Ah yes, the resentment from Mass Effect players towards the next instalment of the franchise seemingly remains, after the Shepherd trilogy (as we are now told to call it) ended on a flat, bum note way back in 2012.
Let’s face it, even after the hasty patch up job from EA and Bioware, the ending to ME3 was still a little bit…. meh?!
I mean, you slog across the known universe, battling massive, maniacal and genocidal space robots to stop them wiping out all life in the galaxy, and it all comes down to a final epic battle for Earth. Pretty standard set-up for an epic conclusion right?
Nah, we are just going to pass you three options to either die, die or die. REALLY?!
Yes, okay, the fix gives more intricacies to the options. But it shouldn’t have come down to that.
So that brings me nicely on to Andromeda. Let’s make no efforts to conceal the fact that this is going to be a reboot.
It just is.
The principal character of Shepherd has been replaced with the children of Alec Ryder – an N7 special forces soldier. Seeing as Andromeda takes place 600 years after ME3, and in a totally different galaxy, don’t think there is going to be a sudden appearance from some of your favourite characters. This is the same universe, but a whole new slant on it.
So to put things simply, you’re playing as Pathfinders; operatives tasked with discovering new planets for Humans to colonize. You’re going to explore an open world galaxy aboard the starship Tempest and the whole tale starts around the time in which Mass Effect 2 takes place, separating the new game from the events of ME3.
So immediately this is brand new territory. And that can only be a good thing as far as I’m concerned.
If Bioware had brought back story elements from the previous games, there would be outcry. In a decision based game, people get very particular over how they played and how this crafted their world.
So to have this shaken apart and be told ‘this is now how the Mass Effect world works’ would have been disastrous. Although it seems to be working for Star Wars… kind of.
Principally, my excitement is based on equal parts nostalgia and intrigue. I want to know what the expert story tellers at Bioware have concocted this time. I want to dive back into a world that I took a chance on when the first Mass Effect was just a low level title that came out with Assassins’ Creed and tag teamed my Xbox into submission through the summer of 2007.
But my main reason for being excited is the fact that, once again we will have a brilliant, science fiction romp to get your teeth into. It’s bound to be cinematic, engaging, full of action but not so much that you lose sight of the scale of the story and your objective.
Plus, it becomes YOUR story. This isn’t unique to Mass Effect of course, but for some reason the choices you make in these games always feel like they have more weight to them.
Suppose I should get my artificial gravity checked.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is dropping into stores on March 23, and with Horizon: Zero Dawn and the new Ghost Recon to compete with, it’s going to be a solid month for gamers.