Though the official review embargo isn’t set to lift until Monday, March 20th, members of EA Access and Origin were able to take Mass Effect: Andromeda out for a test drive – the subscription grants a ten-hour session in BioWare’s spacefaring adventure – from March 16th and so far, online reaction has been surprisingly mixed.
Part of EA’s red tape deemed that March 16th brought about the end of the ‘livestream embargo,’ and if you’ve been keeping track of Andromeda‘s development cycle, you’ve no doubt seen the scores of Twitch streams and subsequent impression pieces littering the interwebs. Perhaps the biggest point of contention to emerge from that media dump, though, is the game’s wonky animations.
Indeed, Andromeda‘s character models and general animations – walking, talking…you name it – have come under heavy fire, and though BioWare will no doubt move to rectify the situation in due time, don’t expect those improvements to begin rolling out on day one. Per Twitter, the game’s Lead Designer Ian Frazier conceded that the day one patch is already in the can, and that any fixes will have to be implemented via a future update.
At day 1? No, that ship has sailed. We'll have more patches later on, but exactly what goes into them is still in discussion.
— Ian S. Frazier (@tibermoon) March 16, 2017
As Frazier went on to confirm, additional patches for Mass Effect: Andromeda will begin rolling out over the coming weeks, and those questionable animations will certainly be a high-priority target for the dev team.
Set some 600 years after the Shepherd saga, Mass Effect: Andromeda touches down for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on March 21st.