#and being totally in sync playing co-op games and still trying to one-up each other even when we're on the same team hehe

[copiawife]

i went to this place today with a bunch of arcade and pinball machines and had a super fun time and now i'm thinking about arcade date fluff with copia....

[hashtag-anthems]

Preliminary Thoughts on Pokémon Masters

I say preliminary as though I’m not on the chapter where I get my fifth badge...

Gameplay

So the battle system is interesting. It was a little counter-intuitive when I first started playing, but overall I don’t dislike it. It’s a real-time game instead of a turn-based one, so that took some getting used to. Managing your sync pairs is a bit of a hassle since you need a new type for every chapter, and you have to make sure everyone is of a sufficient level. The level curve isn’t drastic, but it is annoying having to watch your level caps. Every new sync pair you get is a 3-star, which means they can only go up to level 30 without the player raising their level cap, and considering you hit a point where you have to have a team of Lv. 45+ Pokémon to stand a chance against opponents, that’s already two level cap increases, which use up a lot of items when you have to do it to a lot of sync pairs. So grinding for items and experience is a big part of the game.

There seem to be items you can use to increase a sync pair’s star level, but I haven’t found any from missions or stages, so how plausible that system is has yet to be seen.

Evolution is... interesting. You have to level up a sync pair, then complete a side story to evolve the Pokémon, but not every sync pair is capable of evolving their Pokémon.

Thankfully there isn’t any sort of stamina system, so you can power through as many stages as you want and try them as many times as you need to in order to win. Which is helpful when you have to experiment with different team compositions and strategies.

Summoning

The summoning system is another gacha where you pay premium currency to get more sync pairs. It isn’t... required, I guess, because you do get free sync pairs of varying types just by playing the main story, but it definitely helps to summon for more. It seems like 5-star guarantee pulls are exclusive to the Sync Scouts that take paid gems, so even if you do a 10-pull from the free one, you’re never guaranteed a 5-star. It costs 3,000 gems for a 10-pull, 300 for a 1-pull, and there’s a “daily discount” that costs 100 paid gems, but you can only use it once per day. It does seem like they’re limiting how many paid gems you can use in a day, but people with money to drop on this game are still going to have an advantage. Free gems come 10 at a time when you complete a stage for the first time, whether it’s a battle or just exposition, so you would have to complete 300 stages to earn enough gems for a 10-pull. 

Summoning rates for 4- and 5-star sync pairs are predictably low, and the current summoning pool is tragically small, but they’re almost definitely going to expand it in future events. Summoning duplicates will just power up the one you already had, so it isn’t a total waste if you get sync pairs you already have. 

The one (somewhat) redeeming feature is that for each summoning event, if you can build up 400 scout points (1 point per 100 gems spent on scouting) you can pick any sync pair you want and automatically get it. Scout points are unique to the summoning event you scout from, and they will be lost when the summoning event ends. If it was easier to get gems, this would be a great system.

Multiplayer

I’ll be honest, I know that there are co-op battles, but I haven’t tried them out. They seem to be the only thing you can do with your friends. Considering how many items you need to maintain your team, it would be great if you could send gifts to your friends like you can in PoGo. Overall, I don’t see a lot of importance being placed on multiplayer features in this game.

Story and Characters

Okay, the storyline is kind of compelling, but the story-to-battle ratio is sadly pretty small. You’ve got your generic baddies, Team Break, who just seem to want to steal Pokémon. You’ve got the pretentious rich boy, Lear, and his lackeys, who look down on everyone else for being too friendly with their Pokémon. Your rival isn’t around enough to be a compelling rival, honestly. I’ve seen him twice, and I haven’t even gotten to battle him. And I’m almost done collecting badges for the Pokémon Masters League. What’s a rival if you don’t get to test your strength against him every so often?

They do a pretty good job of giving some more personality to existing characters, but the new characters exclusive to this game fall a little flat in my opinion. The voice acting is pretty good in both English and Japanese, given that they only voice a few small clips that get used over and over. 

They actually aren’t going too Kanto-heavy on the currently available characters right now, which was a pleasant surprise. Your first recruits are Brock and Misty, but then most of your future free recruits are from the other games, and the current summoning event is focusing on Kris.

Overall impression

This is going to be a gacha-based time- and money-sink just like Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp were. Its big appeal is that it’s Pokémon, and brand loyalty is a powerful thing. Presumably, they’re saving the most-beloved characters for future events where you’ll have a 1.4% chance of getting them on any given pull, and because you can’t earn a lot of free gems, you’ll want to spend money to make sure you get your faves. 

Story-wise, I hope it gets more compelling in future updates, because I’m pretty far into it, and I’m getting tired of fighting pseudo-Team Rocket. 

[amberpiner]

Phasmophobia vr

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There's also a small update coming even sooner than that Now, onto the patch notes: An. I brought Phasmophobia VR from steam and I’ve been trying to play it but every time I load up the game, my hands are stuck in the floor and I can’t sync them up to my controllers. So I’m using the Oculus/Metaquest 2 with Shadow VR pc. But fear-not ghost hunters, the 'Custom Difficulty' update will be soon approaching, and it's a big one. Phasmophobia :- hands on floor level in VR. Finally, the VR update is amongst us Rejoice There's loads to unpack here for our VR players, as well as some little nuggets of content for everyone else.

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Full Voice Recognition: The Ghosts are listening! Use your actual voice to interact with the Ghosts through Ouija Boards and EVP Sessions using a Spirit Box. Welcome back, we’ve got an update for you. Investigate: Use well known ghost hunting equipment such as EMF Readers, Spirit Boxes, Thermometers and Night Vision Cameras to find clues and gather as much paranormal evidence as you can. I realized very quickly that my mic was open and folks could hear both me and my barking husky puppy.

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I was a bit confused on how to set up Virtual Desktop, but somehow made my way to Steam VR and got into Phasmo.

#PHASMOPHOBIA VR CRACKED#

Unique Ghosts: Over 10 different types of Ghosts all with unique traits meaning each investigation will be different. So I just cracked into my new Quest 2 last night and downloaded Virtual Desktop so I could finally play Phasmophobia in long awaited VR. Phasmophobia is still fun without a VR headset. For now, I’ll have to settle for the 70 of immersion I’m getting without one. However, I may wait until the full release of the game. Phasmophobia has made me strongly consider getting a VR headset. Co-op multiplayer: Play alongside your friends with up to 4 players in this co-op horror where teamwork is key to your success. The only thing I was missing out was the extra creepiness factor of feeling immersed in the maps. Ghosts in your face Ghost-hunting game Phasmophobia has seen a number of updates since launch, with additions like cursed possessions and new ghost powers. Cross platform: Phasmophobia supports all players whether they have VR or not so can enjoy the game with your VR and non VR friends. Immersive Experience: Realistic graphics and sounds as well as having minimal user interfaces will ensure a totally immersive experience that will keep you on your toes. 4,724,202 views Phasmophobia VR is absolutely terrifying Best horror game of 2020 Show more 120K Dislike Share EddieVR 6.49M subscribers Comments 5. You can choose to support your team by monitoring the location with CCTV cameras and motion sensors from the safety of the truck or head inside and get your hands dirty with the ghostly activity that will get increasingly hostile as time goes on. You will use your ghost hunting equipment to search for and record evidence of whatever ghost is haunting the location to sell onto a ghost removal team.

#PHASMOPHOBIA VR ANDROID#

There are Phasmophobia games on iOS and Android but these aren’t the same and have been recently created by other developers.Phasmophobia is a 4 player online co-op psychological horror where you and your team members of paranormal investigators will enter haunted locations filled with paranormal activity and gather as much evidence of the paranormal as you can. Buy Phasmophobia key Instant Download Steam PC Key Hot Deal Limited Time Offer. It’s an unusual combination that has driven popularity on the PC and Mac.Ĭurrently there are no plans for Phasmophobia to come to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch or the next generation Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. You can choose between being the player watching the others and offering advice, or be the feet on the ground doing the actual ghost hunting. You use equipment such as a Ouija Board, Salt, EMF Reader, Motion Sensors, UV Flashlight, Spirit Box and more. The novelty is that both the locations and ghosts are freshly generated each game, so you have to use real skill and detective work to find and deal with each Ghost. There are several areas that range from houses to prisons, sewers and hospitals. It focuses on creating a realistic world built to get your heart racing, through the interactive ghost hunting equipment and teamwork.Įach session involves taking your team to a new location and investigating several hauntings that will change each time you play. Phasmophobia (Phasmophobia VR) is a horror survival game where you and your team investigate paranormal activity.

[rocksrntpeople]

PAX East 2017: A Noob’s Experience

My first thought as I walked into my first PAX East was something along the lines of, There’s too much to do! I don’t remember the exact thought because the sight was overwhelming. Thousands of people stood before me. Booths and booths and more booths spread across the hall under slowly rotating signs, next to larger than life statues, and within houses and caves and train cars brought solely to enhance my experience. To enhance all of our experiences - all of us lucky gamers who give our lives to living in a vast spectrum of worlds, dimensions, and..lives!

I hadn’t known what to expect. The last con I was able to go to was MegaCon in 2005. (If you aren’t familiar, trust me, this was just completely unhelpful.) I thought about the fact that I was a girl and the effect that might have on my weekend. I even considered turning this article into my “girl’s perspective”. But, before the con had really even started, I knew that being a girl didn’t matter.

For me, gaming and being a gamer has always been my safe space. Games are the place where I can be myself - truly myself - where anyone who draws distinction between me and a guy could get a quick, “Fuck you!” and further allow me to be me.

I know other girls have said and shown that this isn’t always so easy, but things are clearly getting better at the very least. I felt like just another Paxer. When I demoed games, the controller wasn’t just handed to my boyfriend. At the booth for Hidden Dragon Legend (a side-scrolling adventure game by MegaFun Games; it was, in fact, mega fun) the guy actually started to turn his chatting more directly at me as my interest began to pique and my skills surpassed my other half. I was clearly just another sales opportunity. That may bother some, but as a girl who spent years ducking and dodging to avoid being talked to like a lost toddler in GameStops and Best Buys while browsing the games, this felt amazing!

Something I instantly noticed, as did many people, was the fact that there were some bathrooms marked (by PAX signs) as “gender neutral”. Men and women could go into whatever bathroom they liked at these locations. I will say, however, that this has changed my opinions on the whole bathroom policy issue. As a straight woman, my bathroom wait was literally nonexistent! It was a beautiful thing to be at an event and not have to wait for the bathroom, and even better to watch the men wait for a change. Why would I want to ruin this fantasy land of no-lines just so that everyone could be comfortable and happy with their gender identities?!

Seriously though, the entire PAX experience was made so much more special because of the inclusiveness and just how damn pleasant everyone was to eachother! We were all so happy to be there and so happy to see our fellow gamers - kindness was overflowing all weekend.

While I couldn’t get into many panels, something on the schedule really caught my eye and I knew I had to make it a priority. Clucks & Clicks: The Archaeology & Ethics Of Chickens In Games was a panel that even amongst gaming nerds was being described as “for nerds”. To be sure, I am a zoology (anthro or otherwise) nerd, but trust me - this panel was so interesting! I learned so much about chickens, more than I could’ve guessed I’d learn going in! Doctors Catherine Flick and Tyr Fothergill were entertaining in their own right, and they really knew their shit! They’ve been playing games since the 80’s (“because we’re old”) and had just finished a study on chickens and humans through history. I can talk about chickens for about 30 minutes straight now (as my PAX party can attest, to their chagrin) and I love it! If you want to talk about chickens, or you want to actually do chickens right in your game (apparently game developers do not know what chickens look like) follow Dr.Flick and Dr. Fothergill on twitter! They both said they’d love to give chicken insight to anyone and everyone willing to listen! They were both so kind and I hope they’ll have another panel next year!

I also went to the Mass Effect panel, which was amazing to watch! I won’t go into much detail here, as the entire thing was recorded and has been reported on for days now (by people more experienced than me, too!) but you can watch it here! To be honest, I hadn’t been very excited about Andromeda before this panel. I dared not let my heart dream after Mass Effect 3 (yes, I’m one of those), but after hearing about the world building and character building they’ve done - they said 1200 lines have been written just for background character chatter - I’m dreaming, big. So if you’re like me, just trust your instincts on Andromeda - trust the hype.

Now to the meat of the event - games.

I was extremely lucky to have hit up EarthFall first. I hadn’t heard of EarthFall, but it had the same font as TitanFall, which I love. It was not TitanFall related. It was even better.

A sweet pink-haired girl was at the front of the line. One of the developers, she was just as excited for us to try it as we were. She chatted with us about the game we were about to play, a multiplayer demo with 4 players in each demo. Somehow, my wait was less than 20 minutes, which did not happen again at EarthFall, I later found out.

Despite being the first game I played, EarthFall was my absolute favorite game all weekend! It was fucking perfect! Everyone who played the demo had the same thought: “It’s like Left 4 Dead, but with aliens!” EarthFall is unmistakably reminiscent of the beloved Left 4 Dead series, but it was not without its own elements that made it feel fresh and fun. Grounded turrets, moveable ladders, and interactive objects, such as the van we had to push into a garage, gave every player a chance to be involved and also gave the game a chaotic feeling. I had the shotgun, so while my longer-ranged friends kept most of the aliens at bay, I tried to stick with the van and push, shooting off the occasional baddie that slipped through. At times, though, the alien horde would swell and I’d have to retreat to my team mates as aliens washed over us. Overall, the variety of weapons allowed us to have a nice back and forth with the aliens while seemingly simple tasks (like filling the van with gas) were completed.

EarthFall was absolutely stunning and definitely a game to keep an eye out for. There is no release date as of yet, but you can follow the game on twitter and on their website.

The next game I tried turned out just as great. A totally different game from EarthFall, Contigo games’ StarCrossed was my favorite arcade game all weekend. A co-op game, two players control two magical girlfriends as they pass a star between them in space. Simple and adorable, the game is so much fun! As the star passes between the two players, it destroys evil aliens, so getting into sync with the other player is where the real challenge and fun is. That’s it. It’s a really cute, simple game that is just a ton of fun! If you have any need or want (and even if you don’t!) pick up StarCrossed as soon as you can! It doesn’t have a hard release date yet, but it should be out this summer! You can (and should!) follow the game on twitter and through their website!

The rest of my weekend was a flurry of gaming for me! Here's a quick(?) list of all the games that stuck in my mind (that I haven’t already mentioned!):

Tumbleseed - 4/5 ⭐

This was a lot of fun! You control a seed using a balanced line on your screen. The seed will roll left or right, depending on the line’s inclination, and eventually holes and other obstacles will appear as the seedlings’ home is invaded by a mysterious enemy! This game is slated for Spring 2017 on Steam, IOS, Android, PS4, and the WiiSwitch.

Donut County - 4/5 ⭐

I overheard the perfect description for this game as I waited to play: “Opposite Katamari”. You play as a hole in the ground that grows bigger as things (like rocks, plants, houses) fall in. I kind of felt evil playing it, as the cutscenes are of the townspeople trapped “nine hundred and ninety nine feet below”, swapping stories of how their lives and homes got destroyed by this hole in the ground. The overall atmosphere of the game stays light however (“we got owned by holes”) and with the simple music, the game is somewhat relaxing. I still felt like a monster, but it was cute, so that makes it okay…? (There isn’t any release date information for this game yet.)

Gorogoa - 5/5 ⭐

I really enjoyed this one! A beautiful puzzle game, you work with square tiles of rooms that layer and unlayer to create more rooms and a somber tale of a tale. If you like puzzles, art, and 3rd wall breaking, interactive games, get Gorogoa. There’s no set release date yet, but sometime during Spring 2017 it will be released on Steam and IOS.

She Remembered Caterpillars - 4/5 ⭐

Another fun puzzler, you control little creatures that can only cross caterpillars of the same color, or of a color that makes up their own. There are blue, red, yellow, green, and purple creatures to solve the puzzles with. It’s fun and I bought it on the spot! It’s available on Steam now! If you’ve ever played IloMilo, it’s very much like that, but with more colors! (The creators had not heard of IloMilo, but my love of that game really made the purchase easy.)

VA-11 HALL-A - 5/5 ⭐

Pronounced “Valhalla” this game is a unique spin on the visual novel genre. You not only do typical visual novel stuff, but you are also a bartender! You can make drinks to the customers’ liking or make something completely different or even, non-alcoholic(gasp!). Set in a cyberpunk world, it really is a fresh take on a classic genre. I bought this one too! It’s available on Steam right now!

Raid - 3/5 ⭐

Still in development, the controls were just a bit wonky. They just weren’t intuitive, but it is still in development. This game is a typical fps with an A-Team style group trying to steal gold from Nazis and other Axis power countries during WWII. Apparently, this is the storyline to the movie Kelly’s Heroes minus the tank, but is that a bad thing?

Russian Subway Dogs - 3/5 ⭐

Another fun arcade game, you play a stray “pupper” trying to get a meal in an 8-bit Russian subway station. Other dogs will try to steal from you and even bears show up eventually. It was a lot of fun to play and super cute, but you should probably have a healthy love of memes and dogs to really enjoy this. The release date is simply 2017 for Steam.

FireWatch - 4/5 ⭐

This game was beautiful! It’s a mystery game set in Wyoming in 1989. You play a newly hired fire watch ranger trying to escape a messy life. Throughout the summer you develop a relationship through a radio with your higher up as you both work together or against each other in the wilderness. It had a great vibe and I was kind of on edge as the sun went down. It’s available now on steam, PS4, and Xbox One.

There were so many other games that I enjoyed and had fun with, too many to list here! PAX was an amazing experience and I am definitely going next year! If you have any questions about these games, other indie games I tried, or chickens, go ahead and tweet at me @msgameandread

I want to give a special shoutout to IndieBox. You may have noticed that indie games have a special place in my heart, and IndieBox is a really cool subscription box company that does physical boxes (and loot!) for indie games that are normally digital only! They do a fantastic job with the games and the boxes are really affordable for what you get! Check out their website! (Sadly, IndieBox did not pay me for this endorsement, but if they want to, go for it! Tweet at me and I’ll make sure your money makes its way to me. Otherwise, I just really think their boxes were cool, so you should buy them!)

[banjokazooie64]

Mass Effect: Andromeda Review

Unpopular Opinion Time: I enjoy Mass Effect Andromeda.  Why?

I’m not crazy, in fact I’ve played through the entire Original Mass Effect Trilogy multiple times.  I’ll throw out some estimated numbers for each game:  I’ve played Mass Effect about 5 times through, even though it’s not my favorite in the series it is an excellent beginning to the journey of Commander Shepard.  Mass Effect 2 has gotten the most playtime with a resounding 15+ playthroughs and is my favorite out of the original three.  Mass Effect 3 has the second highest playthrough rate with around 10 complete playthroughs.  Why so many (especially on ME3 which is the worst of the trilogy)?  Well the bottom line is I love Mass Effect and even though the ending of ME3 was less than satisfactory for many players I have to take the whole game into account.  Just because I didn’t like the ending didn’t make it a bad game in whole.  The journey up to the ending had several great all encompassing moments where a multitude of choices led to one singular event like curing the genophage.  

Much like ME3, most people are not looking at Mass Effect Andromeda as a whole, they are only looking at the one thing that is bugging all the pre-teen ‘meme-rs’ who joke about suicide constantly and that is the facial expressions and lip syncing.  Yes, I agree that they need work (a lot of work) but a bad game this does not make.  If you look at the game as a whole most of the facial animations and expressions work, I’d say 75% of the time you don’t really notice anything out of the ordinary.  But let’s say that the facial animations are only 25% of the game in total, you still have 75% of good content left in the game and that’s if ALL of the facial animations suck right?  So, we are actually looking at about 10% of facial animations and lip syncing being down right terrible.  Do you see the big picture?  

Some people will call me an idiot but I don’t like judging a game on one attribute alone because there are a lot of good things in this game that work well.  Let’s quickly talk about one thing that kinda stinks in the game and that is the voice actor they chose for both Ryder twins.  The male version seems to work better (not being sexist) in most conversations but the line delivery with both is extremely poor.  Never-the-less it does not ruin the game for me, sure it makes some parts seem a little odd but for the most part it just kinda sounds ‘eh.’  That being said, the other voice actors for other characters have done an excellent job of expressing  their characters and making them seem real.  Drack is a good example along with Jaarl, Peebee, Liam, and SAM to name a few.  I’ve laughed a few times during the game especially on Liam’s loyalty mission and it wasn’t because I was laughing at some bug.  Jaarl is a very interesting character with some great line deliveries which had me cracking up as well.  All in all, the voice acting is good in this game with a few exceptions.

Let’s talk about the story in Mass Effect Andromeda.  

The start of the game is a little rocky with a very predictable opening prologue.  The things that I thought were going to happen happen and the things I didn’t see coming are still just kinda...eh.  You wake up from Cryo sleep because you’ve been on a 600 year journey to Andromeda on board the Hyperion (which Ironically was the name of one of my metal bands) which is the human ‘ark’ to the new galaxy.  There is one for each of the major species in the Milky Way (asari, Human, Turian, Salarian) and along for the ride were some Krogan.  The quarian did have an ark but things went wrong for various reasons; their ark also had Hanar and Drell on it as well.  As soon as you get into range of Habitat-7, which is the Human’s designated colonizing world you are attacked by what is called the scourge.  A twisting clear-ish space vine that really get’s no backstory or information until the end of the game.  With the Hyperion stuck you and your father, the human pathfinder who is tasked with finding hospitable planets, embark with Cora (a human biotic who was once an Asari Commando) and Liam (a rookie cop and gadget wiz) to the planet’s surface to try and see if they can begin colonizing.  Of course it’s not what they expect on the planet and thus begins your journey with making worlds habitable by using ancient technology called Rem-tech or Remnant Tech.  Interested in the Rem-tech is the first of two alien species you encounter in the game, the Kett.  Rocky looking aliens who are more like drones being commanded by their leader, the archon. Shit hits the fan and habitat-7 is a loss for now.  The hyperion breaks free from the scourge, your father dies, and you make it to the Nexus.  The Nexus is the Citadel on steriods, it’s a large installation that was suppose to be up and running by the time the arks got to the system.  Of course, it is not fully functional and needs the energy from each of the arks to survive.  So, you must find the other arks which have not been heard from.  You are designated Pathfinder by your dying father’s wish and thus begins your journey.  

Like I Said, it is a rocky start but after that the game really picks up with plenty of new planets to explore, life to find, problems to solve, and characters to meet.  

Your squad:  Full of plenty of characters who are better than Ryder.  (this is actually the first game where they mention translators, which I found interesting.  It was in the back of my mind the whole time playing through the original trilogy because people were complaining that everyone spoke English, it makes sense really because who’s really going to learn all those languages?)

Cora:  Not my favorite character, hell she is my least favorite of the group but she holds her own.  Like I mentioned before she was once an Asari Commando so she is pretty badass, I just wish she wasn’t so annoying. 

Liam:  Your best bud from the Milky Way was once a cop and now wants to lead a squad of his own but he is a long way from it.  He is also a wiz with technology.

Peebee:  An asari who you find metaling with Rem-tech instantly becomes an obvious love interest.  She is a little odd and lives in the escape pod on the Tempest (your ship).

Vetra:  A Turian Mercenary who runs supplies with outcasts.  She is the first Female Turian in any mass Effect to have a major role. 

Drack:  A very old Krogan who came to Andromeda to help the Krogan become, well, better.  He is mostly built out of Synthetic parts and only has 1 of 3 hearts remaining but he is one of the best Krogan side Kicks since Wrex (grunt was good too).  

Jaarl:  Jaarl is from the second species you discover, he is a part of the resistance against the kett and is now a bridge between your two species.  He has some excellent dialogue along with some interesting interactions with other members of the squad.   

Each member of the squad and crew have interesting personalities that make the game worth playing through to the end.  

The Co-op in the game is just like ME3 where you fight for a few waves in a wave defender game mode and extract at the end.  Basic yet I really enjoy playing.  Along with the Co-op there are new Strike Team missions where you can recruit squads to do certain missions (which can take up to 5 hrs) and they will earn you rewards while you are away.  The Companion app is very useful and I end up having a ton of loot crates by the time I log on to the game at the end of the day.  

Let’s talk about power usage because it is set up a bit differently than the last game.  Not only can you change class types at will (engineer, Soldier, Vangaurd, Ect) but you can also mix and match any power (biotic, Combat, Tech) at any time and you can also change them at any time.  So, if a fight calls for Incinerate, Pull, and Concussive shot you can have all three at the same time now.  Then, if you get bored with those powers you can change them to what ever you want.  The new powers are nice as well including Flamethrower, Barricade, Flak Cannon, and more.  A nice touch even though it is not like the other games before it.

The open worlds on each of the 6 that you can go on are mostly bare with a few outposts or enemy camps here or there but they do offer what ME2 and 3 did not have and that is a free roam area to explore.  Much like Mass Effect 1, you drive around in a better version of the Mako called the Nomad from point to point until you get everything done.  Missions vary but it’s mostly just trying to get the planet to a livable state, you will earn Vitality points for every mission you do on a planet including fixing the rem-tech that has gone sour. Getting Vitality points allows you to open more Cryo Pods and get a boost in supplies, research points, or resources along with getting better prices at merchants, better research points when scanning, and the like. Even though each planet has their own style a lot of the animals you come across appear multiple times through out the small cluster of solar systems that you can explore in this game.  I feel like they definitely should have added more species of animals to the game.  I am a fan of this new free roaming area even though most of them are pretty basic and small.

All in all, Mass Effect Andromeda is a good start to your adventure in the Andromeda Galaxy, I am interested to see what my choices will end up becoming in the games to come and I am excited to see where they will go with the game moving forward.  Other than some im-perfect facial animations and line delivery the game has plenty of new features to keep you going and a good co-op game mode for fast action.  The new ability to chose your powers to fit your exclusive play style is awesome and not being stuck to one set in particular is good fun as well.   The choices you are presented in the game seem to not matter to much right now but I can see them affecting future games.  The open worlds to explore are beautiful to the eye and each have their own special look.  

All in all I would give Mass Effect Andromeda a 8\10

Fuck the haters