Multiplayer – Basically Mass Effect 3
To answer the most pressing questions regarding multiplayer directly in two sentences: No, ME:A’s story cannot be played cooperatively. No, the multiplayer does not offer PvP.
If you liked Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer, you will enjoy Andromeda’s as well. Without sugarcoating it: It is essentially a 1:1 transfer of the old multiplayer. Only the enemy types and the combat system have been changed, but the basic principle remains the same.
Depending on the difficulty level, multiple waves of enemies have to be survived, and after every 3 waves, there is a relatively simple mission. “Protect the area to complete the hack” or “Kill the selected target within the time limit” are among the familiar variations.
Long-Term Motivation and Customizations
As usual, the multiplayer offers many customization options. All abilities have 6 upgrade levels, whereby you must decide on one of two specializations for the last 3 points. Should my Singularity (a biotic attack that leaves enemies helpless) deal damage every second or have a larger radius? Should my turret attack enemies in close combat with rockets or have double hit points? Depending on the decisions, even the same character classes play differently.
This is supported by the weapon system. Every character can carry any weapon. However, the weight of the equipment affects the cooldown of abilities. If you carry a heavy shotgun and a large sniper rifle, you have to accept longer cooldowns. However, if you want to use abilities often and extensively, you can only pack light equipment like a pistol and a medium assault rifle. There is no “right” or “wrong” here, as the balance is left to each player.
As a reward for won matches, in addition to experience points (which unlock new abilities), there are also credits. These can be used to buy booster boxes to expand your arsenal with characters and weapons as well as modifications for them. This creates an incentive to keep playing, as the upgrades are significantly noticeable. While you might struggle with the “Bronze” difficulty at the beginning, with better gear you can handle more difficult missions.
If you want, you can also buy these booster packs with real money at pretty steep prices. However, this is not necessary.
Real Fun Only with Voice
However, if you play with friends, you should use an external voice program like TeamSpeak, Discord, or Skype. At least during the press test, the quality of the voice chat was rather mediocre and heavily crackly – or we just encountered people with headsets from the last millennium.
There were many situations where we said, “We’ll hold this corridor here and not let them through,” only to realize at the overwhelming power of the enemies (on Bronze!) that we should retreat. The desperate panic screams when we realized that the enemies had cut off our escape route provided for fun and entertainment. That would be hard to miss with randoms.
On the next page, we have some critique points about the game.
