Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Knights fans, ten years ago, caught up in the head, hearing that Electronic Arts‘s publishing house was bought by the BioWare development team. Electronic Arts already had the reputation of a bad company that devoured talented teams by first buying them, then limiting them to work and finally dispensing them when they no longer make a profit. However, BioWare has not (yet) had the fate of the creators of SimCity, Command & Conquera, Medal of Honor, and Need for Speed. Indeed, Canadian RPG masters by launching the successful Dragon Age and Mass Effect series have moved away from the dangerous zone of decay.

However, in recent years, BioWare has been equally distracted by its audience and no longer recognize why people love their games. I do not think any Dragon Age fans for the sequel wanted any less control over their submarines and the launch of a tactical camera. I do not think any fan of Mass Effect has ever thought it best to enter the multiplayer mode instead of paying attention to the story of the whole trilogy.

Fortunately, in BioWare they heard the dissatisfaction of fans, and at least through Dragon Age: Inquisition, they wished to expand the universe instead of its narrowing. I was hoping to repeat the same thing with Mass Effect Andromeda because BioWare has the cause to prove that they are still one of the few teams that can carry out big and ambitious projects like this. Unfortunately, the new galaxy in the end did not bring a new dimension to the Mass Effect series.

First and foremost I must point out that Andromeda is in principle a fun game that has a lot to offer. In front of all the complaints you will hear about it, it is still the best cosmic opera of this kind. Andromeda does not compete with Elite: Dangerous or No Man’s Sky, and Technomancer and his like breakfast. Mass Effect is ultimately a benchmark and competition to itself, and Andromeda is precisely because it does not really rise above the original trilogy, which is now five years old. What’s more, I think Andromeda is a lot of step back to the quality of the Mass Effect series.

You play as a “Pathfinder” targeting the planet to find the planets and make them suitable for colonization. The Supernatural Race of Kett’s has a similar idea, but unlike you, you want the planets to be disadvantaged for life. Why? You would not understand, their leader says, so it does not work or clarify. Nevertheless, the story is finely rounded by a pile of details about everything and everything so I can not deny that it has been made a significant effort. Much of that effort went to set up a stage for conflicts in future sequels, but the story of Andromeda is complete even when you are not looking at it as an introduction to the new saga.

„The story sets stage for future conflicts, but is finely rounded up as a separate chapter with lots of tiny details.“

It can of course be discussed how the whole thing is original in relation to the previous saga. Because Andromeda, honestly, it is not. You have an advanced civilization that is vanished, an alien threat, a political body that is not unanimous … in short, all the typical Mass Effect motives are here and BioWare does not go beyond the limits of the expected. For example, new races are most humanoid so you will not see anything new within Andromeda within the science-fantasy themes that could catch you unprepared. I personally accept this decision that Andromeda did not want to get too far from familiar things, although I have to admit that the story in some way destroys the encounter with an unknown new galaxy.

I can only say that the bad look of the characters will not come out of the way and go to the ass. It is true that the game looks very nice when you neglect these face animations. The lighting is great, the textures are sharp, and in the fight all the fading of different effects. The technical side of the game is actually impressive, but the internet is the internet and you will see the worst in it first.

And Andromeda is actually far from the worst that Mass Effect has to offer. I repeat once again that this is a unique game regardless of any defects. But with this uniqueness comes the responsibility of continuing to make progress for the whole series. Andromeda has a slight disappointment in this respect, even in spite of the fact that it is a fun game. You do not have a minimum of thirty hours of tense adventure with it all and that the characters are boring, dialects are dry, and gameplay buggy. The only problem is that BioWare thinks we expect more than that.

Let’s be realistic, this is still a space game without any flying. And how do you expect such a thing if BioWare does not succeed in tapping the basic physical model for a terrestrial vehicle for the second time? Andromeda is only on paper a new dimension for Mass Effect because of such things. In practice, this is a game that stuck between the other and the third part, dark in the time frame when the Andromeda initiative was launched.