Cutscenes and Dialogue Trees Look Great
One of the biggest complaints I had with the original Mass Effect trilogy was that most of the cutscenes and interactive dialogue sequences in those games looked too robotic and static. The camera would cut to Shepard’s face as he/she spoke, cut to the person they were speaking to, and then cut back to Shepard. The characters would occasionally fold their arms, or shake their heads, but there wasn’t anything too appealing to look at here. Heck, you couldn’t even watch Shepard punch a reporter because half of that action happened off-screen.
However, Mass Effect Andromeda seems to have remedied that. In a conversation between Ryder and a mercenary, you can actually see the characters moving around in a believable manner. Even as Ryder reacts to the gun drawn on her, everything looks at least somewhat cinematic, and less cartoonish than they did in past games. Great improvement, BioWare.
Krogans and Wildlife
When BioWare revealed new Andromeda footage at the PS4 Pro unveiling event earlier this year, we got a look at one of the Asari companions. In the new trailer shown at The Game Awards this year, we find out that the Krogans are back too. The Krogans were a pretty prominent race in the original trilogy, and Shepard followed their story as they struggled to take back their home planet. It’s nice to see the bulky aliens make a return here, and we’re excited to see how their story and culture continue developing in Andromeda.
We also got a look at some hostile wildlife on the planets. While we did get to battle some scary-looking aliens in the trilogy, the planets shown off in Andromeda so far seem to be teeming with these little (and not so little) critters. The monsters here are terrifying, and it shows that space exploration won’t be as easygoing as it used to be.
There’s a Scanning Tool
New to Andromeda is a device that you can use to scan and analyze your environments. In Mass Effect 2, players could scan planets and mine them for resources from within the Normandy. Andromeda seems to be taking things a little further, and lets players bring that scanner with them onto planets themselves. Here, players will be able to scan everything in their environment and collect elements and resources from them. The trailer featured Ryder scanning a flower on the ground, and mining an element there.
Not only that, the trailer also showed off Ryder stepping into a room, investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a Krogan. Ryder was shown scanning the room, looking for evidence that they could use to prosecute a suspect. Perhaps Andromeda will feature little missions where you can choose to either use brute force to get the truth out of someone, or spend time gathering intel and do things the ‘legal’ way.
There’s a Jetpack?!
Alright, so we already knew before this that there would be jetpacks in Andromeda, but it’s still really cool to see it in action. While engaged in a firefight with some humanoid enemies, the trailer showed Ryder flying into the air with a jetpack before performing a biotic slam straight into an opponent. Shootouts were fun in the previous Mass Effect games, but you’d end up spending most of your time ducking behind cover, and popping your head out to shoot when it was safe. The jetpack ability in Andromeda should add more of a traversal factor to combat, and will likely make these firefights even more exciting.
Another thing to note is that a lot of classic gear from past games, like the Disruptor Ammo, is making a return here too. Andromeda also continues the practice of having players pick up ammo clips to reload their gun, and it’s clear that we won’t be returning to the days of waiting for a weapon to cool down before firing again – a relic of the original Mass Effect.
In addition to returning abilities, Ryder can also set up temporary barriers to serve as cover, use her gauntlets as a flamethrower, and deploy a drone to shoot bullets for you.
Menus Look Really Sleek
Last, but certainly not least, are the incredibly sleek-looking menus in Andromeda. Instead of using the clunky and cluttered interface present in the original trilogy, Andromeda has thrown all of that out the window and opted for a clean and neat menu system. You’ve got a separate page for your armor, and within that page, you’ve got separate tabs for your helmet, chest, arms, and legs. Oh, and within those tabs, you’ve got a nifty little scrolling system that allows you to quickly sift through all your collected gear as you choose which one you want to equip.
The menus are looking smooth as butter, and we’ve only seen the equipment pages. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the system looks like. Hell, even the HUD itself is eye-pleasingly uncluttered.
Published: Dec 2, 2016 09:04 am