Mass Effect 4 - Andromeda [PC, PS4, XBone]

[Sly Boots]

I'm not really seeing issues that will get patched, tbh. I've not really seen any bugs, and my biggest gripes - facial animations, some of the voice acting, the scanning - I think they're likely here to stay.

Although the main reason the scanning is bad - ie long, sweeping first-person shots of flying through space that you're locked into 10+ seconds each time you switch planets or systems - could be resolved simply by making the cinematic skippable. Once you're actually at a planet it's as simply as sending out a single probe in the right spot if the computer tells you there's an anomaly present.

For the record, I do think this is worth playing on my 5 or so hours so far, if your expectations are sufficiently reasonable. I'll certainly be playing the full game from day 1 and am actually a bit sad I've only got 5 hours remaining of this trial.

[Wrathbone]

Oh I definitely still want to play it, and I'll probably enjoy it as I enjoyed DA:I more than most it seems. I just have no great drive to play it at the moment, whereas Zelda I absolutely want to get stuck into every spare minute I have.

[Sly Boots]

Also, the environments look genuinely lovely. That at least has come a long way since ME1.

[Jez]

The move to frostbite 3 engine should make lovely environments indeed. Bf1 looks great in this engine.

[Sly Boots]

Well, finished the trial period - I have around two hours remaining but I've reached a point in the story where the demo ends, and bar just rolling around the map doing random encounters I think I've done about all I can for the time being.

I like it, on the whole. The game is at its best when you're on-planet and pursuing the various quests. The environments are very nice looking as I said, and also pretty big and wide open. I guess it's quite DAI from that perspective, but here you're given a vehicle so at least you're aren't trolling around the Hinterlands on foot. Combat is ok... you've basically got three power slots (you can have more powers, but you choose the three for your mission as part of your loadout - there are also set points on the map where you can switch loadout which is nice). Then your guns... I haven't really found a style that suits me yet, mostly using an SMG with a sniper rifle for enemies that insist on staying at range beyond the scope of your powers. I might give shotgun a whirl once I've found enough resources to craft a decent one.

I've still only got the first two human companions you are introduced to, but haven't really had a chance to interact with them much. They seem fine, a bit boring. Nothing to really grab you on that front so far, but hopefully you meet more interesting characters as you progress.

So, there you go.

If you want a recommendation at this point, I'd say a cautious yes if you're prepared to go in with an open mind and not expect to be blown away. There are enough niggles that might put others off, you have to decide how much the poor animations and a couple of dodgy VO performances will spoil it for you.

[Jez]

Cheers sly. Sounds like it was worth the 4 quid for access for you.

[Sly Boots]

Cheers sly. Sounds like it was worth the 4 quid for access for you.

Yeah, I think so. I've cancelled it again though, before I forgot and continued to get charged for it.

[Jez]

Yeah I think they'll see a lot of that happening. Think it would have been a great olive branch from them to just release those 10 hours trials to anyone that preordered.

[Edwin]

Is the full game going to be on Origin Access? If you can finish it in a couple of months it'll work out cheaper than buying.

[Lee]

As if you needed to know what Mac would say about it

[Sly Boots]

Is the full game going to be on Origin Access? If you can finish it in a couple of months it'll work out cheaper than buying.

You get 10 hours on Access, then the game stops and asks you to buy the full version.

[Sly Boots]

Man, I'm itching to get back to this, but I can't until next Thursday

Despite the obvious and infamous flaws, I'm taking that as a good sign.

[Jez]

The first principle of playing a game really. Does it leave you wanting more?

[Sly Boots]

The first principle of playing a game really. Does it leave you wanting more?

Indeed, and in that respect I think it does what you hope, which is make you keen to pick it up again after the last time.

It's not a great game by any means, for the reasons that have been covered extensively already, but it is pretty fun. And that's the main thing, really.

[Jez]

The one thing that I hope won't happen is that storywise it essentially becomes a copy of the last game where yeah you have this bad guy but he's really just a Vanguard for a much larger more devastating threat. Blah blah blah.

My hope for this is similar to say the original series of star trek. Yeah there are bad guys but they were different most weeks. I'd much rather they tell a story of exploration and discovery than some massive story arch that's really been done over and over and over.