Mass Effect Andromeda is back in the news again but this time due to a surprising reason. More than 18 months after launch, BioWare decided to patch it up with graphical enhancements for the Xbox One X. Mass Effect Andromeda was infamous for its development hell during its production and then during its launch due to gamers and critics alike lambasting the its atrocious animations and glitches. However, if you could ignore the game’s shortcoming, there was solid gameplay and a decent story to be found within the game. The game was supposed to be a start of a new trilogy and its ending created enough mystery to keep me interested in a potential sequel. Unfortunately, that is no longer happening as the series is on ice, although there have been some reports about a new game possibly happening sometime in the future.
For now, there is no reason to play Mass Effect Andromeda if you have played it already, however, if you are an Xbox One X owner, then you might very well want to check it out. The Xbox One X patch brings in some interesting changes to the game besides the usual bump to resolution. Speaking of resolution, the game uses the same technique that it used to run at 1800p on the PS4 Pro. So yes, Andromeda runs at the same resolution as the PS4 Pro and it is slightly disappointing that a higher resolution or native 4K wasn’t implemented as part of the patch.
On the performance front, the Xbox One X version fares a bit better than the PS4 Pro. Back in 2017, we had stated that the PS4 Pro version largely ran at 30fps but faced frame rate issues here and there. The Xbox One X versions seems to be completely locked at 30fps as we didn’t come across any drops during our play time. The Xbox One X also introduces a couple of improvements over its PS4 Pro counterpart in terms of better reflection and shadow quality. Overall, the Xbox One X patch does a decent job of utilizing the hardware’s prowess but largely, both console versions remain identical.
After revisiting Mass Effect Andromeda after almost 18 months I couldn’t help but wonder the potential this new storyline had. Yes, I am one of the few people who actually liked the combat, the story and the open world aspects of Mass Effect Andromeda and I was really looking forward to what they would do with the narrative. Unfortunately, the criticism towards Andromeda was so strong, that even if EA decides to publish a new Mass Effect game in the future, it will probably just ditch the entire set up of Andromeda, which will come off as a massive disappointment for fans of this game. Regardless, Mass Effect Andromeda seems to bring about some interesting improvements but if you have already played it on any other platform, this patch won’t bring you back to it.