Hands On With Mass Effect: Andromeda - First Impressions

Having been an avid fan of the beloved Bioware franchise, I was chomping at the bit to get stuck in to the latest instalment. Although I knew it would stray from the heart wrenching story lines of the past games and I would no longer come face to face with the characters I’d come to love (I’ll miss you, Garrus!) I was interested to see where Andromeda would take me.

Hours of downloading later (cheers, mediocre broadband) and I was ready to go.

The EA access trial is only 10 hours of game play, which may seem like a lot but when you get hopelessly lost in a game its easy to see your Saturday afternoon disappear. 

You’ve had the review round up - so here’s my first impressions of the first few hours of Mass Effect Andromeda (If you want to remain blind for Thursday’s release, last chance -turn back now!)

Character Customisation has taken an interesting turn

I love character creators.

As someone who can waste hours of her life making families on The Sims, this is always my favourite part of starting a new game and Andromeda didn’t disappoint me.

Face tattoos (there’s a SKULL), scarring and some pretty weird makeup are some of the features you can add to your version of Ryder, be they male or female. After seemingly endless tweaking of facial features, adding and removing different face tattoos and makeup - I decided on this gal who looks like she stepped straight out of an anime.

In depth character building has always been a staple in the Mass Effect franchise, but in Andromeda it’s a little different.

Whereas it’s always been required to pick a certain character class to kick start the journey, I found that I no longer had to do this! Playing as Ryder, I had access to ALL the skills that Alliance Training had on offer. It’s important to note that these skills are completely interchangeable at any time - so you can literally switch up your game play as you progress.

You also have the added bonus of a twin Brother or Sister to customise. As I’d already spent a LOT of time on my character I skipped this step, but next time I play I’ll ensure to make my unfortunate twin look as nuts as possible.

You get thrown in at the deep end

Imagine waking up from a 600+ year nap and before you even have time to enjoy a nice cuppa - everything has gone horribly wrong? That’s the reality of poor Ryder. Waking up from Chryo Sleep onboard a ship harbouring 20,000 other frozen forms of life and suddenly BAM, the ship hits a monstrous energy cluster. Gravity levels are running amok, your brother’s (or sister depending on your choice!) still frozen and to make matters worse, that wonderful planet that you had pegged for humanity’s new paradise is looking a little on the.. uninhabitable side.

All of a sudden I was thrown into a frenzy of trying to fix things on board the ship, save peoples lives and also meet all of these new characters that were to be my new squad mates ALL AT ONCE. Andromeda comes in swinging and it’s up to you to keep up. 

There’s some cool new tech

Andromeda provides some nice little gadgets to play with as you explore your surroundings. Whilst I was dealing with chaos on board thanks to the energy cluster, I was helpfully reminded by my Squad mate Cora that I had a Scanner. Had no idea what that meant until I was prompted to us it and voila! I’m wandering round the ship scanning for internal faults with this nifty little piece of tech that is reminiscent of the ‘Detective Vision’ in the Batman games. This is really helpful for picking out faults in machinery or scanning weird alien technology before messing around with to see what you’re dealing with. 

I also found that when you land on uncharted territories, scanning unknown lifeforms will not only help you learn about your surroundings, but you also gain Data points which you can go on to spend on new weapons and armour! So it’s always worth doing a full 360 as it may benefit you in the long run.

Another wonderful addition which I absolutely love is the Jump-Jet function on Ryder’s suit. This ability allows you to quickly dash forward or upwards which is great for escaping from threats behind or above or attacking enemies head on.

There’s also a great ‘hover’ ability meaning you can also lock onto and take down enemies mid air.

This took some getting used to (a few head first collisions with rocks and walls) but once I got the hang of it I was zooming all over the place. Due to the vastness of the environments and the amount of stuff to explore, I’ve found it’s the best way to cover more ground!

The landscapes are gorgeous

I’ve only been playing the game a few hours but I’ve already been exposed to lethal radiation levels, neon magnetic lightening storms, giant glowing psychedelic mushrooms and floating rocks. 

The cinematic awe of Mass Effect games are one of the reasons I fell in love with the series in the first place and Andromeda definitely doesn’t disappoint.

There’s so much to explore and the planets feel authentically alien. As I wandered around the landscapes I had to pause now and again to take it all in. 

The Kett aren’t very nice

Andromeda puts you in a different position than the other games. Suddenly you’re the alien and unfortunately not everyone you meet is willing to meet you with warmth and hospitality. 

I first ran into the Kett, the new race added to the Mass Effect Roster whilst trying to regroup with my Squad after an unplanned crash landing. I chose to approach them carefully, assuring that we weren’t here to hurt them but playing it safe got me nowhere as I suddenly found myself in the middle of a fire fight. These guys don’t and won’t understand you and they’re not interested in having a chat. 

It’s a bizarre contrast as in Mass Effect you meet so many Alien species who are civil and willing to interact peacefully - but not these guys. They’ll shoot you down and set their weird Alien dogs on you (which possess a cloaking ability - which is fun) before you can even try to introduce yourself. They’re incredibly hostile, pretty sharp shooters and not particularly excelling in the looks department.. and that brings me onto my next point:

The combat rules

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m rubbish at shooters.

So when I was suddenly thrown into my first enemy confrontation, I panicked and died. A lot. 

The combat in Andromeda, for me, was a baptism of fire. All of the experiences I’ve had so far have been both frantic and energetic and I’m playing on ‘casual’ - There’s an insanity mode for crying out loud.

This is where the jump-jet function will save your skin as not only will it make you more versatile on the battlefield, you can get the hell out of the way of enemy fire pretty quickly.

The combo moves have also made a comeback which is pretty neat and you can use up to 3 powers at any given time. Playing as a Biotic, my personal favorite was combining ‘Pull’ and ‘Throw’ to deal some serious damage. However, these attacks have a 10 second recharge time, so use them wisely.

I’ve been well and truly sucked in

From what I’ve played so far, I’ve found that I’ve gotten that same gut feeling as the first games. I’m now emotionally invested, I care about these characters. I’ve had a beer with a fellow human, chatted endlessly with a nerdy Salarian and got my advances quashed by an Asari. The minute I had my first (friendly) encounter with an alien species (Turian), I had this warming sense of familiarity, that no doubt any Mass Effect fan will and that new players will come to recognize. I want to discover more about these characters and see where this story and my decisions, take us.

If you haven’t already, there’s still time to place your Pre-Order for Mass Effect: Andromeda! Click here to visit our store.

Stay tuned for all things gaming!

- Gem Ryder