As a hardcore fan of the Trilogy, I was stoked about ME Andromeda. I followed this game ever since its official announcement a little over 2 years ago at E3 2015. I have thousands of hours in the original games and still play them when I can. Mass Effect Andromeda received shaky reviews when the review embargo dropped, but those reviews based their negativity on 3 things that take place very early on in the game. It's like many reviewers never bothered to actually play the entire game, and the ones that did gave it pretty decent scores (PC gamer, Forbes, and game informer to list a few). Most negative reviews were based off a small number of issues that popped up very early on, and all but a few were taken care of thanks to an update a few weeks ago. This game, or any other game in the future for that matter, will never live up to the greatness of the original Mass Effect. Even if it does share part of the title.Everything thought this was going to be a game just like the originals, just pluck out Shepard and put in a new hero, but its an entirely new game with new background stories and a vastly different feel. This new universe does not have the same memorable characters, but they are likable, and it's a game that is NOT meant to be rushed through and in my opinion its meant to be played as a whole. Combining the critical path quest, side quests, loyalty missions, and narrative opportunities. If you play the game and only make your way through the main story quest (critical path), then you are missing out on 3/4ths of the total story. The main campaign is a little boilerplate, as are the Kett (main enemy) and its leader, but the combat against them has never felt better. The jet pack/biotic jump is the best thing to happen to a Mass Effect game in a very long time. Combat is fluid, fast, responsive, and it feels good. Driving controls are a little clunky at first, but after upgrading your rover (The Nomad), you realize that it was meant to feel that way and subsequent upgrades vastly improve its handling and speed. Guns are everywhere, as are mods/upgrades. Skills are also plentiful, but I'm not a fan of this new open-class system where you can switch to any new skill on-the-fly. There are SO many skills that they basically cancel each other out and you end up using your go to 4-5 skills constantly rather than be pushed to try something new. The crafting system is immense and there are hundreds, if not thousands of combinations waiting to be used, but the ones I tried were weak and less than satisfying. So I went back to my usual Milky Way weapons. Voice acting is good all around. Not great, but good. There are some like PeeBee, Dr. Lexi, and a few others, that stand out as the best. This game really shines once you get about 15 hours in or so and you can start looking at other planets. The diversity and scenery of the explorable planets are really something amazing. The sheer size of these places leaves you impressed. They are planned out and look hand crafted. None of that procedurally generated mess. I only have a few issues with ME: Andromeda. The biggest problems are now fixed, which were the odd looking eyes, mouth movements, and some glitches. Exploring in space is breathtaking, but it comes at a cost. That much detail needs to load, so instead of fast traveling times like in prior games, they masked it with this 'real-time' flying experience. So you start off with a solar system overview and once you select a planet, the ship slowly flies to it until it comes into view. It's basically a first-person view from the ship's perspective. Anytime you travel to a planet or anomaly, you can exit the galaxy map and see that destination right outside the ship's windows. It could be a comet, a boarded ship, a satellite, planets, etc. It makes for AMAZING visuals, but again, the downside is that it has to load. They have improved travel time with a skip button, but it only works on certain parts of the fly-in.All in all, this game will have you hooked and even though it will never live up to Commander Shepard and crew, it's interesting in its own right. The numerous vaults are immense and as stunning as the visuals in space. Dialogue has a lot of options not simply the right or wrong, live or die kind of choices. Although there are a few of those that pop up as a callback. Overall I would give this game 8.5, maybe a 9 for its replay value. Multiplayer is fun and fast paced. 10x more challenging that ME3 and coordinating with your teammates becomes a must in the higher difficulties. Play this game in its entirety at your own pace. Complete outposts, side quests, and loyalty missions, alongside the main quest line. Doing so opens up the entire story and tons of background info which help fill in all the questions and lacking areas within the critical path. If you plan to 100% this game, be prepared to spend upwards of 100 hours if not more. I took my time on side quests and explored alot. Haven't landed on the last planet (but that's next) and I have to find 2 more Arks. In total, I'm approaching 220 hours and I still have a lot of game left to play. So the entertainment hours per dollar is great. In short, stick with it. The first few hours are very slow, and if you have those reviews in your mind, you start to get depressed because they look to be true. But once you get passed the tutorials and introductions it starts to pick up. Then teammates start to pick up as well as great side quests. That's when it starts to get good. hope you enjoy it as much as I have!