We are aware of having submerged you with articles, videos and information on the new Mass Effect in the last two weeks but on the other hand Electronic Arts and BioWare have shown to be able to manage with great effectiveness the communication of such an important videogame. Months, almost years of absolute silence and then,
all together, chaos. And now, just a few days from the arrival of the final product, we are finally ready to draw our conclusions and explain in detail how this Andromeda is, what we liked about its gameplay and its narrative and aesthetic construction and what he did not completely convince us.
There have been so many changes that this saga has had to face during its original trilogy and this fourth chapter is also part of this tradition to the point where it can almost be considered a sort of spin-offor even a new start perhaps with the potential to start another epic spread on several episodes. Only time can tell if the BioWare bet was smart and well structured, but there is one thing that we can already say at the beginning of this review, without the risk of being denied.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is a title that, although adhering to a specific aesthetic, a certain artistic cut and a precise way of being narrated, all typical elements of the original trilogy, is first of all aimed at a new audience that maybe you are not never even approached the original game and that could enjoy being in the hands of a third-person action, at times almost a shooter, much deeper and more faceted than we have accustomed this genre.
It is clear that the role-playing mechanics are also there in their more complex tendencies such as craftsmanship, but the title is paradoxically almost more palatable for those who do not have his legacy, and can therefore not launch into the usual nostalgic comparisons while enjoying the title in its newfound “lightness” and immediacy.
Before going into details we strongly suggest you take a look at our recent preview on the title, which deals with the first hours of play and explains in detail many of the gameplay mechanics, and the special that we published with the attempt to respond to five more recurrent questions about the game, from the management of the comrades to the combat system.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is immense and frenetic but is devoid of that epic that characterized the saga
A LONG TIME AGO, IN A FAR DISTANT GALAXY
As far as history is concerned, we will limit ourselves to giving some general information with the precise objective of not incurring any anticipation.
This new episode of Mass Effect is set more than 600 years after the original trilogy and has virtually no contact points with the previous three chapters.
Thanks to the interesting narrative device that sees the participants of the Andromeda Initiative starting from the Milky Way at the turn of the second and third title and in full hibernation, nobody is really interested in the epilogue of the story that saw Shepard having to manage and resolve the problem with the Reapers.
This huge time dilation what does it actually mean? First of all that Andromeda can be safely played by those who have no idea of what Mass Effect is, but secondly also that the fans of the series can expect only the smallest references to the original saga that often will struggle to grasp. No importation of old rescues or explicit points of contact: everything will be completely brand new starting from the protagonists, the supporting actors, the star systems to be explored until you arrive, of course, the story told that provides unprecedented events and antagonists.
In short, the precise desire of BioWare to meet a new public is evident, possibly more numerous than the previous one, eliminating any barrier to entry and keeping “only” that style of design and that artistic sector that have always characterized the franchise.In Andromeda we will dress as one of the twins Ryder to soon inherit the pioneering role: our task will be to find a planet suitable for colonization in the new galaxy reached after a long journey.
Unfortunately we will soon discover that not everything has gone according to plan and we will have to see it first with a strange form of dark energy that threatens to destroy our spaceships, the Scourge, then with a robotic race that has built strange technological artifacts that are making unlivable the planets selected for colonization,
the Relictum, and finally with an alien species that does not see our intervention with a good eye and is trying, too, to analyze and discover where the power of this highly technological species comes from, the Kett. Background theto ensure a minimum of familiarity, we will soon have a chance to meet most of the races that have made the history of the saga since, like humans, even Asari, Salarian, Turian and Krogan, they embarked on the Andromeda Initiative .
