Initial Observations on Mass Effect Andromeda Patch 1.05

BioWare released patch 1.05 to Mass Effect: Andromeda today. It addresses numerous issues surrounding minor shortcomings in graphics (especially the upper face) and bugs in gameplay. I set out to review these changes for myself, but I ran into early problems exclusive to the PC version. As it stands, the patch itself causes some PC editions of Andromeda to freeze on startup. BioWare's Twitter recommends PC users to either use Origin offline or repair the game. Some extreme cases may require players to delete the main executive file for Andromeda and then repair the game through the Origin menu. While I no longer observe the bugs addressed in the patch notes, others still persist. Initial releases and images, however, show promising improvements when the patch does work. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Now with better lighting![/caption]

Multiplayer Tweaks

Alongside minor tweaks to graphics, patch 1.05 addresses numerous concerns to balanced gameplay in multiplayer. For starters, joining and staying in matches now enjoys latency and lag improvements. Bioware's patch notes mention balance patches between enemy factions. My personal experience with multiplayer supports the necessity of these shifts. Even on early waves, the Remnant (especially observers) provided an exceptionally difficult challenge. By comparison, the Exiles did not provide much of a challenge even when running a two-man team, except on the last two waves. Even BioWare's patches prove to be finicky, but I'll take the start as I did Andromeda. Continuing improvements will add the final polishing Andromeda deserves; in the meantime, I again note the difficulties of using physics-based-rendering engines Frostbite in game development.