Immortals Fenyx Rising

 

History:  Formerly Gods and Monsters, Immortals Fenyx Rising was created by Ubisoft, and released December 3rd, 2020.

Story:  The storyline, narrated in a comedic fashion by Zeus and Prometheus, is easy to progress, and light-hearted for the most part.  Phenyx washes ashore to find everyone has been turned to stone.  Phenyx comes to learn that the evil titan, Typhon, has taken over the Golden Isle. 

Graphics:  While a lot of people compare this with Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I think there are distinct differences.  Graphically, they look very similar.  The Golden Isle is vast, and the graphics of the world are beautiful.

Gameplay:  The playability of Fenyx Rising is very easy; it is extremely fun to play, and the vaults have a diverse set of puzzles. One of my favorite parts of the game is gliding with the wings to new locations.  It is a huge, open-world game with many, many objectives and quests to complete.  Almost too big at times.  I think some of the weaknesses include redundancy in the puzzles within the vaults, and the massive amount of weapons and armor, with the majority of them being graphical variations.  The weapons and armor lose their significance as Fenyx becomes more powerful with her abilities in my opinion So I definitely think the game had some flaws in it, but I think the rest of the game overshadows them.

My Experience:  While not totally Zelda-like, the game features an impressive amount of open world exploration, dialogue, puzzles and bosses.  After awhile, I felt like I gravitated towards armor that was powerful against unique enemies or armor that protected against trap damage.  I couldn't even tell you what sword and axe I was using.  I think my favorite boss encounter was seeking Medusa out.  I joined the facebook fanpage for the group, and noticed a wide range of people interested in the game, specifically a lot of female players and a lot of Nintendo Switch players.  Overall, I think the game is a hit.  I've yet to play any of the DLC content, but I would definitely be interested in a sequel, maybe with some fine-tuning of the armor and weapons.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

History:  Mass Effect: Andromeda was developed by Bioware, and released March 21, 2017.  It received various negative reviews concerning the character animations and performance bugs.

Story:  The premise of Mass Effect: Andromeda is that the races of the Milky Way have sent arks, with crews in statis, to the Andromeda Galaxy.  Upon arrival, the main character is thrust into the leading role of the human ark, designated as Pathfinder, and new alien species are discovered.  I don't think the story was as good as the original trilogy, because the Shepard vs. the Reapers story was incredible and very original.  But this game is another chapter in the Mass Effect universe.  Why would you not want more Mass Effect? I would take a Mass Effect: Andromeda 2.

Graphics:  Obviously the biggest criticism about this game were the facial animations.  Playing this in 2021, I barely noticed any weirdness in that regard, and did not feel like it interfered with the overall progression of the story.  The graphics are beautiful, and the worlds encountered as Pathfinder are amazing.  The remnant sites truly have an alien feel to them.

Gameplay:  The combat is really at it's peak within the overall series.  The Pathfinder is able to focus on Tech, Biotic, or Combat, but you can really mix and match powers. Driving the Nomad, the ground transport, is much easier than in previous games. 

My Experience:  I just finished Mass Effect: Andromeda.  Overall, it was a fantastic game worth playing.  I really loved it, and it made me rethink the negative reviews and stigma this game has gotten.  I would love to see how the Heleus Cluster evolves.  And what will happen with the rest of the Kett? What other races are out there that got exalted by the kett? I feel like we don't have the full story on the Remnant either.  I enjoyed the team as well. Drack and Peebee were some of my favorites.  I've never felt so close to a Krogan before! Liam, while kind of weak as a character at times, had a hilarious sidequest.  It's a solid game worth playing.  I think as time goes on, this game will prove a lot of the haters (who are probably still whining for more Mass Effect) wrong.  Clearly not given the chance it was due.

I originally went with the biotic class; singularity is such a powerful attack.  But as the game progressed, I started leaning towards some of the Tech powers, utilizing overload and the Remnant bot built by Peebee.  

The romance options could have been a little better in my opinion, as some relationships such as Cora take way too long to advance.  Establishing the colonies was fun, and driving the nomad around felt so much better than earlier versions of Mass Effect.  Some of the sidequests start to feel mundane after awhile (scan 15 minerals), but there are always interesting surprises.

One of the strong points for me in the game was going into the remnant vaults for the first time.  It truly felt like an alien atmosphere, and was graphically impressive.  (This is why I don't get the whiny facial animation complaints while there is so much more awesomeness in the game).  Some people complained about the Archon as a weak villain.  Perhaps.  But I think a lot of villains would look like a downgrade from the depth of the Reapers.