Industry tipster Shinobi602 has sprinkled a fresh helping of Mass Effect Andromeda hype over NeoGAF, claiming he’s seen the game in action and it’s looking impressive to say the least.
Writing in a post on the popular gaming forum, the insider noted that Andromeda’s delay into early 2017 is just to ensure an extra bit of polish can be applied; it’s already playable from start to finish and shaping up very well.
Here’s what he had to say on the matter:
"More than fine, they’re well on track from what I’m told. The game’s playable from beginning to end. The delay is only by a few months for extra polish and there really hasn’t been any management changes. Chris Wynn was a senior development director and not really in charge of creative ideas, and he was only on the team for about 18 months. Schlerf was lead writer and his role was pretty much done before he left. They’ve brought on some good talent in the meantime too, including from Naughty Dog.
Having seen a decent chunk of gameplay in action, I think people are going to love what they see. It looks fucking amazing.
It’s a huge step up from DAI though, some things are comparable to Battlefront, and Bioware’s implemented things in Frostbite 3 that even DICE hadn’t yet, so they’re no slouch in the technical department. The explorable spaces in Andromeda are massive so it’s hard to compare directly to Battlefield."
"Character models look incredible. Animations are a huge upgrade too. They’re specifically trying to address the repeating animations in the last trilogy. It’s really to do with the limited memory of old gen. They’ve implemented a lot of new techniques for Andromeda.
And I was mostly talking about facial animation too. It’s a huge step up. Pleasantly surprised.
Like I said in the other thread, I saw as many things to do and discover in one planet here as I did the whole lot of side planets on ME1 lol. The Mako is fast, hence the big environments.
No idea, but I will say the music was very reminiscent of the original Mass Effect. I immediately thought of ME1 when I heard it. So good.
In fact from everything I saw, all I could think of was ‘This is what Mass Effect 1 was envisioned to be.’"
Shinobi is admittedly a huge BioWare and Mass Effect aficionado, although he has a very good track record when it comes to leaking video game information. Still, it’s nothing official by any stretch, so take it with a pinch of salt just to be safe.
Mass Effect Andromeda is due out on PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One in early 2017. The game takes place in a separate universe to the original trilogy, although much of the game’s central plot and characters remain under wraps.
However, BioWare has been keeping fans updated over Twitter for the past 18 months or so, revealing the game will boast dynamic weather effects, the return of the Mako, and will be the biggest and best Mass Effect title to date.
Interestingly, 2017 marks the 10th anniversary of the series, with Mass Effect debuting on Xbox 360 in November 2007. Mass Effect 2 followed in early 2010 and was released on PlayStation 3 the following year, with the trilogy wrapping up in March 2012 with Mass Effect 3.
Despite the popularity of high-definition remasters in this current generation however, EA has said that it has no desire to release a Mass Effect HD Collection on PS4 and Xbox One.