Mass Effect: Andromeda Review Survey
Overall Review
The survey was conducted using the input of a total of 1,042 responses in the span of a single week. Every participant had to log into their Google Account so as to avoid brigading. It was mostly promoted on Twitter and the fan-made BSN forums. I also sent a link to my friend Kevin, but he elected not to participate on account of him being a terrible human being. Screw you Kevin.
The game received an Overall Rating of 7.81, with 39.3% of participants giving the game an 8/10. The Single-Player was rated a bit higher at 7.96, while the Multiplayer was rated lower at 7.02, though in both cases the most popular rating was 8/10 (36.4% and 28.2% respectively).
Story Review
The Story received a mean rating of 7.79, with the most popular rating again being 8/10 (27.9%), closely followed by 9/10 (23.5%) and then 7/10 (20.1%).
The participants’ favorite Story Element were Ally, Relationship and Loyalty Missions (36.0%), followed by the game’s Characters & Crew (23.6%). Other popular options included Main Quest & Priority Ops Missions (16.6%) and the overall Universe, Worldbuilding and Alien Races (12.0%). Please note that there is an accidental duplicate of the most popular option, so I used the total of both versions.
The least popular story element was by far side content such as Side missions, Strike Missions, Heleus Assignments and Additional Tasks (60.8%). 9.6% disliked the game’s Dialogue while 9% disliked the overall Universe, Worldbuilding and Alien Races.
The respondents’ paramour of choice was Peebee (24.9%), followed by Cora (19.9%). Other popular love interests were Vetra (15.5%) and Jaal (14.1%). Note that female characters were disproportionately popular here.
The favorite love interests weren’t necessarily people’s favorite overall characters. Nakmor Drack came first at 19.4%, followed by Jaal (13.4%) and Sara Ryder (11.4%). Other popular characters included Vetra (9.8%), Peebee (9.5%) and Scott Ryder (9%).
The least favorite character was clearly Foster Addison (23.1%), though Liam (14.0%) and Cora (9.1%) were also notably unpopular. Addison has expressed moderate disgruntlement at the results.
Gameplay Review
Gameplay received a rating of 8.38 with the most popular rating being 9/10 (34.1%). The game’s Performance was rated significantly lower though, at 7.00, with the most popular rating being 7/10 (26%).
People greatly enjoyed RPG Elements, Powers and Profiles (41.2%) but also Jetpack & Movement (34.0%). The Nomad & Exploration (9.6%) in general were also liked but were not nearly as popular.
The least favorite gameplay element was split fairly evenly between Squad Control (25.6%), Galaxy Map & Planet Scanning (25.1%), and Inventory & Item Economy (22.4%).
People’s preferred ammo system of choice was by far the ME2/3-style Milky Way Weapons (74.7%).
Aesthetics Review
People also highly rated the game’s Aesthetics, giving a mean of 8.05 with 9/10 being the most popular score (30.3%).
Respondents clearly picked Environments (57.8%) as their favorite aesthetic element, followed by Voice Acting (15.0%) and then the design of characters, species and weapons (11.3%).
The least favorite aesthetic element was… and you might want to sit down for this one-- Body & Facial Animations (79.5%), practically eclipsing any other unfavorable aesthetic element. Lighting & Shadows received a 6%.
Given the choice, members of the survey sample would love to have a cruise on the Tempest (62.8%), though they wouldn’t say no to a vacation to the Nexus & the Ark Hyperion (18.2%) either. Kadara followed with a %.
Infographics
A quick summary of the results, mostly for use on Twitter:
DLC Survey
The DLC Survey was conducted in the span of around two days and received a total of 545 responses.
Story DLC Options received the most votes (a mean of 336.5 between individual DLC options), followed by Appearance DLC (238). MP DLC were the least popular (111).
In fact, the Story DLC dominated the top tier of responses, filling the top 3 positions.
The most popular DLC was that of a post-ending DLC that advances the story (383), similar to Arrival DLC for Mass Effect 2 or Tresspasser for Dragon Age: Inquisition. It was closely followed by a Story DLC that centers around the whole crew (369), in the same vein as the Citadel DLC for Mass Effect 3.
The third most popular DLC was another kind of story-based DLC that would further explore the universe (336), which has been a common theme across the original trilogy (Bring Down the Sky in ME1, Overlord in ME2 and Omega in ME3).