromeda's combat gameplay shows fighting, engineer skills and flamethrower upgrades

First we got Mass Effect Andromeda's release date, then some screens, now we have some combat gameplay. Clearly Bioware finally wants us to know about this game it's making. 

This short clip comes from a CES presentation and shows new teammate Peebee being levelled up, before Ryder sets out to fight robots on some sort of rocky hell-world. 

The combat speaks for itself - lots of jet dashes, biotic attacks and that new flamethrower are all there to see. Plus there's also a very quick look at two of the classes and what buffs you get for picking them. Specifically soldier and engineer: 

The video then quickly flicks through a few of the engineer's skills, but if you're quick you can catch all the details on some key abilities such as Overload, which "unleashes an electrostatic discharge upon a target. High damage to shields and synthetic enemies." 

Then there's the Remnant VI which is a "retrofitted Remnant Observer" which appears to be a cloaking attack drone 

Invasion "infects opponents with an invasive VI-controlled machine swarm that weakens defenses and spreads itself to nearby enemies."

Team Support is a good old fashioned group buff that "improves defenses and support for the whole squad."

Offensive tech boosts your tech damage, "through specialised omni-tool software and hardware."

The last one is Auxiliary Systems which just boosts tech powers, again though "customised omni-tool and hardsuit subsystems."

Finally, the video skims quickly through the skill tree for the new flamethrower. That, as you progress, upgrades damage, range, damage over time, effectiveness against armour and something called 'blinding heat.' I think we can guess what that does. 

With only a few months now until it arrives - March 21 if you missed it last night - expect plenty more Mass Effect Andromeda info to drop in the next few weeks. We'll keep you posted. 

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Leon Hurley
Managing editor for guides

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides, which means I run GamesRadar's guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.