-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Mass Effect: Andromeda | Review Thread
- Thread starter kubus
- Start date
- Status
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, particularly as this was almost certainly Edmonton's wish. Forcing them to become a Mass Effect factory would be terrible for everyone. The problem is EA needed to recognize that Mass Effect is a thing that matters beyond the immediate market value of the brand name and let it rest in peace at least for the time being. If someone has a brilliant idea for a series resurrection some time down the line then go for it, but don't make a Mass Effect game now just because it has been a few years since the last Mass Effect game.
He said that he had issues with basically every part of the game but still had fun. That's not a 4/5 in any stretch of the words. 4/5 is basically a "this game is near perfect in some areas but not quite so in other areas but still a good game". The review reads like it was a "meh, forgettable in every area but the gameplay is pretty fun" game. Or 3/5 at most.
Pretty pathetic performance for a five year development cycle.
The Dragon Age team managed an 89 Metacritic and 134 Game of the Year awards (101 critic, 33 reader) with a 3.5 year development cycle, cross-gen limitations, and having to build out all the RPG functionality for the engine. They even spent a non-trivial amount of their cycle on a canceled Dragon Age 2 expansion pack, and had a much worse base to work from.
Mass Effect: Andromeda on the other hand follows up three 90+ games with what will be in the bottom 25-30% of $60 games by Metacritic score this year, and assuredly getting zero (or at least very close to zero) Game of the Year awards, despite having 1.5 more years for development and all the groundwork the Dragon Age and original Mass Effect teams laid for them.
The Dragon Age team managed an 89 Metacritic and 134 Game of the Year awards (101 critic, 33 reader) with a 3.5 year development cycle, cross-gen limitations, and having to build out all the RPG functionality for the engine. They even spent a non-trivial amount of their cycle on a canceled Dragon Age 2 expansion pack, and had a much worse base to work from.
Mass Effect: Andromeda on the other hand follows up three 90+ games with what will be in the bottom 25-30% of $60 games by Metacritic score this year, and assuredly getting zero (or at least very close to zero) Game of the Year awards, despite having 1.5 more years for development and all the groundwork the Dragon Age and original Mass Effect teams laid for them.
Yes, the cabal of critics met in a private lobby and decided Mass Effect Andromeda would be the game they all came down on for some reason.
And they all decided to rate it low for clicks even though that would dilute the shock value of any one low review and act counter to their conspiratorial ambitions.
It couldn't be that it appears it's a game with a whole heap of flaws made by an inexperienced team that doesn't hit on a lot of why people like Mass Effect or Bioware RPGs.
OrbitalBeard
Member
I get it. Certain franchises are near and dear to us on a deeply personal level. Mass Effect is a big deal for a lot of people, particularly younger gamers (and I don't mean any disrespect by this, whatsoever). Similar to how a lot of us older gamers feel about Mario, Zelda, Halo, Final Fantasy, etc.
At this point I wonder how much can really be patched.
Story can't be patched.
Animations can't be patched without unfair amounts of work across the entire game.
Gameplay loop can't be patched. But you can refine a couple things.
Bugs. You can patch bugs.
And I suppose if they were like CDPR they could patch the interface.
Horizon or Zelda.
StrongBlackVine
Banned
I enjoyed Dragon Age 2 as well. Guess I'm crazy.
DA:I also reviewed significantly better, if that means anything. And if this has mediocre sales and EA decides to make a sequel prepare for more disappointment. Part of the reason ME 1-3 was so great was the continuity of great characters and their story development. No one in Andromeda seems as likeable to me.
brickarts295
Member
Here's the thing, that game on it's own is an okay game. If you played after DAO, then it was underwhelming and disappointing. I played before DAO and thought it was good, after playing DAO I noticed why people didn't really liked the game much.
If anything, I think the series is has been given a pass in the past for its technical failures because critics were such fans of other aspects of the game - story, characters, design, etc. This is why you're frequently seeing the word "disappointment" in reviews.
Drillary Clinton
Banned
Oh yeah there's no way it breaks the 80 mark again. It'll raise up to 76 at best case
Some Nobody
Junior Member
I seem to recall hearing something to the effect of Dragon Age Inquisition was "by far" their most-successful launch ever. DA4's probably pretty safe. But there's like three teams, so presumably their new multiplayer-focused IP AND DA4 are in some level of production (pre-pro or not) at the same time.
You can add Nier to that as well, a reviewer even mentioned it lol
Mysterious Stranger
Member
That's the problem I've watched many streams I can't find characters I like! Most of them I want thrown out of the ship!
http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/tom-clancys-ghost-recon-wildlands
wildlands reviewed fairly similar and sold well didnt it?..wonder if EA's marketing can stop this being a financial disaster?
wildlands reviewed fairly similar and sold well didnt it?..wonder if EA's marketing can stop this being a financial disaster?
MosquitoSmasher
Member
Ah goddamn what a shame. I started reading the thread and saw a few 9s and thought it started off nicely but then came the 6s eventually and things like empty world and passable main quest. I did not expect this anymore. You gotta wonder what went wrong here. Not in the way that it's a terrible game, but neither what ME deserves.
I think there's a disconnect here where people expect a 3/5 to mean a bad game, clearly since everyone is (rightly) talking about how poor the metacritic score is, but you are still expecting a 4/5 to mean a great game.
Like it or not, that's not how reviews work, even if they should. If a 3/5 is a bad game, and he thinks the game is pretty fun, it's not a 3/5 for him.
You telling me this game actually is motion-captured?
Who the fuck walks like that?
Those are obviously glitches in the animation system. I doubt someone ran around with dookie in their mocap suit.
They had a five year development cycle. That's got to be more than pretty much any other EA game in history.
At some point BioWare needs to own the responsibility here.
Nintendo wheeled out Breath of the Wild in the same window.
You telling me this game actually is motion-captured?
Who the fuck walks like that?
LMAO
Bioware handing it off to an untested team is one of the dumbest fucking moves ever. You hire people who know what they're doing, not a bunch of jobbers.
Yeah, and Nier A is platinum's first dip on open world RPG even. I mean, wtf happened to bioware.
Blue Ninja
Member
I think it just goes to show how Mass Effect has become something different for practically everyone.
Yes, I'm sure I'm overreacting. Still sad to see, though. Hope it sells well enough to get another Mass Effect.
Obliterator
Member
Indeed. By AAA RPG standards and the history of the franchise it's a pretty colossal failure. There's no real way to spin it other wise.
We will see how sales go. It will probably launch well enough but it might have some pretty poor legs
texhnolyze
Banned
There's Star Ocean.. which is probably dead as well.
People love their fantasy/medieval RPGs.
Selling well isn't the only goal. You need people to enjoy the product and have them want to come back for more.
AlexFlame116
Member
I played it after DAO though....
Then again I love FFXV which is a big no-no in certain places. Oh well.
You telling me this game actually is motion-captured?
Who the fuck walks like that?
Have YOU ever walked on a spaceship in a totally new galaxy? Didn't think so!
Hey Reach was a damn good game in my eyes, the worst Halo followed it.
Still got another 7 hours of the trial to play before making up my mind. I'll probably pick it up in summer. It's a good game, not a great one, but a good one. It scratches an itch for a sci-fi RPG.
Horizon is a sci-fi RPG and it's on PS4.
SolicitorPirate
Member
I'm assuming EA has plans for Montreal to become a full fledged studio at some point, rather than forever remaining a support studio. If so, they would have to have handled all aspects of game development sooner or later.
OuterLimits
Member
Wait, THIS game was made over 5 years?
no freakin way
What the hell is up with the way she is walking?
Reminds me of the how the aliens walked in the movie The Arrival.
Very mediocre scores so far on average. Still want to play it though, but may wait a bit for a price drop.
nckillthegrimace
Member
Nier: Automata just came out. That covers the sci-fi part, at least.
I seriously love that more and more people seem to be coming around on KotoR 2. I would have loved an Obsidian Mass Effect that similarly deconstructs the Mass Effect universe. But instead we got Andromeda.
Nier and Horizon.
Spikematic
Member
For all the faults Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition had (and there were many...) I found the writing quite decent. I don't recall dialogue as clunky or downright horrid as what I'm hearing in the videos or reading in some of the reviews for Andromeda. And that is the main reason I refuse to buy the game. Bugs and open world jank I would have tolerated.
That's not how motion capture works, you still have to do a ton of manual animation
Yeah, might nab it in the 15 dollar range as an experiment.
Wildlands wasn't panned for falling on its face the way Andromeda is. Wildlands is just a bland game that seems like it should have been put out five years ago. Nothing glaringly wrong with it but nothing great.
Andromeda on the other hand looks like it has loads of glaring issues that make it a mediocre game.
This isn't Halo Reach. This is Halo 4.
You don't have to wait post-launch for that.
I jest, ME was the thing that made me change my mind about Sci-fi. I'm just as disappointed as many of you are.
ScaryShark
Banned
The more I read these reviews the more I sure am glad that everyone threw a collective tantrum over the 15 minutes that concluded the third game and killed the drive and love of Casey Hudson and a lot of other people to continue on with the series.
Seems like the people who commandeered the original series and understood what made Mass Effect, Mass Effect are mostly missing.
Still will find out for myself but man the general tone of these, especially concerning the main plot, is a bummer.
Seems like the people who commandeered the original series and understood what made Mass Effect, Mass Effect are mostly missing.
Still will find out for myself but man the general tone of these, especially concerning the main plot, is a bummer.
- Status