There must have come a moment at BioWare this week when developers looked at fan and critics’ reaction to their just-released review copies of five hours of gameplay of Mass Effect Andromeda, and thought “Oh shit. We’re in trouble”.
Because, let’s face it, when the pre-release copies hit, you normally want them to get everyone so excited about your upcoming game they will rush out and buy it as soon as it becomes available.
Or, for the overly obsessed fans, pre-order it.
With Mass Effect Andromeda, however, the opposite happened.
Only hours after review copies were sent out, memes started popping up all over the Internet making fun of some of the game’s terrible animations and the characters’ strange facial expressions.
Animations and expressions that are so bad, many fans are saying they could easily ruin the entire game.
But will they?
More like Mass Effect: Androids because
YOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/K4JdhQ5dcc
— Nibel (@Nibellion) March 16, 2017
Sadly, it definitely could. Because, with only four days left before Mass Effect Andromeda hits shelves on March 21st, unless this pre-release mess is so far removed from the actual finished game, there is no way BioWare can fix the animations in time.
That means the best we can hope for is a patch, but a patch could be weeks in the making. Meanwhile, their game has tanked due to players either refusing to buy it, or buying it and then trashing it to all of their friends.
After all, the Mass Effect series is one of those classic video game series fans absolutely adore, and so will be rightfully outraged if they feel the developer has not taken enough care when making a sequel.
Especially when it’s also one of those games where the story is usually quite complex, and is just as important to the enjoyment of the game for most players as are the battle scenes, and so game immersion is important.
Yet it’s hard to be immersed in the story when the character in front of you looks like she’s doing some kind of weird moonwalk, instead of just calmly going about her business on the ship.
And you have to wonder how BioWare could have missed these terrible animations — eyes moving weirdly around, sometimes even in completely opposite directions, dead, expressionless faces, and strange facial contortions that make the character look like its having a seizure or trying to dislodge food stuck in its teeth.
I mean wouldn’t you think a first look at some of the animations in the game months ago would have had the lead animator on the BioWare team screaming, “Fix it! Fix it! Fix it!”
— Nathan Ranney (@RatCasket) March 16, 2017
Gamers, of course, are having a field day releasing meme after meme after meme, and GIF after GIF after GIF of all the strange animations in just the first five hours of gameplay. Will they have as much fun, though, when they buy the game and want to hurl something at their computer screen just a couple of hours in?
Especially when quite a bit of the dialogue in the game, and the voice acting, sound equally as abysmal. (And you might want to read this Rock, Paper, Shotgun review to find out just how bad the first five hours may be if massive changes haven’t been made).
Guess we’ll have to see. Until then, though, enjoy some of the Mass Effect Andromeda GIFs. They’re really really funny.
And, of course, if you’re desperate to buy the game because it just looks so damned bad, you can still pre-order it at the usual video game outlets.
— Nathan Ranney (@RatCasket) March 16, 2017
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