There is a difference between a game with technical problems....and a BAD GAME. Lets not kid ourselves. Mass Effect: Andromeda had a lot of problems during development, was rushed out the door before it was really ready...and its animations had a lot of bugs and the faces were poorly modeled. But that doesn't make it a bad game. The core game was actually one of the better open-world, TPS games I've ever played. The shooting and movement were crisp. The story and missions well-designed. Especially if you took the time to do the side missions and loyalty missions and didnt' just rush through the campaign. Bottom line? Expectations are powerful. The vast majority of ME fans wanted Mass Effect 4....and Bioware gave them a game that wasn't what they had had 5 years to hype themselves up into a frenzy about. Bioware basically snuck the game onto the market sight unseen (knowing that they had a lot of problems during development)...and because there wasn't any management of community expectatiions....they got crucified. over the animation problems.... ...as a Trojan Horse for the community being given a game that they weren't expecting. In the end, it wasn't fair to the game itself. It is a VERY good game, beset by minor technical problems. But these things often aren't fair...and fans often aren't reasonable when it comes to game series where there is this much emotion invested in. (Its why I believe we will NEVER see a Half-Life 3. No real game could ever live up to what player expectations are at this point). Imo, had ME: A been released as its own game and new IP....it would have likely been much better received. I think it would have been treated like Watch_dogs . A flawed game....but one with a lot of potential and solid core. But the problem is that is was given to the Mass Effect Community...and thrown to the wolves of 5 years of community self-hype with no means to defend itself. ...and the technical problem it had on release just made matters that much worse.