Mass Effect: Andromedamade a lot of changes to the iconic series. It took the series to an entirely new series, introduced a new protagonist in the Ryder twins, new alien species, and an overhaul of many of theMass Effectseries' biggest features. One of the biggest overhaulsMass Effect: Andromedabrought was a massive change to the game’s combat, and while many ofMass Effect: Andromeda’s were not well received by theMass Effectcommunity, the game’s combat is the best of the entire series.
Combat is one of the pillars ofMass Effect. The series is beloved for its interesting story, complicated galaxy-wide politics, and its endearing characters, but combat is where players spend a large portion of their time in everyMass Effectgame. Every game in the series is a third-person cover-based shooter that allows players to bring two squadmates into battle with them, but the formula has evolved a lot since the first game. With the recent popularity ofMass Effect: Legendary Edition, manyplayers are returning toMass Effect Andromedaand are resurrecting discussions about the game and its successes and failures.
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What Combat is Like in the Mass Effect Trilogy
Combat in theMass Effectseries revolves around two things: weapons and powers. In the original trilogy, players choose from a list of classes that determine which ofMass Effect: Legendary Edition’s weaponsand powers they will have access to. As for weapons, players can choose from snipers, shotguns, submachine guns, pistols, assault rifles, and heavy weapons. Each weapon type has a variety of options in each game, with each one having its own strengths and weaknesses. In the firstMass Effect,each class has a preference for certain weapon types, while the second and third games restricted each class to only using two weapon types.
Powers, on the other hand, are split into three categories: combat, tech, and biotic. Combat powers are focused on weapons, like using different types of ammo, concussive shots, or increasing the player’s fire rate. Tech powers, on the other hand, focus on dealing damage to enemies with armor, hacking AI enemies, and building things like turrets to help the player in combat. Biotic powers focus on damaging enemies with barriers, giving the player and squadmates barriers, and getting enemies out of position with powers like lift and throw to get them out of cover. Bothbiotic and tech powers play a huge role inMass Effect’s universeand are both extremely powerful while defining combat across theMass Effectseries.
How Mass Effect Andromeda Does Powers Better
Mass Effect: Andromedabrought back the powers system from earlierMass Effecttitles, but it brought some massive changes with it. Perhaps the biggest change is thatMass Effect: Andromedadoes not utilize a class system. Instead, players are able to unlock the skills that they are interested in using and combining. Another change is that players are able to set loadouts for skills that allow them to change which three skills they want to have equipped on the fly. This allows players to better adapt to the enemies that they will be facing during certain quests, while also encouraging them to switch what squadmates they are using to better compliment the skill loadout. While also allowing players to adapt to what quest they are doing, it also allowed players to better know their squadmates and pursue thedifferent romances inMass Effect: Andromedafrom mixing up the party more frequently.
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Mass Effect: Andromedaalso introduced the new Power Combo system. This system encouraged players to use their powers more smartly and allowed them to mix their own powers with those of their squadmates to create some devastating effects on the battlefield. The four possible combos are fire, cryo, tech, and biotic, with each one offering its own effect on enemies and situations that they work best in. To do this, players must first hit an enemy with a primer and then follow it with a trigger power. The combos give the player more options during combat, while also feeling very rewarding to pull off as they are the result of both a player’s performance during the battlefield as well as the player’s skillful planning of their squad with their character’sbuild inMass Effect: Andromeda.
How Mass Effect Andromeda Does Weapons Better
Mass Effect: Andromeda’s biggest addition toMass Effect’s weapons was the new melee weapon classification. Players could always do a melee attack in previousMass Effecttitles, but the addition of different melee weapons adds a new layer to the system that lets players customize their melee attacks around their build. Some players have even managed to build characters almost entirely around melee, showing just how much the melee weapons add to the depth ofMass Effect: Andromeda’s combat. With how muchhad to be cut out ofMass Effect: Andromedadue to budget constraints, it would have been great to see how much more the melee weapons could have been fleshed out if the game had had more time in development.
The weapon classes also received a healthy expansion inMass Effect: Andromeda. Players were able to unlock, modify, and upgrade different weapons in previous games, butMass Effect: Andromedaexpands on these systems to give players a lot more options for how they want to approach combat.Mass Effect: Andromedahas a lot more optionsfor each weapon type like Sniper Rifles, while also diversifying the types of modifications that players could make to those weapons to further tweak their playstyles.
There are other features that fans have come to respect and appreciate aboutMass Effect: Andromeda, like its take on theMass Effectseries' iconic morality feature. It is great to see that players are returning toMass Effect: Andromedaand finding aspects about the game to appreciate. With how well the game iterated on some ofMass Effect’s systems it definitely deserves the praise, despite the aspects of the game that many find less successful. It will be very interesting to see where theMass Effectseries goes from here, but, hopefully, it will take some cues fromMass Effect: Andromeda’s combat while delivering a game that all of the series' fans can enjoy.
Mass Effect 4is in development.
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