'Mass Effect: Andromeda' Suffers From Open-World Syndrome

Big, beautiful open worlds don't necessarily translate into compelling games. Ultimately, perhaps the biggest problem with Mass Effect: Andromeda is that BioWare believed the game would succeed if only it were bigger and more graphically stunning than the games that preceded it. Here we have a game that's fully embraced the open world design concepts of modern game development, replete with lots of gathering and scanning and crafting and the like. The grind is strong in this one. Ironically, the value of highly structured open-world game design has come into question lately, especially with the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.