Mass Defective or Not? In Defense of Mass Effect: Andromeda

Mass Effect: Andromeda. So many Youtube videos I've watched and posts I've read online have gone to town on the game, most of the criticism being aimed at wonky character models and animations, while some have also been critical of the story and the characters not being as good as the characters from the previous trilogy. And while I can't say that some of their points aren't valid, I do feel that some of the players were a bit harder on the game than it needed to be, and in fact, I feel like their overabundance of criticism and the response that Bioware had—to put the game on the shelf rather than doing anything else—was the wrong reaction. It wasn't wrong that they disliked the game, no—they have every right to. But, I feel that maybe their expectations were a bit too high going into it, and that these high expectations led to the game falling apart.

To start with, I loved the first Mass Effect. It was a game I took a chance on when I first picked it up, and I wound up truly loving that I did as such, because I became so invested with that game and its characters and the world it set up. I became attached to my Commander Shepard, a damaged, but strong-willed woman who led her crew with fairness and loyalty—with little touches that I was able to add to her backstory and personality in my mind that, even though they weren't in the game itself, they added a layer of depth to her for me that I liked having the opportunity to use in the first place. And of course, I became attached to her crew, from the adorably sweet Tali, to the badass Wrex, to the cool-as-ice Garrus, and of course, my girl, Liara, who I of course shipped with Shepard given their perfectly contrasting personalities and abilities.

I'll be honest, I never cared much for the shooting element in the game. Having weapons with heat clips that had to recharge was a hit-or-miss aspect for me, and I hated the traversal system with the Mako, which made going onto planets a royal pain in the behind. But, everything else? The solid graphics, the intriguing alien species, the characters and cultures, and the plot, were all fun and kept me glued to the game, playing through it several times—most of which I wound up doing the same things, because hey, in my head, the narrative I created was my canon.

Then came Mass Effect 2, and it was amazing. Better graphics, a bigger story, and more fun characters. It had its flaws, for sure, but all in all, the game was a great enhancement and serves as one of my top games of all time, a game I replayed even more than the first. It gave me everything I liked from the first game, removed some of the things I disliked, and added even more. There were a few hiccups, I'll be honest, and a few of those are more my own personal taste than anything, but, by the end of the day, the sequel was worth the money and a fun, exciting continuation from an already great game.

As far as Mass Effect 3 goes...

I will be honest: I have not, nor will I, touch that game. My disappointment in the choices made by the developers with that game is very high, and as I know what major events take place, I feel no need to play it. Suffice to say, much like many Matrix fans tend to pretend the second two films never happened, for me, Mass Effect 3 never happened. Things went down differently, much differently, without any of the pointless or frustrating elements the third game brought with it. And that's all I'll say about it.

But then we get to Andromeda.

I remember when the game was first teased and I found myself interested. Sure, I was a bit embittered by the decisions made regarding the third game in the series, but I was open to another go through the Mass Effect world, especially if it was with a different character and a different focus than the original trilogy. Plus, if it meant Bioware was going to take the fan criticism to heart, then I was all for it, since it meant being able to forgive and forget—or at least, move on.

When Andromeda was first released, I didn't get it. It wasn't out of disinterest, but rather, I simply had no money and no PS4 (or Xbox One) of my own to play it on. I was resigned to having to read up on it on its official Wikia page and I would've likely just wound up watching YouTube videos on the story and the characters. But fate was a bit kinder to me than I expected it to be, because my roommate, who did own a PS4, bought the game, thus giving us both access to it. By then, several patches had already hit the game, and the initial buzz about it was out. And it wasn't anywhere near as good as I had expected considering the fact that this was a Mass Effect game. In fact, I was seeing a lot of memes and criticisms being thrown its way, but, I didn't let those deter me and I played the game.

I was quite happy with the end result.

I chose to play as Sarah Ryder, the sister and one of two potential protagonists for the game, and I customized her to my liking, as well as Scott, her brother. I had my little headcanon forming even as the opening narration began to play, and I was honestly truly pleased with the game. The controls felt familiar, the new abilities were fun to utilize, and it was a wonderful feeling to step back into a world that I had grown to love years before. True, it was with new characters, and the setting was an entirely different galaxy, but in the end, it was still Mass Effect, so I was all for it.

I became invested once again. I would play it any waking chance I got when my roommate wasn't using the system—as it was his, after all—and there would be nights where I would play it well past eleven, even into midnight. I didn't care about the lack of sleep it would lead to, I was having too much getting into the world and the characters, especially the characters. It was like playing the first two games all over again, except even better than before. I enjoyed the combat for a change, the graphics were amazing, and the characters felt more energetic and real than they had ever before. It wasn't that I disliked the characters from the previous two—not even close—but these characters were fresh and new, and offered spins on the ones I was used to that made it so much more interesting for me as the player.

In fact, I will confess that I got so into it that I made a single mistake with my Ryder, a mistake tied to her romance with Suvi Anwar—a religious scientist with an incredible Scottish accent—and so I wound up starting over again. And when I did, I discovered things I hadn't even seen the first time around, like side quests, characters, and even additional dialogue options I either skipped over or didn't know existed. Ultimately, I found myself having even more fun the second time around, even though I didn't always like replaying the same levels; it didn't matter. I was having fun.

So where does that bring us to next, but my feelings on the way many fans reacted to the game, and in fact, its ultimate (currently ultimate) fate.

I was confused by the way people were treating the game. For me, I couldn't quite understand why it was getting so much hate. I mean, sure, I understood some of their problems. A handful of facial expressions were a bit wonky, there were some bugs and glitches here and there, and maybe the story wasn't the greatest thing around. I can see those points just fine, and yet, they didn't really deter me or take away from my experience. And yet, I continued to see people disliking and dumping on the game, making points that I either disagreed with or outright couldn't see. I considered that maybe my nostalgia filter was too great, that maybe I was blinded by my enjoyment of the game. It's possible, and I recognized that fact. But when I really read the complaints and really thought about it—and I took my time doing this—I came to the conclusion that, while they had every right to not like the game, I kind of felt like maybe some of the fans were being a little too hard on it. And I think I may know why that is.

I think that, given the success and how beloved the first two—for some, all three—games were, that a lot of fans might have had too high of expectations. I can understand that. You get invested in a series, whether it be movies or books or even a TV series, so that when a new one comes around and it's different from the others, there are still a lot of hopes and a bar has already been set. And when that bar isn't quite reached, it can make you upset or leave you wanting more.

Mass Effect: Andromeda was a different game from the first three. Sure, it was in the same universe, it had shout outs and Easter eggs regarding the previous trilogy, but it was still its own game, its own take on the world. It was set in the Andromeda galaxy, long after the events of the first three games, with new major characters as the focus instead. I guess, for me, I have a hard time understanding why so many people disliked it. Bugs and glitches, I can understand, of course. But when I look at this game, I don't look at the flaws; I look at how it feels, how it plays, and the experience that I have with it. Perhaps it is simply a matter of differing taste and perspectives for the other players of the game. That in of itself is fine, since I would never expect anyone else to enjoy it the way that I do—since they aren't me, and of course they won't have the same views.

Yet I can't help but feel that so much of the criticism comes from the bar being a little too high. And when that happens, of course Andromeda wasn't going to live up to it. It's only a single game, the start of a new adventure; it's not going to have the same connections to the characters that the other games did, it isn't going to have the same level of plot that the other three did, and it certainly won't have the same stakes. As the first game, it would've been the set-up for these things. It introduces characters, a setting, enemies, a story, and then the next one would've been the continuation, building up on what was established while exploring more and building more in the process. That's what Mass Effect 2 did with Mass Effect; it took the characters you knew and threw them into a newer, more dangerous situation, while continuing to explore plot threads and concepts introduced in the first game.

Think of it is this way. If we looked solely at Mass Effect, without the sequels, and analyzed it for its characters and its plot, I wonder what points could be made about its strengths and weaknesses, especially when you compare it to Andromeda. Both of them are—or were—the first entries into a brand new series. Both introduced us as players to their protagonists without giving them too much depth, since the entire point of the story and the gameplay was for us as players to do that. Both had their own graphical issues—the first Mass Effect had great graphics, but it wasn't perfect by any means, and there were plenty of awkward facial expressions abound and plenty of weird animations. Yes, it could be said that these were the result of the game being created at the time it was, but I'm betting that Andromeda was made using a new graphics engine since it was made for the (previously) new generation of consoles, so I'm not surprised there were hiccups involved. And as far as the plots go? Neither are all that great when you really look at them, but when you consider the other elements of the games—the characters, the exploration, the choice-related elements—I don't really notice the plot issues and instead I just enjoy the story I get.

Ultimately, though, Andromeda has been shelved by Bioware. It is an unfortunate decision, in my mind, because I feel that they could've simply owned up to their mistake and continued to fix the game instead of just throwing in the towel. When they put so much time and effort into their game, when a lot of heart and soul was poured into it, I honestly expected them to continue to do that and to make it as good as they could. But, they chose not to. It is a sad reality, but it's one that, as a fan of the series, I just have to accept.

In the end, I loved Andromeda. I recognize that it isn't perfect by any means, but I enjoyed it and the characters, and I would rank it as my second favorite game within the Mass Effect franchise, right behind Mass Effect 2, and right in front of the first Mass Effect. And that's what really matters most in the end for me: that I liked it. If people didn't like it, that's entirely fine. And if they did, that's equally fine. I only hope that in the future, the bar won't be as high for games like this one. Having high hopes isn't inherently bad by any means, but when you go into something with too high of hopes, the fallout that can occur when a game or a movie or a book doesn't reach that level may just end up damaging your feelings even further. That's just the way I see it, though.

Carry on, Pathfinder. Maybe someday, you'll return to our screens.