GAMEPLAY | 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' Part 2
After the human ark found the Nexus in a bad state in the first part of this play-through, Niamh Ryder, the human Pathfinder, needs to find somewhere for the Andromeda Initiative to colonise, otherwise they might struggle to survive much longer.
Niamh is given a ship, the Tempest, and a crew consisting of the two squad-mates from the first mission, the asari doctor Lexi, a female Turian smuggler named Vetra, a human mechanic named Gil (played by 'Game of Thrones' alum Gethin Anthony), a human science officer with an amazing Scottish accent named Suvi and a salarian pilot named Kallo. These characters vary in quality of character development and writing significantly. Gil and Lexi are quite bland when compared to Vetra and Suvi. It’s actually a truism that runs throughout Andromeda that the game is inconsistent in its success in developing characters.
After taking a while to explore the Tempest, which is quite a nice vessel and probably just the right size as a hub, Niamh directs Kallo to take them to the first planet: Eos. This world has been the site of two failed colonies before, and the Tempest lands at one of them. Being surrounded by the pristine buildings but having them be completely empty is actually quite a creepy start to the level. One of the common elements of exploring the new worlds of Andromeda is introduced here: hostile environments. In areas of the map not carefully maintained, life support functions will slowly decline. On Eos it’s high levels of radiation. It’s not a terrible idea but as the game goes on and you improve the viability of planets there’s never a reward of decreasing the danger.
Niamh and her team set out to explore in the game’s new vehicle, the Nomad. A more beefy vehicle than the first trilogy’s Mako or Hammerhead, the Nomad is unarmed but easier to control. It actually feels like the terrain affects it. The team comes across a couple of the devices that were on Habitat 7 and several hostile robots maintaining the devices. It also comes across the asari rogue, Peebee. If there’s a character in the game that suffers for the lack of directed character development and interactions then this is the one. The difference between how I felt in her first couple of interactions and how I felt at the end of the game is huge. It’s sad to think that so much of the little character moments don’t happen in the bits that everyone sees.
Peebee gives Niamh the task of helping her investigate the “Remnant” technology (or as she calls it “RemTech”) involved with the pillars. After finding the others and doing some Sudoku (seriously), Niamh and Peebee discover that the pillars open a Remnant vault. This vault is some kind of advanced terraforming device, like the broken down device that killed Alec on Habitat 7. Peebee thinks that if they activate it, it will repair Eos’ atmosphere and make the planet viable for colonisation. They enter the vault with some trepidation.
The vault is a massive series of underground artificial caves and machinery guarded by robots. Peebee and Niamh’s team navigate it separately but occasionally cross paths; this part of the game goes on for a while. It almost wears out its welcome, then it wears out its welcome, then it almost starts being fun again but then it finally ends. Peebee, in not one of her finer moments, activates the vault causing the security field to activate.
Now its one of the best action scenes in the game! Niamh needs to use all the player’s platforming experience to get out before the wave of death gets them. It’s a tense and at times challenging task but it’s also possible that you do a couple of time saving jumps that mean that you’re never close to failing. After escaping, SAM informs Niamh that the planet is healing and it’s now viable for colonisation. Peebee decides she’ll stick with Niamh for now, but it seems that she might want to keep moving.
With the possibility of colonisation now a reality, Niamh is directed to a wide-open site that has enough water and resources to support a community. SAM offers the choice between sending scientists or soldiers as the main population group. Why she can’t ask for a mixture is never established. She sends a signal to Nexus and asks that they send the people to found a scientist based community. The community is named “Prodromos” (apparently, it's Greek for “forerunner”).
Foster comes along with the colony ships and congratulates Niamh on her success. She tells Niamh her next target world but also mentions that there are plenty of other tasks to take care of in Prodromos. Some of these tasks are actually interesting like the investigation of one of the lost colonies or taking down a massive kett base. Others are just busywork. The settlers are a mixed bag; some have no personality, others way too open to share their secrets. Much of the terrain of Eos is similar to any other part of the sandbox but there are some nice vistas.
So with one successful colony up and running, Niamh sets off in the Tempest for the next world. But there’ll be a couple of surprises when she gets there. That will be for next time...
