After the credits rolled at the end of Mass Effect 3, no one expected the franchise to really return outside of a port to the current generation of consoles. EA’s announcement of Mass Effect Andromeda at E3 2015 both surprised and elated fans. We had a long time to wait, but oh, it would be worth it. Mass Effect addicts love the franchise so much, we don’t care how long we have to wait for a new installment. We will happily wait a few years for a polished experience filled with a space opera and those BioWare character development and interactions that made the original trilogy so remarkable. It’s unfortunate that Andromeda stumbles more than it sprints in most cases.
Ineffective Storyline
The Andromeda Initiative is a plan the Council cooked up to send tens of thousands of eager participants from most species (human, asari, turian, krogran, and salarian) to the Andromeda galaxy to settle. The Andromeda galaxy is two million light years away, effectively making this a one way trip. They leave in the year 2185, the year Mass Effect 2 began. There are no Mass Relays in Andromeda, which seems to be just fine as everyone has ships that fly faster than light (FTL). I’m not sure why this technology existed in 2185 but was only given to the Initiative; if they had shared it then perhaps they could have deactivated the Mass Relays and stopped the Reapers from coming at all. But I’m digressing; the tale of Andromeda takes place 634 years after ...