Mass Effect: Andromeda made a lot of changes to the iconic series. It took the series to an entirely new series, introduced a new protagonist in the Ryder twins, new alien species, and an overhaul of many of the Mass Effect series' biggest features. One of the biggest overhauls Mass Effect: Andromeda brought was a massive change to the game's combat, and while many of Mass Effect: Andromeda's were not well received by the Mass Effect community, the game's combat is the best of the entire series.

Combat is one of the pillars of Mass Effect. The series is beloved for its interesting story, complicated galaxy-wide politics, and its endearing characters, but combat is where players spend a large portion of their time in every Mass Effect game. Every game in the series is a third-person cover-based shooter that allows players to bring two squadmates into battle with them, but the formula has evolved a lot since the first game. With the recent popularity of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, many players are returning to Mass Effect Andromeda and are resurrecting discussions about the game and its successes and failures.

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What Combat is Like in the Mass Effect Trilogy

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Combat in the Mass Effect series revolves around two things: weapons and powers. In the original trilogy, players choose from a list of classes that determine which of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition's weapons and powers they will have access to. As for weapons, players can choose from snipers, shotguns, submachine guns, pistols, assault rifles, and heavy weapons. Each weapon type has a variety of options in each game, with each one having its own strengths and weaknesses. In the first Mass Effect, each class has a preference for certain weapon types, while the second and third games restricted each class to only using two weapon types.

Powers, on the other hand, are split into three categories: combat, tech, and biotic. Combat powers are focused on weapons, like using different types of ammo, concussive shots, or increasing the player's fire rate. Tech powers, on the other hand, focus on dealing damage to enemies with armor, hacking AI enemies, and building things like turrets to help the player in combat. Biotic powers focus on damaging enemies with barriers, giving the player and squadmates barriers, and getting enemies out of position with powers like lift and throw to get them out of cover. Both biotic and tech powers play a huge role in Mass Effect's universe and are both extremely powerful while defining combat across the Mass Effect series.

How Mass Effect Andromeda Does Powers Better

Mass Effect Andromeda

Mass Effect: Andromeda brought back the powers system from earlier Mass Effect titles, but it brought some massive changes with it. Perhaps the biggest change is that Mass Effect: Andromeda does not utilize a class system. Instead, players are able to unlock the skills that they are interested in using and combining. Another change is that players are able to set loadouts for skills that allow them to change which three skills they want to have equipped on the fly. This allows players to better adapt to the enemies that they will be facing during certain quests, while also encouraging them to switch what squadmates they are using to better compliment the skill loadout. While also allowing players to adapt to what quest they are doing, it also allowed players to better know their squadmates and pursue the different romances in Mass Effect: Andromeda from mixing up the party more frequently.

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Mass Effect: Andromeda also introduced the new Power Combo system. This system encouraged players to use their powers more smartly and allowed them to mix their own powers with those of their squadmates to create some devastating effects on the battlefield. The four possible combos are fire, cryo, tech, and biotic, with each one offering its own effect on enemies and situations that they work best in. To do this, players must first hit an enemy with a primer and then follow it with a trigger power. The combos give the player more options during combat, while also feeling very rewarding to pull off as they are the result of both a player's performance during the battlefield as well as the player's skillful planning of their squad with their character's build in Mass Effect: Andromeda.

How Mass Effect Andromeda Does Weapons Better

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Mass Effect: Andromeda's biggest addition to Mass Effect's weapons was the new melee weapon classification. Players could always do a melee attack in previous Mass Effect titles, but the addition of different melee weapons adds a new layer to the system that lets players customize their melee attacks around their build. Some players have even managed to build characters almost entirely around melee, showing just how much the melee weapons add to the depth of Mass Effect: Andromeda's combat. With how much had to be cut out of Mass Effect: Andromeda due to budget constraints, it would have been great to see how much more the melee weapons could have been fleshed out if the game had had more time in development.

The weapon classes also received a healthy expansion in Mass Effect: Andromeda. Players were able to unlock, modify, and upgrade different weapons in previous games, but Mass Effect: Andromeda expands on these systems to give players a lot more options for how they want to approach combat. Mass Effect: Andromeda has a lot more options for each weapon type like Sniper Rifles, while also diversifying the types of modifications that players could make to those weapons to further tweak their playstyles.

There are other features that fans have come to respect and appreciate about Mass Effect: Andromeda, like its take on the Mass Effect series' iconic morality feature. It is great to see that players are returning to Mass Effect: Andromeda and finding aspects about the game to appreciate. With how well the game iterated on some of Mass Effect's systems it definitely deserves the praise, despite the aspects of the game that many find less successful. It will be very interesting to see where the Mass Effect series goes from here, but, hopefully, it will take some cues from Mass Effect: Andromeda's combat while delivering a game that all of the series' fans can enjoy.

Mass Effect 4 is in development.

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