When comparing Mass Effect Andromeda vs Strider, the Slant community recommends Strider for most people. In the question“What are the best PS4 (PlayStation 4) games?” Strider is ranked 77th while Mass Effect Andromeda is ranked 156th. The most important reason people chose Strider is:
Strider is a really fast-paced side-scrolling hack and slash. The enemies will never stop trying to shoot your or end you in any way possible. This could easily become punishingly difficult, but is avoided thanks to the very responsive controls. You'll scale walls and kill groups of enemies within seconds, which truly makes you feel like an assassin with inhuman reflexes. The boss fights increase the tempo and may seem really cheap at first. Luckily, you'll learn their abilities over time, which will allow you to predict and counter them all. Defeating a boss without taking a single hit feels incredibly satisfying.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Combat is very fast paced
The combat in previous entries of Mass Effect has been based on getting behind cover and having good aim. That aspect still exists in Andromeda, but thanks to the new jump jet, things are much faster and much more fun. The jump jet allows you to vault over obstacles or make quick dashes while running, which lets you flank, charge, and generally just outmaneuver enemies in many more interesting ways.
Pro Exploration is quite fun
Nearly every planet in Andromeda is unique from the others. There's different terrain and environments to check out, new hazards to watch out for, and a plethora of missions to complete on every planet.
Pro You can change the way your character works on the fly
In Mass Effect Andromeda, the class system is incredibly open, and classes can be swapped at any time, even in the middle of combat. Essentially, you can go from being a battle-hardened front line soldier to a crafty engineer, or even to an infiltrator that's capable of invisibility. This will also swap out your abilities, which makes sure you're always prepared for the next challenge you have to face.
Pro Good Story
Pro Fun multiplayer
Mass Effect Andromeda's fast-paced combat from single-player works well with the team-based multiplayer matches, where up to four players cooperate to complete hacking or target objectives while fighting back against waves of enemies. Maps are densely packed with obstacles and winding rooms to take cover in or to take the enemy by surprise. Aggressive foes actively push back forward into player territory even on lower difficulties, keeping matches fun and intense.
Pro Fast, fun combat
Strider is a really fast-paced side-scrolling hack and slash. The enemies will never stop trying to shoot your or end you in any way possible. This could easily become punishingly difficult, but is avoided thanks to the very responsive controls. You'll scale walls and kill groups of enemies within seconds, which truly makes you feel like an assassin with inhuman reflexes.
The boss fights increase the tempo and may seem really cheap at first. Luckily, you'll learn their abilities over time, which will allow you to predict and counter them all. Defeating a boss without taking a single hit feels incredibly satisfying.
Pro Tons of collectibles
You can find new upgrades, concept art, story info, character info, and costumes during the game. There are also hidden challenges such as Survival and Beacon. Only the upgrades are marked on the map, so the rest can be difficult to find, making 100% completion a tough goal to reach.
Pro Big game world that rewards exploration
The world of Strider is massive city where you'll be climbing a lot of high walls and tall buildings. It also hides a lot of upgrades that will help you clear a level or beat a boss a lot easier. Most of these can only be accessed later when you have the right type of weapon (similar to Metroid Prime). So you'll be spending a lot of time exploring (backtracking) if you decide to access these new locations.
Cons
Con No single-player DLC
There will not be any single-player downloadable content for Mass Effect: Andromeda. This is especially disappointing because, by the end of the game, the writers clearly intended to give more context through DLC about certain galactic races who were absent from the original story. With the news that the publisher, Electronic Arts, has put the Mass Effect franchise "on ice," the series' future looks bleak.
Con Sub-par storytelling
MEA's writing is very inconsistent throughout the game. Sometimes the dialogue is really poor, having lines like "my face is tired". Other times characters forget important information such as the length of their trip to the Andromeda Galaxy, showing surprise at things that should be obvious to them. Even though there are few great moments with moral grey areas, most of the story feels rushed, incomplete, or done by completely different teams with different visions for the game. The end result is a story that lacks immersion and isn't very memorable.
Con Poor face textures and animations
Widely mocked and ridiculed near Andromeda's release, the facial animations, eye movement and tracking, and general skin textures are still sub-par, even after patches meant to fix these issues. Characters look unnatural and downright ugly at times, with the female Ryder inspiring dozens of cringe-worthy compilations of her cinched facial expressions and comical duck-like running animations. Moving to the Frostbite engine no doubt hampered the team's efforts to create believable faces, but in a Mass Effect game, the faces especially should not have been as bad as they were.
Con Cannot skip pre-boss chatter
This is not an issue if you don't die to a boss, but if you do, you have to sit through their introduction and banter every time. You cannot skip talk scenes you've already seen. The final boss, in particular, is quite the chatter-box.
Con No "Fast-Travel" really
It is a big game world, and most of the time you are stuck exploring it all by foot. There is something that lets you travel between areas, but they are few and far between and not really all that helpful. Plus, it is unlocked fairly late into the game. If you know there is something you need to return to on the other side of the game, you are in for a good hike.
Con Story is not explained
Strider has a very simple "good guy defeats evil tyrant" type of story, but none of the characters are truly fleshed out.