Released while still unfinished, the game quickly became an online joke, mocked for its multiple bugs, bad dialogs and weird animations – characters look permanently confused, even when flirting or grieving. While the worst cases were patched, they exposed the game's main flaw: the writing. Mass Effect was a series known for its characterization: seeing awkward lines of dialog expressed through uncanny facial animations killed any emotion – and ME:A's reputation.

Story-wise, you play as the Pathfinder, responsible for guiding colony spaceships to settle new planets in the Andromeda galaxy while uncovering the mystery behind ancient alien ruins. This setup would indeed be perfect for a scavenge hunt across multiple worlds but, without the procedural generated planets, the game follows a linear story structure similar to the original games, focusing on just a few planets.

However, the short development time means these few planets still are rather empty, especially the larger ones where you can drive vehicles. You explore these large open environments by following quest markers while collecting resources for crafting and upgrades, making it all feel more like a Ubisoft open-world game with forgettable NPCs than a classic BioWare RPG.

Still, while it doesn't deliver the original goal of being a “No Man's Sky RPG”, the planet exploration is the game's best part, as its planets are gorgeous, the combat is the best in the series, and the introduction of jetpacks adds a welcome sense of verticality, even if it's rarely enforced outside simple platforming sections.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is not a terrible game, but it is a terrible Mass Effect game, that fails to deliver on what fans came to expect from the series and from BioWare. You won't find charismatic companions, interesting choices or engrossing stories here, only faint glimpses of how great a “No Man's Sky RPG” could be.