Mass Effect Andromeda is released on the 21st of March, but as of yet, it has failed to convince me that it is worthy of being a successor to the Mass Effect Trilogy.

Despite criticisms of the ending for Mass Effect 3, the trilogy left me with an epic feeling. Even now, I feel nostalgic about my crew mates, certain characters and the Mass Effect universe.

Worries?

When Mass Effect Andromeda was announced, initially I felt ecstatic. But the more footage I see of the new addition, the more I’m worried that this will not live up to the hype I at first felt.

From what I’ve seen of the characters, they’ve yet to interest me. Of course that feeling may change once I’ve actually invested hours of gameplay into the game, but they seem somewhat generic from the given previews.

What lowers my confidence even more is the apparent dumbed down dialogue from recent footage. IGN’s pre-release footage shows nearly 18 minutes of gameplay, demonstrating a “loyalty mission” for one of the new crew members, Peebee.

Then again this is just one mission. It obviously doesn’t demonstrate how the dialogue is throughout the whole game, but so far it doesn’t appear promising. Hearing the line “so long, losers” after an evil laugh doesn’t instil me with the most confidence. That being said, I still trust Bioware to craft a great game out of this.

I’m still excited for this game too…

What I do like is how Ryder stands out more than Shepard did. Shepard had a more authoritative tone due to his/her military background, yet Ryder seems to be more expressive in his/her thoughts. It’s good to know we’re not just getting a reskin of Shepard, but rather a brand new and unique character.

The gameplay itself seems to have reformed well in Frostbite 3’s engine. Visually it looks so much more refined compared to the trilogy which was run on Unreal Engine.  But most notably, the combat seems to be more enjoyable to use.

Even the level design in IGN’s latest pre-release footage seems to be engaging. There are chances to be more stealthy instead of a guns-blazing approach, and there appears to be many interactive elements to it too. Whilst the game may be somewhat linear, Mass Effect Andromeda should hopefully retain an explorative feel to it too.

Story or Gameplay?

So as a whole, it seems that the gameplay will at least be compelling enough to play. Electronic Arts have decided to be selective in what is shown from Bioware’s new game, so hopefully there will be plenty of surprising moments to look forward to.

It’s the story that is my concern. Like I previously said, I had grown an attachment to the original characters, and hope to do so again. The second cinematic trailer seems to rehash the ‘save the universe’ trope from the trilogy, and I’m worried that we’ll be treading familiar ground with this plot.

It’s worth noting that in the pre-release footage, that the dialogue wheel is edited out to avoid spoilers. So what was previewed doesn’t fully portray the mission shown.

Hopefully I’m proven wrong. Hopefully the dialogue isn’t as cringeworthy as it sounds, hopefully there is more freedom in the game and hopefully this game will live up to the hype.

Mass Effect Andromeda is released on the 21st of March 2017 for PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4.

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