Hello everyone and welcome back once again to the indieheads Album of the Year 2020 Write-Up Series, the daily series where the users of indieheads talk their favorite albums of the year throughout the duration of December. Up today, we've got u/smasherx coming into the series to talk Fleet Foxes highly anticipated fourth LP, Shore. submitted by IndieheadsAOTY to indieheads [link] [comments] September 22nd, 2020 - Anti- Listen: Bandcamp Spotify Apple Music Background After self-releasing The Fleet Foxes EP in 2006, Seattle-based Fleet Foxes had a breakout year in 2008 with the release of their Sun Giant EP and self-titled debut LP. With their sprightly folk arrangements, vocal harmonies, and pastoral lyrics, both 2008 releases were met with widespread acclaim, and the band rode a momentary wave of folk-rock renaissance to great initial success. Their debut is all the more impressive knowing that band members Robin Pecknold and Skyler Skjelset were just 21 during its recording. The raw talent and maturity on display in songs like “White Winter Hymnal”, “Blue Ridge Mountains”, and “Mykonos” remains staggering. And though Robin, the band’s singer and songwriter, later described his lyrics as “pure RPG fantasy”, admitting to not having much experience to draw on, Fleet Foxes and Sun Giant have surely gained a great deal of lasting power from the timelessness of their stories and sound. If Fleet Foxes’ first LP succeeded with an ageless appeal, their 2011 follow-up, Helplessness Blues, reckoned with the anxieties of a very particular age. Opening with an act of self-interrogation (“So now I am oldeThan my mother and fatheWhen they had their daughteNow what does that say about me?”) Helplessness Blues was more anxious and inward-looking while retaining all the melodic grace of its predecessor. Among the classic folk-rock pastiches are bold experiments like “The Shrine / An Argument” and “Grown Ocean”, as well as the title track, an introspective folk epic that still serves as a kind of mission statement song for the band. With its warm production and evocative, self-searching lyrics, Helplessness Blues may be the fan favourite album, at least around these parts. After a 5-year break from recording and touring, Fleet Foxes returned in 2017 with their third LP, Crack-Up, an album that punched up the band’s sound by introducing more complex song structures and rhythms, abrupt loud/quiet shifts, and new musical textures including just a hint of synth. The songs are bigger and more adventurous than ever, with the album functioning more like a series of suites than individual singles – despite its 11 tracks, there are just three actual gaps between songs. At 55 minutes, Crack-Up just keeps giving, and its back half in particular, “Mearcstapa” through “Crack-Up”, is an incredible sequence of ambitious, orchestral prog-folk. If the dense and dark album proved to be somewhat impenetrable lyrically (at least partly by design), what it clearly revealed was a future of exciting possibilities for the band. Unshackled from the expectations of representing the indie folk movement, Fleet Foxes were free to follow their inspirations wherever they should lead. And so, as the Crack-Up tour wound down in mid-2018, work on a new set of songs commenced. Robin seemed to have a clear concept in mind for a fourth album pretty early on, hinting through Instagram and Reddit posts that LP4 would be a kind of yin-yang companion to Crack-Up, acting as a sun to Crack-Up’s moody clouds. For a while, “Gioia” (Italian for “joy”) was the working title of the album. Demo snippets began appearing on Robin’s generous Instagram (@robinpecknold) in late 2018, with early versions of “Can I Believe You”, “Sunblind”, and “I’m Not My Season” among the samples heard. Things seemed to be progressing well throughout 2019 as fans were baited with Instagram Live sessions and glimpses of the band and other contributing musicians in the studio. Then in early 2020, the emerging COVID-19 pandemic came along, and, well… you know what happened there. Witness to untold tragedy and chaos from his Manhattan apartment during lockdown, Robin would begin to doubt the value of his music and considered scrapping the project entirely. How do you make happy-sounding music in such a miserable time? But in late spring and early summer, he would find a way to re-contextualize the project in light of current world events, and a burst of inspiration resulted in a new set of lyrics and a drive to finish the album and put it out as quickly as possible. Mostly recording on his own with engineer Beatriz Artola (his bandmates not present due to COVID restrictions), Robin finished work on the album in September and began prepping for an immediate release. That Robin was able to finish Shore over the summer and surprise-release it during a brief window of sunshine on September 22nd, 2020, speaks to the purpose of the project from its very conception: to tell the story of perseverance, relief, and joy through dark and difficult times. Review by smasherx September 22, 2020 My alarm sounded at 7:15 AM, same as always, but instead of stumbling into my home office to catch up on emails, I settled into the corner nook of my sectional couch, Bluetooth earbuds in, YouTube cued up on the TV. In just a few minutes, Fleet Foxes would be premiering their new album, Shore, alongside a 16 mm companion film. Already there were over 4,000 viewers in the livestream, flooding the chat with exclamations of excitement, greetings from around the world, and demands, from a contingent of Brazilians, for the band to come to Brazil. A tall order for this year, but maybe next? I’d called in sick to work that morning, a decision that felt better with every second that ticked away on the livestream countdown. After six months of non-stop, post-pandemic work from home, I was ragged and exhausted, my job now fully blurred with what I used to call home life. The release of a new album from one of my favourite bands was as good a reason as any to push the needle over the line, to stop and take a breath for one day. 7:31 AM (Mountain Daylight Time) The autumnal equinox arrived with the crashing of waves. The opening shot of Shore is a rain-soaked, overcast beach, like the morning after an overnight storm. After a minute, the sound of the rolling surf gives way to a few melodic guitar strums, and then a voice: not Robin Pecknold’s, but a young woman’s, buoyed by a gentle layering of horns just below the surface: Summer all overBlame it on timingWeakening August water The singer is Uwade Akhere, who Robin discovered on Instagram (@uwade.music) after she posted a cover of his song “Mykonos”. Having followed Shore’s development, I knew the opening track would feature this guest vocalist, and truly, the easy charm she lends the song is a gift. What really took me by surprise the first time through “Wading in Waist-High Water” is what happens next, as the second verse arrives with a burst of emphatic pianos, percussion, and bass, not to mention a children’s choir. It’s in this moment that Foxes’ bright and ebullient fourth album announces itself… S H O R E Halfway through “Sunblind”, I sent a text to my friend, who I knew was listening 3,500 km away on the other side of Canada. “This song is about swimming!” I said. My friend and I had plans to meet for a camping trip in the States earlier that summer, plans that obviously didn’t happen, and swimming is a special activity for our group of friends. “Ya the first two are very swim-centric. I’m lovin it!” she replied. The tribute to musicians in this song was lost on me in that first listen. I just loved that it was about swimming. Next, “Can I Believe You”. I’d heard the previews on Robin’s Instagram, and knew it was going to slap, but the final version stunned me. There I was, first thing in the morning, absolutely jamming out to Robin’s “headbanger about trust issues”. Shore was off to an unbelievable start. Meanwhile, in the livestream chat, people seemed to be feeling much the same as I was. A lot of listeners confessed to be crying, and though there was certainly a lot to cry about in September 2020, I have no doubt they were joyful tears, brought about by the revelation of great beauty in a vulnerable moment. Though music rarely hits me that way, I felt a lot of strong emotions as Shore unveiled itself, namely excitement and awe at the splendour of the music, and incredulous relief that I’d have a day off work. For the rest of Shore’s premiere, I mostly stayed off my phone and focussed on the music and film, but when Tim Bernades’ verse began in “Going-to-the-Sun Road”, I wasn’t sure what language I was hearing. I opened the YouTube chat and read several messages exclaiming: “Portuguese! Portuguese!”. The “Come to Brazil” contingency was going nuts. Incredibly, Robin had delivered on that most unlikely of demands. By the time Shore reached its denouement title track, the totality of the piece began to sink in. After that first listen, I had the feeling Shore was a very strong album from front to back, as remarkably consistent as Crack-Up despite the extended length they both share. Prior to Shore’s release, 15 tracks and 55 minutes seemed impossibly generous, but here we were again. The film, by the way, is worth watching. A “road movie” shot on 16 mm, it expresses Fleet Foxes’ most central theme: people in nature. While Fleet Foxes is well-known for its bucolic imagery, its Blue Ridge Mountains and whatnot, not usually as obvious is the person at the center of it, undergoing an experience. What Shore, the film, makes especially clear to me is that there is no real need to distinguish between the two. Take the film’s opening shot, for example, of the rain-soaked beach: Just as “Wading” begins to play, a young man appears at the bottom of the frame, and he walks, hands-in-pockets, all the way up to the ocean’s crashing surf. Shore is full of such images that imply the intertwined duality of our internal and external: a girl walking confidently down a sunlit sidewalk, a man falling asleep in the tranquil woods. We belong in nature, just as it belongs in us. 9:00 AM Later that morning, I listened to Shore again, this time paying closer attention to its lyrics, credits, and key sonic elements, all while attempting to pre-order the new Xbox from six different stores online. The first take I had is that, despite its poppy opening numbers, Shore is not so different from the other Fleet Foxes albums, specifically Crack-Up. To me, Shore sounds like the joyous second half of “On Another Ocean” stretched to nearly an hour, by which I mean Shore’s key sonic connection to Crack-Up is its use of horns. Supplied once again by the Westerlies, these subtle yet impactful arrangements may come to be the defining feature of the Crack-Up/Shore twinship, depending on where Fleet Foxes go from here. (I hope they stick with them.) Speaking of key contributors, Robin brought in a team of ringers to play drums this time around: Homer Steinweiss, Joshua Jaeger, and Christopher Bear, the latter well-known for his playing in Grizzly Bear. Bear may be the best drummer in the world for this kind of music, and his work especially shines on Shore’s climactic track, “Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman”, which also features Grizzly Bear guitarist Daniel Rossen. Awade Akhere, Meara O’Reilly and Tim Bernades are three other contributors I would highlight, each adding unexpected vocal twists to their songs. The impact of all of Shore’s contributors cannot be understated: by bringing their own expertise to very specific moments, they help elevate the songs to incredible heights. There were also some notable absences in the album credits, and during release day, I saw a number of questions posed to Robin about the whereabouts of bandmates Skyler Skjelset, Morgan Henderson, Christian Largo, and Casey Wescott. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, they were not able to participate in Shore’s recording, which is unfortunate, but they will be involved in writing and recording new songs for an expanded version of Shore due next year. Meanwhile, I think I can understand Robin’s drive to finish the album and put it out when he did: in this isolating, soul-crushing year, just getting our work done means a hell of a lot. 10:31 AM For the dedicated Fleet Foxes fan, September 22nd provided not only a new album, but a few opportunities to interact with its creator, Robin Pecknold. One of these was a live artist commentary scheduled for 10:31 AM on YouTube, during the fourth showing of the Shore film as it streamed on repeat that day. Robin is notoriously generous with the Fleet Foxes fanbase, always keeping us in the loop with snippets of new songs, answering questions, reposting covers, tattoos, memes, etc. The time he makes for his fans has resulted in the formation of a vibrant online community that congregates in places like Instagram, Reddit, and Discord, and I believe this community is really important for Robin. In the case of Shore, he took the incredible step of featuring fan-submitted vocals on “Can I Believe You”, the background chorus consisting of some 500 submissions solicited via Instagram last summer. Robin has offered up a fan-artist dynamic as one interpretation of the song’s lyrics: “Can I believe you when you say I’m good?” he sings, as the chorus harmonically supports him. When an artist opens themselves up to fan interaction, there is always the risk of being totally inundated by the response, and that may have been the case with the YouTube commentary. Robin appeared in the chat at the appointed hour, but things very quickly went off the rails. Admittedly overwhelmed by the frenzy of questions, reactions, and troll posts in the chat, Robin did his best to share some commentary about Shore, but was M.I.A. for several long stretches. On a hunch, I opened up the Fleet Foxes Discord and there was Robin, seeking comfort among friends in the main discussion space. “YouTube terrifies,” he’d written. For Robin, having worked tirelessly on the project throughout the pandemic summer, releasing it without even a month off to catch his breath, September 22 must have been like a sudden reckoning. Normally, an artist on release day would have the benefit of being around friends, family, and bandmates during this huge life event. I’m pretty sure Robin spent much of the day by himself in his NYC apartment, alone but for the thousands of voices sending their every thought in his direction. While the YouTube session provided some insight about Shore’s creative process, it was all the more interesting for its glimpse into Robin’s singular experience that day. 5:00 PM A true listening party happened later in the day over on the Fleet Foxes Discord. First, a disclaimer: I don’t claim to speak for the Discord, let alone understand it. Indeed, as of this writing, I no longer have access, evidently kicked out for my own lack of activity. But I can say, to anyone who cares, that I was there when the community reached its feverish climax, in the days leading up to and including Shore’s release. In the great, tightening spiral of Fleet Foxes fandom, the Discord is the centre point, the ostensible origin for a great deal of inside jokes about Birkenstocks, inflatable alligators, and Minions. I’d resisted joining for a while—it was all a little confounding for a relative casual like me. However, at one point in early September, rumours circulated on the Fleet Foxes subreddit of a listening party for the new album taking place on the Discord later that week. This was a week or two before the album was announced, before most anyone had a notion that it even existed in finished form. Not wanting to miss out, I immediately downloaded the app and joined the server. Lurking on the Fleet Foxes Discord just before Shore’s release, it became apparent that a sort of culture, complete with its own nomenclature had developed. There was talk of the “Sooners” – a small group of fans with whom Robin had shared the album as early as late August. The Sooners had taken on a mythical status, hated for their privilege but exalted nonetheless. If nothing else, it was the first indication to me that a finished album definitely existed. Of course, a big draw of the Discord is that Robin himself is a member and semi-active participant, and he played his own part in teasing the new album’s release. In mid-September, he shared an mp3 file which was touted as a leak of LP4’s first single. It turned out to be “His Name Is Dad”, a joke song for Robin’s dad’s birthday, with vocals by Robin recorded over a Pat Metheny Group instrumental. Despite my initial disappointment, the track is actually impressive for its lyrical and vocal dexterity, and worth a listen. “This was two days of prime Shore studio time,” Robin would later confess. As for the rumoured Discord listening party, despite hints of it being a pre-release preview, it didn’t end up happening until September 22nd, but it still felt like a privilege to have access when I found out the Discord had been temporarily closed to new members during the frenzy of Shore’s release day. At the scheduled hour of 5:00 PM, we all gathered into the listening party chatroom with Robin, and after a few false starts, synced up our playback of the Shore film. I think we were all expecting a measured and thoughtful live commentary on the recording process, but what followed was something else entirely: “Who’s that singing???? Not RP wtf,” typed Robin as the album’s first song began. “What’s going on here what kind of ride are we in for.” Despite the “no shitposting” rule imposed by the moderators, Robin spammed the chat every 5 seconds with his feigned confusion and all-caps impressions about what he was hearing, and we were all here for it. All the while, he was slyly providing actual information about his creative process. For example, a few songs in, during the fade-out of “Featherweight”, he asked the chat rhetorically: “What happens next? We’ve already had a sunshine pop, a headbang, a stomp, and a floater.” Cue: “A Long Way Past the Past”. A STRUTIT’S A STRUT80 BPM STRUT And so it went for 60 minutes: Robin reacting to Shore as if he were hearing it for the first time, but somehow full of insight about its recording and construction. I don’t know how he kept this up, but he did, and it was hilarious. This time, it was the fans who had to try and keep pace. “PERFECT,” said Robin and everyone else in the chat at the start of “Young Man’s Game”. The album was only out for 10 hours, and already it felt like a live screening of The Room, with everyone shouting the classic lines in unison. Later, as “Quiet Air” transitioned into “Gioia”, Robin dropped a bombshell on everyone: “CHOCOLATE RAIN,” he exclaimed as the discordant-sounding, dancing piano line kicked in. “TAY ZONDAY FEATURE.” It may be a joke, but just try unhearing that. Before too long, it was over. The listening party, like the album itself, flew by in what seemed like far less than an hour. Robin thanked us for coming out and informed us he had to go join a family Zoom call —a sweet thought, but a statement that wouldn’t make sense to most people just one year ago. “This is the greatest fan interaction of music history,” wrote one participant during the Discord listening party, and it’s hard to disagree. It may seem trivial, but it’s clear Robin recognizes the importance of communal artistic experiences, and in the absence of live concerts, has leveraged any and all tools available to make them happen. In the weeks following Shore’s release, the band arranged for several drive-in movie screenings of the Shore film across America, and in one week’s time, on December 21st, Robin will perform a live set online, A Very Lonely Solstice Livestream. Despite the solo nature of the performance, he will once again bring a community of people together into a kind of shared, collective experience. In this year of isolation, it’s this kind of togetherness which has been so sorely missed. 8:30 PM At the end of the day, I decided to go for a walk. Since the spring lockdown, these strolls and jogs through the neighbourhood have been some of my only exposure to nature. I pressed play on Shore as I stepped outside, and from the first guitar strums of “Wading in Waist-High Water”, it felt different. Although it was my fifth listen of the day, it was the first one outdoors, where the music of Fleet Foxes has always gained intrinsic power. Under the impossibly huge sky of the Canadian prairie, the rising quarter moon overhead, the sounds of Shore carried new and tremendous weight. Shore is a joyful, hopeful record to be sure, but it doesn’t take the easy road there. It’s not just a cheap trick with upbeat melodies and happy lyrics. Relief from adversity is its theme, and Shore has its share of adverse moments. “I’m losing my fight,” sings Robin in “Going-to-the-Sun Road”, in what could be the album’s most heartrending and relatable lyric. “Quiet Air” can also be an uncomfortable listen, sounding like an ominous reminder of the impending climate crises. But what happens next is crucial. With Tay Zonday’s help, “Quiet Air” transforms into “Gioia”, a pure celebration of life that dispels all that fear and anxiety with its pagan ritual dance: “I never wanna die, I never wanna die,” repeats Robin over and over, and we want to be right there with him. That Shore arrives at this place of peace after battling through its darkness it what makes it such a powerful album for so many of us, I’m sure—but then again, back on that first day, we were all just feeling our way through it. What I felt that night, listening to “Sunblind” as I walked down the long, empty bike path that cuts through my neighbourhood, is something I hadn’t expected. Each kick-drum in the pre-chorus hit like a hammer strike on my defences, and in the end, I couldn’t help but lean into it. When that beautiful, transcendent chorus hit, I reached for its light and cried, and cried, and cried. Favorite Lyrics I'm gonna swim for a week in
And I need you with me
Sunday end
Now the quarter moon is out
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Fallout 76 is a failed experiment. A game that, even with some good points, ultimately fails to deliver an entertaining experience due to its terrible combat system and some technical problems.
Fallout 76 has a lot of technical difficulties that makes it a pretty uncomfortable and frustrating experience. Also, its new ideas doesn't work a lot. A huge disappointment.
Fallout 76 is a bold experiment with one of gaming's biggest and most beloved franchises. Unfortunately the experiment seems like a failure so far.
The main problem with Fallout 76 is that it is built by a company who is specialized at creating solid single-player titles, and the result is countless bugs and technical issues. Maybe Bethesda is laying foundation and gaining experience for future MMO titles, or maybe they’ll improve it by releasing patches and stuff, but at its current state, Fallout 76 is a not a title worthy of Fallout name.
Although Fallout 76 looks like Fallout 4 right from the start, there are some technical and play-related drawbacks. The V.A.T.S., which acts as the showpiece of the series, comes too short due to the online component, which enormously reduces the RPG portion. Even though this is a multiplayer title that takes place in a huge game world, Fallout 76 looks frighteningly unfinished for a full-price title. Away from these criticisms, you can expect an enormously extensive Appalachia full of adventure, which together with friends offers numerous hours of fun!
Fallout 76 shows potential, but it can’t quite coalesce into a compelling game due to numerous glaring flaws.
Bethesda claims that the Fallout 76 servers will last “forever” and, while it may not take that long to patch bugs and improve the experience, my foray with the launch version has left me with an abundance of bullet points that need attention. My biggest hope is that Bethesda will take our suggestions and criticisms as a call to action to tweak the faulty mechanics and build more features into a game that has a ton of potential.
Fallout 76's mundane quest and lifeless story put too much weight on the aged combat and trivial crafting for them to bear. It's a multiplayer experiment with far too many flaws to put up with, both in its limiting player interactions and its woeful technical polish. Fallout with friends is still an idea that could work one, but that's not what Fallout 76 is serving up.
This is why I'm ultimately enjoying Fallout 76. Yes, the game's systems push back every opportunity they get and that's oftentimes frustrating. This is certainly the entry that strays furthest from what people loved about Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. But Fallout has created a universe where every region's history is worth learning. It holds true for West Virginia, even if I can't shake the feeling that this will be the least memorable of Fallout's stories. Well, unless you and your friends create your own memories.
Fallout 76 is one of the worst games of this year. It's a huge mess and Bethesda must go back to the basics after this game.
Many of the issues Fallout 76 currently faces could eventually be fixed, which is why this mess is such a pity. The potential is clear, but a reluctance to commit to one direction or another leaves the game in an awkward and broken void.
Bethesda's attempt at Fallout multiplayer is, like so many of the series' vaults, a failed experiment.
This is a huge, rare, total miss by Bethesda, and even if it’s improved in time, I can only judge it by the hours I’ve lost to it so far.
Hopefully, Bethesda reboots Fallout 76 like it did with The Elder Scrolls Online. Right now though, the game is hard to recommend to anyone but the most faithful of Fallout fans.
When Fallout 76 is working as intended, it's an easy game to lose yourself in, as meaningful discoveries are everywhere. But those moments are often destroyed by glitches, crashes, and technical issues
Fallout 76 is a good coop Fallout in a new charming land, but a poor solo Fallout, and a poor survival game, with poor graphics.
Fallout 76 might have a bright future ahead of it, but ultimately, Fallout 76 is a multiplayer survival game set in the Fallout universe, not a Fallout game where you get to play with your friends.
Fallout 76 is not the game that we expected from Bethesda and its high quality standards of its games (specially with the name of Fallout), but it does not mean that it's completely a bad game. Fallout 76's world is so beautiful with unique art style of Fallout games but on the other hand it's really bad in the story-telling and design. Gameplay is fun but also it isn't perfect. The point is, None of these is the main problem of the game. The main problem with Fallout 76 is that it lost its identity.The problem is that the game has not been able to maintain the boundary between a multiplayer game and a single player game, specially a Fallout. Fallout 76 does not disappoint fans of the series, but those who expected Bethesda to create an amazing game (like almost every Bethesda's games) with the label of Fallout, have to wait more.
Fallout 76 requires serious rework. Strange decisions of game designers make it difficult to comfortably explore an interesting world of the game. Interaction with other players is minimal and absolutely unjustified for an online project. Sometimes it feels that there is no online at all. New mechanics do not look as impressive as we were promised during the early presentations, and the lack of optimization, ton of bugs and a terrible economy spoil the experience. Bethesda needs to rethink its production process, do serious work on all the errors, add normal PvP and full-fledged quests with NPCs.
Fallout 76 feels like an early access title and should have been labeled as such. The game was not ready for launch, and even hardcore Fallout fans will have a hard time ignoring its problems.
Exploring is still the most interesting part in Fallout 76, but your adventure tour is limited by empty open-world, and outdated graphics performance. It is more like a MMO mod of Fallout 4, rather than a brand-new work.
Fallout 76 would have been best served by a longer, continuous B.E.T.A. cycle. Numerous small issues like bugs, stash size, push-to-talk, and other quality of life issues could have been identified before asking people to spend $60 and working on them after release. Despite this faux pas, there is still a tremendous amount of fun to be had either solo or with friends. Multiplayer is a wonderful addition to the Fallout franchise and the world created in West Virginia is unique, gorgeous, and fun to explore. It may not be in line to win any awards but if you enjoyed the previous installation, Fallout 4, it's quite likely you'll find the same fun in Bethesda's Fallout 76.
I really hope Fallout 76 is turned around, I really do. I have a lot of respect for Bethesda for publishing quality single player releases such as The Evil Within 2, but Fallout 76 is just dire. It shouldn’t have seen the light of day, and you shouldn’t buy it
Fallout's mutation into an online multiplayer hybrid leaves it weak and soulless.
Fallout 76 has glimmers of the trademark series' sci-fi splendour, but they're few and far between.
Fallout 76 is not a completely broken game. It's not absolutely devoid of enjoyment, and every once in a while, it can live up to the franchise name it bears. The problem is that that enjoyment is buried under a mountainous pile of long stretches of boredom and emptiness, tedious and mind-numbing quests, baffling design choices, unbelievably bad technical issues, and a host of other problems that turn this into an experience that, frankly, has no business being out on shelves as a full-priced AAA game in its current state. What's concerning is that even if the issues that can be fixed through patches and updates are ironed out, the core fundamentals of the game are deeply flawed.
If I had to describe Fallout 76, I will say it is a flawed idea that never works well. It is simply broken and feels boring but offers a redeeming factor with the open world exploration in some well-crafted environments. The buggy nature of the game is its biggest hurdle and some quality of life changes will go a long way in molding it into something enjoyable in the future.
With the classical Bethesda core gameplay that all we love, and also the old flaws (with a bunch of new additions) Fallout 76 is possibly the worst modern Fallout, but the worst Fallout is still a title a lot of games would want for themselves.
Fallout 76 is a broken, unfinished and "un-SPECIAL" game that consists of many cut-down elements. Despite that, it can be enjoyable for players who love to explore the post-apocalyptic world and invent their own, private role-playing story. F76 looks so constrained that it should have been released as a paid DLC to Fallout 4. Shame.
Half-baked conflict ideas and witless quests to unearth the dead – this soulless sequel is perfect if you enjoy picking up rubbish in a wasteland
Behind a mess of technical problems and bad decisiones, hides a Fallout: a post-apocalyptic survival game, with mechanics from another era, but undoubtedly fun. If you can see beyond all the mistakes and consider yourself a fan of the universe, you may enjoy Fallout 76 (especially playing with others), but there's still a lo to do to improve.
The rich wasteland map of Fallout 76 is wasted on a mess of bugs, conflicting ideas, and monotony.
Neither in its concept nor in its execution has convinced us the first Fallout Online, which perhaps should have looked a little more in the mirror of The Elder Scrolls: Online for its debut. Will it come back? Only time will tell.
Whether swapping NPC conversations for other players works is a bit subjective, though the change is not as severe a detriment to the experience as expected. While the roots of Fallout 76 are firmly in Fallout 4 the final gameplay experience is quite different and so there's no guarantee that fans of that game will enjoy it. Fallout 76 is worthy of recommendation with two caveats. You have to go in expecting a light multiplayer survival game in an interesting setting, rather than a deep story-focused role-playing game. On top of this, Fallout 76 is a game that really is better with friends, as that is the real replacement for the NPC dialogue in the world – if you're going in as a solo player you might come away dissatisfied.
Fallout 76 is one of the games which makes us uncertain. I can't call it a complete trash, but can't call it a good game either. But somehow, I believe in it. If Bethesda keeps working hard on the game, in a year, it will become a game which deserves to be played.
A disastrous failure whose technical shortcomings may one day be fixed but whose design failings, and obliviousness to its own potential, suggests a game that is irrevocably broken.
Fallout 76 boasts an impressive open world in West Virginia, but it's a lonely journey on the country roads. It's greatest aspects are buried under a myriad of nagging technical issues.
All in all, Fallout 76 comes off as the core gameplay experience you’d find in Fallout 4, only with multiplayer sort of tacked on somehow. There’s no real overarching story and no NPCs to really speak of, and yet there’s a giant map to explore and collect things while just getting stronger. It’s the modern Bethesda Fallout experience, distilled to that core gameplay loop.
Fallout 76 entices that same feeling of exploring a vast open world full of unknown locations in a vast world. Constantly uncovering hidden areas and finding exotic items is here but it's hindered by the game's massive technical problems and multiplayer balancing problems. Fallout 76 is a technical mess that will have you fighting the game itself.
Different, confused but still a Fallout game in its essence. I really hope updates will help Fallout 76 to reach its potential one day.
A beautifully crafted but ultimately repetitive world, and a disappointment when it comes to options on PC.
Fallout 76 isn't to be compared with other Fallouts - it's a spin-off that wants to be something new. Unfortunately, the multiplayer sandbox it tries to be is stagnant and intensely frustrating to play.
I want to love Fallout 76, namely for its addition of co-op play and the representation of a region dear to my heart. I simply can't. I wouldn't say the latest Fallout title is abysmal or even bad, just very middling. It removes many of the series' strong suits and attempts to make up for it by adding in new mechanics or strengthening lesser ones. That move creates interesting situations, but they don't always pay off for the player. The story falters, the crafting and building doesn't fulfill, and the exploration means next to nothing. Fallout 76 is just barely good at best, when you're jaunting around with your friends. But at its worst, it's vapid, basic, and boring, meaning I'd rather see co-op and the wild and wonderful West Virginia in any other adventure.
Fallout 76 is a blast to play. It's easily my favorite Fallout title to date. Fallout 76 has it's fair share of problems but they don't make the game unplayable. Fallout 76 isn't for everyone but for those who stick with it will definitely find what it has to offer.
Fallout 76 is a seriously shoddy attempt at trying to cash in on the multiplayer survival market. Fallout with friends is an intriguing concept on paper, but we can't think of many more ways that Bethesda could have screwed it up.
Fallout 76 offers a large playground with some potential, but is heavily lacking in purpose.
New Fallout is atypical game in series but online survival is not bad at all. Just full of bugs and technical issues.
With some more time and more inspired gameplay design, it could have been a much better experience. Right now, unfortunately, its great world feels like a missed opportunity that's mostly not fun, only in very few scenarios and for very few people. Bethesda proved with The Elder Scrolls Online that it can turn things around but 76 may require some sweeping changes until it's ready to be recommended to others.
So far, Fallout 76 seems like a half-baked, early access entry, equal parts buggy as ugly
Despite Appalachia's appeal, Fallout 76 is broken mess of a game that, in its current state, feels nothing more than a shamefully unfinished cash-grab that isn't fit to use the Fallout name.
Putting aside the many technical issues, Fallout 76 offers an empty world in which, paradoxically, there are many things to do, but everything appears to be an end in itself. There is something good in this game, but it's crippled by a bland world design and a non-existent plot. This is a game that may be able to entertain, but boredom is always dangerously around the corner.
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Fallout 76 had a lot to say when it was revealed. It was multiplayer, it had the largest world of any Fallout, it was going to be fun. The trouble is that it just doesn't work, the world is too big and empty, and the quest design as uninspired as it gets. If the only way for a game to be entertaining is by having your friends make jokes about it as you journey together, then it has failed at one of the things that most games should be. It has failed at being fun, it has failed at being entertaining in its own right. If you want to hang out with some friends in an a post-apocalypse, then just go to a pub and watch the news.
Fallout 76 is one of the most interesting entries to the series since Fallout 3. The addition of multiplayer elements to the apocalyptic wasteland should on paper make for a wonderfully immersive, tense experience, and for a good while it does. Playing with buddies looting collapsed shopping centres and derelict towns is a blast and the robust crafting and character development mechanics are excellent.
The wasteland of West Virginia is a dangerous one, filled with interesting things to uncover off the beaten path and the potential to improve. But right now, it's hard to recommend it to anyone outside of die-hard fans of the series.
Fallout 76 is not a great Fallout game, but it's also not a great online survival experience. In failing to do either, Fallout 76 consigns itself to a mire of mediocrity.
Fallout 76 is an ambitious game that's burned by it. The online features hamper what could have been a great Fallout game.
Fallout 76 lacks the heart and soul of what is a Bethesda RPG. The exclusion of NPC's and, in general, decent quest givers makes an emotional (or any) connection to the world near-on impossible and manages to shatter any immersion. The inclusion of other humans does nothing to remedy the fact that these core elements are missing. What it does do right, though, is having built by far the most varied and engaging Map yet, which is a pleasure to look at and explore - even if it looks dated up close. Furthermore, teaming up with other people to take on high-end creatures, particularly after the launch of a nuke, makes for compelling gameplay. As can be expected from a Bethesda title, it's riddled with bugs and glitches, many are game breaking, though Bethesda is already working on fixing them. What Fallout 76 really needs is an infusion of NPC's, even if only at a single hub, to give the game purpose.
Fallout 76 is effectively about base-construction, survival and world-building, not the story and your part in it, which isn’t a bad thing. The execution is though.
Entry | Score (Platform, Year, # of Critics) |
---|---|
Baldur's Gate | 91 (PC, 1998, 16 critics) |
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn | 95 (PC, 2000, 30 critics) |
Neverwinter Nights | 91 (PC, 2002, 34 critics) |
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic | 93 (PC, 2003, 33 critics) |
Jade Empire | 89 (XB, 2005, 84 critics) |
Mass Effect | 89 (X360, 2007, 74 critics) |
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood | 74 (DS, 2008, 55 critics) |
Dragon Age: Origins | 91 (PC, 2009, 67 critics) |
Mass Effect 2 | 96 (X360, 2010, 98 critics) |
Dragon Age 2 | 79 (X360, 2011, 75 critics) |
Star Wars: The Old Republic | 85 (PC, 2011, 73 critics) |
Mass Effect 3 | 93 (X360, 2012, 74 critics) |
Dragon Age: Inquisition | 85 (PC, 2014, 45 critics) |
Mass Effect: Andromeda fails to deliver a compelling plot and the journey to a whole new galaxy offers little that's new or exciting. Still, it does give you the same quality gameplay the series is known for and you'll enjoy your time with your new crew, even if they're no replacement for the originals.
At times, Mass Effect: Andromeda can feel like an expansion and not a true follow-up.
The fantastic combat and strong story points far outweigh the technical missteps and more cringeworthy moments.
Mass Effect: Andromeda spends a lot of time not really feeling like a Mass Effect game. If anything, it feels like a spin-off -- the sort of thing created by another studio that's unsure about what direction to take it. Like in the game itself, there are problems with the atmosphere. But Andromeda is very clear that it doesn't aim to be like the other Mass Effects. New beginnings, not funerals -- for better and for worse.
In many ways, Andromeda feels like a vision half-fulfilled. It contains a dizzying amount of content, but the quality fluctuates wildly. Its worlds and combat shine, but its writing and missions falter--and the relative strength of the former is not enough to compensate for the inescapable weakness of the latter. As a Mass Effect game, Andromeda falls well short of the nuanced politics, morality, and storytelling of its predecessors. For me, the series has always been about compelling characters and harrowing choices, so to find such weak writing here is bitterly disappointing. Yet even after 65 hours, I still plan on completing a few more quests. The game can't escape its shortcomings, but patient explorers can still find a few stars shining in the darkness.
Andromeda provides an interesting premise and story, but is let down by poor combat, excessive padding, and over-complication
Mass Effect: Andromeda doesn’t quite live up to the hype, but it comes close. Considering the situation in which the developers found themselves, they put out an addition to the franchise that really feels like returning home even though you’re millions of light years from Earth. With stunning scenery, a distinct Mass Effect feel, and an abundance of things to do, it’s a worthy investment for any Mass Effect veteran or newcomer—but don’t expect it to be perfect.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is an unbalanced experience.
Marred by inconsistency and in need of a polish pass, this vast new sci-fi frontier nonetheless rewards dedicated exploration.
Andromeda’s first adventure is plagued by frustrations. But memorable characters, a satisfying story, and deep RPG systems ultimately win the day.
Mass Effect: Andromeda manages to successfully bring back the sense of exploration and discovery that fans have longed for since the original Mass Effect, whilst honing and improving the already enjoyable combat mechanics of Mass Effect 3. The result is something truly special – a metaphorical slow burn, a hybrid that is sure to appeal to fans of both the original game and its flashier sequels. Despite this, Andromeda is hampered slightly by its lack of visual polish and presentation, which can kill the wonder and fantasy as quickly as it builds it.
Mass Effect Andromeda falls short of its predecessors, but it's still a competently executed open-world action RPG with an interesting world and tons of quests to complete. Its biggest shame is that it doesn't make better use of its setting, opting instead to go with more of the same. Hopefully BioWare will be more ambitious when it comes time for the inevitable sequel.
You might initially turn your nose up at Mass Effect: Andromeda, but stick with it and you'll be richly rewarded with a vast space opera that gets better and better. It has problems, but they pale into insignificance once you're swept up in the exploits of Mass Effect: Andromeda's Pathfinder.
Savour the experience, boys and girls, and delight in carefully-placed groundwork that will ensure more adventures to come… and hopefully more for your twin to do.
It's gripping stuff, and a reminder of the greatness of the Mass Effect trilogy - its intelligent reworkings of pulp sci-fi cliche, the taut splendour of its scenarios and aesthetic, the colour and dexterity of its writing. All that's still in here somewhere, I think. But then you pop out the other end of the mission, back into Andromeda's labyrinth of drudgery and obfuscation, and remember that you're a long way from home.
Mass Effect Andromeda is a return to the original Mass Effect game in ways both good and bad. Interesting characters, solid gameplay and RPG mechanics, and the revival of the open-world elements of the series will immerse and delight longtime fans. However, wooden characters, a light story, and plenty of glitches hold this title back from fulfilling its full potential.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is a very solid game. BioWare had obviously taken their lessons both from original Mass Effect trilogy as well as Dragon Age series and mixed it with fair dose of experience of other AAA titles of late. It is not Inquisition in space, although the influence of it is clearly seen.
Mass Effect: Andromeda presents plenty of great ideas, but these tend to be either aped too closely from its predecessors or buried under issues that are surmountable yet frustrating all the same.
What could have been an all-time classic action role-player is let down by a surprisingly poor script and unengaging characters.
I found it hard to be excited during the opening hours of Mass Effect: Andromeda. It feels too safe, too much like what’s gone before, but then it clicks. There’s a moment where the galaxy opens up and you find yourself embarking once more on a huge mission across compelling, beautifully constructed planets, surrounded by memorable characters. Sadly the glut of technical missteps serve to cheapen proceedings, but this is still an adventure you don’t want to miss out on.
With the vast love of the Mass Effect series, Andromeda was never going to make people 100% happy, the same way the ME3 ending didn’t make people happy. The BioWare team put so many great things in place, but the main story, the characters, and most of the writing keep the game from being great. Sadly, technical mess keeps it from being good.
Unfortunately, Mass Effect: Andromeda is a frustrating mess of bad design decisions, bugs, glitches, and narrative missteps. It could have been so much more, but it ends up falling flat on its face. While there are things to enjoy about it, they're few and far between -- your time is much better served replaying the original trilogy or exploring the widely available mods out there. You'll end up being much more fulfilled and feeling as though you've used your time in a productive manner.
But it’s my time with the cast that I’m still thinking about, and the mysteries about the world that haven’t been answered that make me feel like I’m waiting once again for a new Mass Effect game. And if I’m judging a game by where it leaves me, Andromeda succeeds, even if it stumbled getting there.
If you are a die-hard Mass Effect fan who has a personal Shepard head-cannon, Andromeda is an insta-buy, no questions asked. It's the first Mass Effect game we've gotten in five years and potentially the starting point for a new series. It has many of the same traits that made the original Mass Effect trilogy great, and it feels right. If you’re not a die-hard Mass Effect fan, watch some YouTube videos first to make sure the game will be for you.
But for each hour I spent participating in humdrum combat I spent at least two or three engaged in thought provoking conversation or exploring strange new environments, learning more and more about the fascinatingly complex web of worlds, people, and problems that BioWare’s writers have woven. That’s why I play Mass Effect games. And it’s why Mass Effect: Andromeda, like its predecessors, is a blissfully easy recommendation for anyone looking for more than just another run-of-the-mill shoot ’em up set in space.
Ryder’s tale feels like a solid beginning to something new. It needs more than a little polish, and probably some extensive work under the hood, but Andromeda has reassured me Mass Effect can exist without the Citadel, Earth, Shepard or even Ryder. This new galaxy left me with more questions than answers, but I’m okay with that. I hope another entry to the series means more exploration into every corner of humanity’s new home.
This is actually a 'Rent' or 'Deep, Deep Sale' on PC. The game has enough issues that right now there is no way I feel comfortable telling people to run out and get it. Because sure it can offer 60 hours, but I can flick my nuts for 60 hours, but it doesn't mean I want to.
Mass Effect: Andromeda only occasionally recaptures the series' brilliance, but delivers a vast and fun action-RPG.
I have a feeling that Mass Effect fans will enjoy the game, but I don't think anyone will claim it outclasses the original trilogy, outside of maybe the very first game. If you could combine the story and memorable quests of the originals with the combat, visuals and scope of Andromeda, you would have the perfect video game, though I think what's offered here will satisfy most.
As a follow-up to the previous trilogy, it's a timid and tepid tale too heavily reliant on what came before, too unambitious for what could have been, trapped in a gargantuan playground of bits and pieces to do.
Mass Effect: Andromeda often comes off like a giant checklist of Mass Effect–themed content, but what it's missing is the wonder and excitement that made the last Mass Effect games feel special. The previous games had their issues, but combined their elements to create a vast, interesting world full of deep characters with conflicting desires and experiences that made us feel connected to it.
Mass Effect Andromeda is a fresh start – but in borrowing liberally from the first game it’s made many of the same mistakes. In spite of them, it’s an exciting space adventure that delivers everything that’s become important to Mass Effect: Great characters, fun exploration and a climactic tale of good vs evil.
Although familiar in some regards, this is a positive in Andromeda’s case. Though, a truly successful revival needs to be innovative, not repetitive, and Andromeda often falls into a trap of tedium. It's a shame because it could have been so much more.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is an important first step for a franchise looking to enter into a new generation. It might get off on the wrong foot, but some crafty navigation quickly gets it back on track.
Ultimately, there is a lot of fun to be had here. There are moments here that matter, but this game requires that confluence of idea to really shine, it needs a thesis. Great art needs to tell a story in it, and subjectively if you found something beautiful in this I understand, but there is objectively some problems with this masterpiece that make me want to go back to the Milky Way galaxy, find my crew, and never go to Andromeda.
A welcome return to Bioware’s space opera, introducing great characters, an interesting story and some fantastic designs, always providing things to do.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is a great project by BioWare and it is a stunning experience. Amazing narrative and plot, a true feeling of exploration and a very dynamic combat system. Even though its animations may not be the best ones, this game offers hours and hours of action and entertainment.
Bioware brought a lot more planets, combat, exploration and mechanics to the table this time around, but more isn't always better. There may be no stronger case for keeping things simple than Mass Effect Andromeda.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is a great game, but far from being perfect. It will satisfy the expectations of the fans but fails on delivering a master piece with errors in almost every aspect of the game.
When taken as its own journey (and not in comparison to Shepard’s saga), Mass Effect: Andromeda is fun, and the important parts work. The narrative isn’t astounding, but keeps you invested and drives you forward. The combat is entertaining whether you're in single-player or multiplayer. The crew isn't my favorite, but I like them and they have some good moments. Even with its other problems, these are the largest forces shaping your experience with Mass Effect: Andromeda, and they make it worth playing. At the same time, I was often left looking through a haze of inconveniences and dreaming about the game it could have been.
Mass Effect: Andromeda has many noticeable problems, including strange animation, ugly characters, logically incomplete quests and numerous minor flaws. But this game offers an interesting main plot, nice RPG system and a huge world where you can explore different planets, solve puzzles, fight giant monsters, uncover secrets of the universe and participate in the colonization of deep space. Of course, this is not the Mass Effect we wanted, but a very large and interesting game, which significantly extends the known universe.
Games have to fit into our lives, and that's not always fair. Mass Effect: Andromeda might've worked a decade ago on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but it doesn't work in a world that is delivering games like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nier: Automata, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In this reality, BioWare's latest role-playing game is old, broken, and often boring.
Worst of all, it's going to disappoint fans of the Mass Effect series.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is a gigantic Sci-Fi epic and brave restart for the series, that doesn't reach the magic of its predecessors.
Bioware's highly anticipated space adventure sadly fails to deliver on some critical points. Wonky animations, a boring set of characters and so-so story elements have officially de-railed the hype train for Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is a paradox: it's both disappointing and excellent. A mammoth title, it delivers tons of great content, but hamstrings itself with a poor first few hours, a few horrible systems, and some uninspired scenarios. Even so, it's pretty great!
Mass Effect: Andromeda is disappointing in many aspects (not just the visual ones), even if sci-fi mood, exploration, crafting and multiplayer are well done.
Whether it’s the combat system that is both new and familiar or multiplayer with its improvements or the interesting variety of quests or the epic score that screams Mass Effect, it all gels together into a whole. Ryder’s galaxy is as well-suited to her as the Milky Way was for Shepard. If we’re lucky, there are a lot more adventures in store for Ryder and her crew.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is a game that forgot how to be a Mass Effect game. While it fails to deliver a compelling narrative and has little to offer, It’s the combat and planetary exploration the element that holds together this contrasting experience. The result is a game drifting away in the open and cold space.
Perhaps Mass Effect Andromeda will serve as a wake-up call for BioWare, letting them realize that it’s time to evolve beyond the change of setting and cast. In the meanwhile, we’re still given a game that might not be the monumental fresh start that the masses expected, but is still a quite solid experience than many will enjoy.
Despite its problems with the facial animations, Mass Effect Andromeda is a great entry of one of the must beloved franchises of all time. Great side quests, a compiling story, memorable characters, a solid combat system, decisions that matters and a deep atmosphere, makes this game a must have to every SciFi fan.
Despite its vague links to the trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda can largely be described as a soft reboot for the series. For the most part, this has worked out really well for Bioware, giving them a launching pad to take the story ahead in future installments. The game is not without its problems, but the wealth of content on offer here will suck you right into the experience.
Good? Yes. Great? No. This new Mass Effect is full of stuff to do, but it's a game that's been designed by consensus, not conviction.
Despite its rougher edges, Mass Effect: Andromeda is a fine third-person shooter that features terrific space exploration. If you can overlook the clunky menus and graphics issues, you're in for some fun space hijinks.
Nobody anticipated how much work building a new home would really take, and in a way, the entire game is about mitigating everyone’s disappointment. The truth is that Andromeda itself isn’t the promised land players hoped for either, but there is a lot that’s good in this flawed new frontier for Mass Effect. The question is: will you play long enough to find it?
After 5 long years of waiting, Mass Effect returns in a big way with a new title that meet our expectations. A more polished combat system, good RPG elements, an intriguing plot and a high level secondary missions that lay the foundations of this new story. It does not reach the perfection, but it is one of the best games that we have been able to play this generation.
Judged purely on its own merits, Mass Effect: Andromeda is a good game. But this is BioWare, and Mass Effect being merely good feels like a failure. It's a little clumsy in places, and daft in others, but I found it mostly endearing despite these quirks.
Mass Effect Andromeda is a souless and a poor game that gets overwhelmed by the success of its predecessor. It's bug filled gameplay, non-inspired storytelling and horrible animation quality makes it one of the the biggest disappointments of all time. Will we ever see a new Mass Effect game? To be honest I couldn't care less after Andromeda.
There's a decent game in here somewhere, but Mass Effect: Andromeda feels like a collaboration from Mass Effect fans rather than a group of known and established developers.
The negativity around the game baffles me, because I have had an overwhelmingly positive experience with it. I guess that's why they're called opinions. If you are a fan of Mass Effect, RPGs, or open-world games, this is one to pick up.
Mass Effect deserves better than Andromeda. The series has stumbled into a new generation, weighed down by tedious open world tropes and a catalogue of performance issues on the PS4. That said, it's not quite the disaster that some would have you believe. There really is a good Mass Effect game here, complete with endearing characters and great combat, but it's buried beneath a mountain of unnecessary clutter. In time, patches may sort many of its problems out, but until then, we can only recommend Andromeda to the BioWare faithful.
If you look at it as a reboot, a starting point for the series, there's lots of promise in that future. The first Mass Effect had countless problems, far more than here, but that will always be remembered as a classic, despite leaving similar threads hanging. Ultimately, this is a story about laying the foundations of a civilization, and it feels like BioWare were doing the same for the future of the franchise. In that way, these RPG developers have become Pathfinders themselves.
Mass Effect: Andromeda manages to feel both overloaded with content and spread too thin. There are great battles to be won, puzzles to solve, and satisfying social interactions, but they're hidden behind layers of presentation problems and tedious travel times.
Get ready for a whole new galaxy and more problems than you can shake a soap opera at.
There is a strong core of characters and story bedrock laid down in Mass Effect: Andromeda, but between questionable design choices, boring missions, and glitches galore, it’s hard not to view BioWare’s journey to a brand new galaxy as anything less than mission failure.
Exhilarating combat, marred by awkward interactions and pervasive bugs.
Problems are inevitable in a game of such epic proportions but there is a lot here that will make you want to keep playing
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In Andromeda, I was beholden to beautiful environments and robust gameplay, yet marred by inhuman animations and a story more loose than spare change in a long woolen sock. Andromeda is a galaxy of empty promises and one I could not find enjoyment in.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is a game that takes few risks and pushes few boundaries. It's a Mass Effect game designed to make fans of the series feel at home, but technical issues and lackluster writing leave it feeling like a missed opportunity to regain the prestige the franchise once enjoyed.
Andromeda builds on most of the things I liked in the earlier Mass Effect games and exceeds at creating more satisfying gameplay mechanics. It's a real shame that the game didn't get more polish in the character animation department, but if you can look past all these issues there's still plenty of fun to be had with it.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is like a good book that you don’t want to put down, nor do you want it to end. The litany of complaints and problems are little typos or creases in the pages. You’d be hard pressed to miss them, but you gladly look past them to continue the stellar experience.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is an action-packed parody of the previous titles. Besides countless technical issues it feels like the developers really don't know where to take the series. If you're looking for a thrilling story or thoughtful dialogues, you'll probably be disappointed. Action-Fans will still get some carefully thought out Gameplay-mechanics and a fun multiplayer-part.
At the end of the day, Mass Effect: Andromeda isn't bad so much as it is disappointing. The core gameplay has been improved from Mass Effect 3, and the multiplayer is almost worth the price of admission on its own. Alas, it's dragged down by a weak presentation, poor plot, and a general lack of ambition.
I look forward to the next entry, but there are steps needed to bring Mass Effect back to its proper form.
Mass Effect Andromeda is a great game with some serious side effects.
To the credit of BioWare, despite Andromeda's many flaws I still wanted to visit the planets with my teammates, to progress and colonise new worlds. It is a solid game, but one with issues that appear worse than they are due to high expectations the developers have earned from a stellar history of better RPGs. Would I be thrilled about the prospect of another game set in the Andromeda galaxy? Probably not. However, if future games can push past the familiar and embrace ideas of the "unknown" that Andromeda aspires to, but never realises, then I do think the series still has something to offer.
Mass Effect: Andromeda starts out just a bit too slow, but is sure win over fans of sci-fi action RPGs once the real open-world space exploration begins.
There are several annoyances with the game, but, overall, BioWare has delivered yet another stellar role-playing experience with a fascinating story to boot.
Andromeda isn’t the return to form for Mass Effect that we were hoping for. Its issues are obvious from the opening few hours and if you can manage to accept them, Andromeda is capable of providing an interesting and combat heavy RPG.
I have no doubt that it’ll probably be one of the most divisive titles released this generation, but for me it certainly delivered on its promise of providing a compelling, action-packed adventure.
It is not the best the franchise has to offer but it’s definitely a great start to a whole new trilogy and I highly recommend it to both veteran players and those who have never played Mass Effect before.
Once you get over the fact that it’s not quite as polished as its predecessors nor does it further the series in any meaningful way though, you can still appreciate what it is: a Mass Effect game through and through.
Andromeda largely feels like a shoddily assembled facsimile of the previous Mass Effect games.
Spendee is an online game which was inspired by the game mechanics of Splendor. To avoid confusion, we need to emphasize that this game has no association with Splendor. This online game does not possses fancy storyline like merchant or gems or whatsoever, but ONLY the bare bone of rules, which we designed by referencing Splendor, as well as our own ideas. For people who like to challenge ... Asmodee.net. Français Deutsch Español Italiano Sign-in The game has “Point Value” cards ranging from 1-point cards at the low end up to 5-point cards at the high end. These point cards are spread out among the 3 decks in the game (or 3 tiers). To achieve 15 points with only 5 to 8 card purchases, the majority of “Point Value” cards that a player should be targeting would be 2pt, 3pt, 4pt and 5pt cards at the best “Chip to Point” value ... The multi-awarded card game (2014 Golden Geek Game of the Year, 2015 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Best Family Game), Splendor, is now available in digital form. Join us online to rediscover the famous strategy and card game set in the Renaissance. Become the most influential and rich merchant at the jewelry market by optimizing your trading strategy. In this competitive world, your opponent won ... Any board game gets much more fun when you can play it twice at the same time, using the Multi-Instance mode, and also when you get the chance to win amazing gamer items as reward, simply for playing. How? By collecting the BlueStacks Points and exchanging them at the store. For free! Plus, playing on that small screen of your smartphone? No way! You can do better, and bigger! Enjoy your ... Splendor is a game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If you're wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige. On your turn, you may (1) collect chips (gems ... SPACE Cowboys est un studio d’édition de jeux de société créé en 2014 par des vétérans de l’industrie. Fort de son premier succès Splendor, finaliste du Spiel des Jahres, le studio a depuis enchaîné les sorties et les succès : Unlock!, T.I.M.E Stories, Sherlock Holmes Detective Conseil... Lavish graphics and cards, true to the original game. “Renaissance” graphical and musical ambiance. Solo mode, pass & play and online multiplayer (2 to 4 players). An exclusive game mode: scenario-based “Challenges”. Historically-accurate background stories for Challenges set in the 15th to 16th centuries. Splendor is an addictive strategy turn-based card game, where players assume the role of wealthy Renaissance merchants, exploiting mines and caravans, hiring craftsmen and leveraging their influence with the nobility. The goal is to get the biggest gem network and become the most influential merchant. Splendor recreates the exact look and feel of the best-selling board game Splendor which is a ... I have uploaded a version of my game Outrun to Tabletop Simulator as a free workshop mod. Outrun is a competitive pattern matching card game where you are trying to escape a monster chasing you. There are multiple monsters available which change up the way the game is played. If you are interested please have a look: Outrun Workshop Page
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