First Impressions - Mass Effect: Andromeda

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I have been a fan of the Mass Effect series since the beginning and when they announced Andromeda, I knew I would end up playing it. So now, a few months after the release I got around to actually buying it on a bargain.
The story takes place upon arrival to the Andromeda galaxy after a 600 year voyage. So I guess we can throw out all we learned from the previous trilogy and hopefully explore something new both with the story and races. So hopefully no more running around the citadel!

Spoiler alert! Do not read further or click on the videos if you want to have a spectacular first hour of gameplay. If you are unsure about the game and don't care of the spoilers, then go ahead. You have been warned!

Character creation

A lot of options here, what I found nice was the combination of presets and freedom. But dull as I am I went the middle road. A nice touch was that you were able to design the other gender twin to your liking as well even though I guess you will not play as her/him.
Really liked the multitude of hair color choices, but the lack of tattoo designs pulled it down. The ones that are there are well designed but not thrilling in any way.
A nice touch that you are able to select the gender of Shepard from the previous games, makes sense as people played him/her differently.
After that there is the training choice:

Security with starting power Concussive Shot, heat-seeking high impact shot
Biotic with starting power Throw your enemy through the air!
Technician with starting power Overload with damage to shields and synthetic enemies
Leader with starting power Energy Drain that moves energy from your enemies shield to your own
Scrapper with starting power Charge that lets you enter the heat of battle fast.
Operative with starting power Tactical Cloak that lets you stealth

My choice: Security.. mostly as that resembles what I use to play in Mass Effect games. At least the first time through.

Gameplay introduction

The story starts directly and the tutorial part of the game is pretty much integrated into the fact that you have slept for 600 years and that people on the ship know you and seamlessly tell/ask you to do stuff. Introduction to the scanner is done, seems like a neat thing to analyse things in the game world.

Nice intro, gets you into the story.

Also the dialog system has been redesigned. Now each of the four choices has a clear category, Emotional, Logical, Casual and Professional. It seems that the old Paragon/Renegade system is gone. 

First mission

Here we start to see how stunning the game actually is! The scenes on the planet surface, it is as the trailer promised! And jumping! I can't understand how many games lack the jump feature these days, but here it is part of the game play. You have a little thruster on your suite that allows for jumping over obstacles. Also climbing is a feature.
The last few months I have been playing Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands and I really do miss the detailed weapon feeling and ability to take cover a bit more deterministic. The worst thing about combat in Mass Effect: Andromeda is that you cant toggle right/left shoulder camera while in combat. It gets really annoying while crouching in cover. It turns out that you can switch the camera from one shoulder to the other by pressing Right Stick. Now the combat actually works!.. Just not used to the arcade feel when switching from a more realistic game to this game. : ) It is the same old Mass Effect combat.

Conclusions

After the first hour or so of game play, I am hooked. Just hoping that the story is just as long as the other Mass Effect games. Really stunning graphics, a story that pulls you in and a re-designed dialogue system is a step forward at least in my opinion.
Looking forward to continuing.


Thank you for reading, hope this helps someone out there! : )
Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work