NeoGAF user shinobi602, known for leaking video game news, claims that the facial animations and character models in Mass Effect: Andromeda 'look incredible.'

In the previous gaming generation, the original Mass Effect games pushed the hardware to its limits, offering groundbreaking visuals that were rarely surpassed by other titles. Now, i's looking like Mass Effect: Andromeda will continue that legacy, and even improve on areas where the previous games faltered a bit, according to frequent video game news leaker and NeoGAF user shinobi602.

Shinobi602 claims to have recently gotten his eyeballs on Mass Effect: Andromeda, and is very enthusiastic about what he saw. Shinobi602 says that Mass Effect: Andromeda's recent delay to 2017 was just to add extra polish to the game, as it is apparently playable from beginning to end, and looking great. Presumably, he says, this extra time in development should help Mass Effect: Andromeda reach its full potential.

As it stands, it sounds like the game is already a visual powerhouse, with Shinobi602 praising Mass Effect: Andromeda's animations, scope, and character models in his forum posts. Previous games in the series were criticized for poor facial animation, so it's good to hear that both of that and repetition in animations are reportedly being addressed in Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Shinobi602 also took time to address the departure of numerous Mass Effect: Andromeda developers from BioWare in recent months. The talent that left BioWare were either more or less done with their work on the game, or weren't involved in a creative capacity, if shinobi602 is to be believed. Furthermore, shinobi602 says that BioWare has actually hired on some new talent to work on Mass Effect: Andromeda in the meantime, including developers from Naughty Dog with experience on Uncharted and The Last of Us.

While his report is full of interesting tidbits regarding the game's graphics and the state of its development team, Shinobi602 didn't have as much to share when it comes to specifics on Mass Effect: Andromeda's gameplay. However, he did say that a single planet in Mass Effect: Andromeda has more side activities than all the side planets in the first Mass Effect combined, and that the returning Mako vehicle is "fast."

Of course, as with all of shinobi602's reports, his information on Mass Effect: Andromeda should be taken with a grain of salt. While shinobi602 is usually proven right - like his claim that Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare would be set in the future, for example - it's still best to treat news like this as unsubstantiated rumors.

With BioWare's impressive track record, though, it's easy to take shinobi602's claims of an incredible-looking Mass Effect: Andromeda at face value. Here's hoping that Andromeda's recent delay into 2017 will help the ambitious project set a new bar for the franchise.

Mass Effect: Andromeda will be available in early 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: NeoGAF (via WCCF Tech)