Mass Effect: Andromeda is catapulting BioWare's role-playing series into new territory with its vast, open world areas that are yours to explore as you hop from planet to planet - but this huge change in design has forced the studio to rethink a lot of the franchise's other core elements.
In particular, the Canadian developer has had little choice but to rework the combat system. In previous games, Shepard and the gang would utilise cover to edge their way through various linear combat scenarios, but with an open world to consider, things obviously aren't quite so straightforward.
"It's going to be more open world, more free form, [with] more choice - those are all things that have definitely factored into the way that we've developed our core gameplay like our third person shooting," creative director Mac Walters explains to GamesRadar. "So far I can honestly say the combat is far more fluid, far more organic than it's ever been before," he claims.
Sounds good to us, but how do you think Andromeda's firefights will operate? Describe what you're thinking in the comments section below.
[source gamesradar.com]
Comments 11
Combat in general for me was never the most impressive or most important factor of Mass Effect. I guess it had a lot of depth if you went onto all the biotics. I just picked 2 random characters to assist me, never bothered with Biotic powers (certainly not where they were concerned) and only bothered using specific ones that suited my Play style. I didn't even bother giving orders and directing my team. I virtually played through as if I was fighting Solo and let my characters do what they wanted. It was always about getting through the combat to get to the next part of the Story for me. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the combat or thought it was 'bad' but it wasn't something I paid a lot of attention to.
More open world though could make this a bit more difficult. No longer a corridor shooter may mean that I have to ensure my partners are better positioned to deal with threats from multiple directions - not that this is a bad thing. Maybe even selecting the best combination to go with me may become more necessary instead of picking 2 at random - often 1 of the two had 'something' in common with story progression or recently joined just for a 'change'.
Greatly looking forward to this game though - the rest of 2016 is looking a bit light on a game to sink my teeth into but with this and Horizon: Zero Dawn coming up in 2017, the Action/RPG genre is getting off to a positive start.
Mass Effect 2 is hands down my favorite of the series. I think it's the total package. That said Mass Effect 3 probably had the best combat. If the combat is like 3 but with more freedom I'm fine with that.
I always played as a biotic and relied heavily on powers such as warp, lift and singularity. I thought it made the game so much better and the biotic powers were a godsend on the higher difficulties.
I really hope that BioWare hasn't been fully 'EA'ed' and that there's still some good RPG mechanics in this fluid and organic combat. And I'm really hoping that the dialogue side is more like the first game rather than ME3. I want to be in control of every single word that my Ryder character says even if it's basically the same sentence in each speech wheel option. In ME3, my Shepard spoke by herself so many times it seemed as if it wasn't MY Shep anymore.
I enjoy the combat in Dragon Age, but have never been able to get into Mass Effect's. Maybe that will change with Andromeda. I'll wait for reviews & streams of gameplay.
Between Persona 5 & Horizon: Zero Dawn I'll be too busy in early 2017 anyway.
I want more multiplayer like ME3 in Andromeda. We need some news about it.
Biotic is very technical and nice to play, full soldier and half biotic/half soldier (can't remember the name, maybe vanguard?) yet it was never the selling point of the franchise so I'm very excited to see the changes in the combat.
I don't agree at all with Bioware's current political views. They shoe horned in a lot of politically correct garbage into Dragon Age Inquisition. Mass Effect Andromeda's RYDER is ugly as hell and the Asari smiling even uglier. That aside, if there is one thing that the Mass Effect series have always done right is the combat. Combat in ME1, ME2, ME3 was outstanding. I'm very much looking forward to the game play in MEA as long as I don't have to receive any lectures on LGBT propaganda or see a transgender bathroom aboard the new normandy.
I hope they have the squad command feature that only the PC version of Mass Effect 1 had which made your squadmates hold position. This was extremely useful on the harder difficulty because it allowed you to stop squadmates from charging into groups and to stay-put when they're almost dead instead of ordering a dangerous re-group / retreat.
Of course they'd say that. Would be nice if we could see it though.
I just want this game to go back to the exploration and RPG aspects of the first one. Which I think has a decent chance of happening now that people have gotten over this fixation on cover shooters that dominated so much of the last console generation and a AAA game that is explicitly and unapologetically an RPG can stand to sell well.
@Luzarius I think the main draw of Bioware games has always been that political aspect of their games.
I don't see how the games express a statement, though. Including a gay male in your game is not so much a political statement, but rather a representation of mankind. I think a game like that with LGBT's in it is more believable than one without.
It's not a statement to include them, but it's a statement to not acknowledge that, like you do.
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