The Art of Mass Effect: Andromeda

l am not going to make this review about the game itself. Clearly there have been people that have been disappointed by the new game (me not being one of them), but this is an art book for the Mass Effect Andromeda game, not the Mass Effect Andromeda game itself. So the games success is completely irrelevant to me when it comes to taking about the overall quality of the art design team and this art book. What I do care about when it comes to art design and video game art books is the quality of the art from the game and on this level, Bioware has yet to disappoint me to date and this book continues that streak. One of my favorite aspects to these kinds of books is the concept art and how you see characters go from concept art all the way to finished design. Its a process that I have always found highly intriguing and this book has some fantastic concept art. I also love that most of these books contain never before seen artwork for the game. If these books were just nothing but the artwork we have all already seen...well, there wouldn't be too much incentive to buy it, but when you add the amazing art that you have likely seen with the really fascinating concept art along with the never before seen artwork and what you get is a very modestly priced art book that will more that satisfy the Mass Effect fans of the world. Even for those that didn't like Andromeda, but still consider themselves a Mass Effect fan due to the original trilogy, there is still plenty of quality artwork in here that would make this a solid purchase. Bottom line - these last few years have been some of the best to date in regards to video game related art books. The video game companies are putting a lot more effort into these kinds of art books then they ever have before so what you ultimately have is a video game industry that is chock full of amazing video game art books and short of a few misc titles for series I don't really care for, I have purchased most of them and this book can more than hold its own against all of the other quality video game art books that have been released the last few years running. If your a Mass Effect fan and enjoy art books, this should be a no brainer purchase. And best of all it has a very moderate price which makes purchasing it all the easier. This book will be proudly displayed on my bookshelf along with all of my other Mass Effect and other video game related art books. Just a fantastic job all the way around on this book!

This IS an art book, and whether or not you appreciated the game is irrelevant. This art book is gorgeous and the colors are amazing. It possesses what I EXPECT from an art book: concept art. Not as much as I'd like, as I like to see the entire development of a character, but it does show the development. For instance, the character concept for Cora in the book is dramatically different than what made it into the final game. Where this book also shines is the over-all development for the Kett is really shown well here. A few pages are totally dedicated to the development of Kett and Angara. It possesses concept art for armor as well. Not much, but it does explain the artists' thinking when planning out the armor. This brings me to another major thing I want in every art book: artist commentary. This book has it, and that's of vital importance to me, personally. If you collect art books or just like to see the development process, this book is a must-have.

The game is great but I felt like there were times when it was stuffed full of detail that I missed, so I'm thrilled to have this book!! Filled with lots of great concept art, character designs, and developer commentary. Great quality printing and binding too. As an artist it excites me to see people's hard work, and as a bonus, I have a fabulous source for future inspiration.

Really cool artwork and a great read for any fan of the series. Just forget about the game itself and you'll enjoy it.

I'm going to assume this book is good. I love concept art. Unfortunately Andromeda was so painfully unplayable for this ME obsessed veteran, I haven't even opened it yet... I don't want to return it, because art really excites me- the game is BEAUTIFUL, I just can't force myself to get through it when I have so much sh** to do, so little time, and SO many ways to fill that time with better, more exciting things! If I could go back in time and cancel my pre-order and just skip the disappointment altogether, I totally would. Never paying 80-90 dollars for another Bioware game. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson with ME3's stupid robot dog but nope. This time, Andromeda really drove the nail in. A letter to all the artists who worked on the game... After hearing the behind the scenes chaos of the development of Andromeda, I'm sorry, I know nobody wanted this to fail and people put their hearts and love into it. Mass Effect is an AMAZING property with so much potential and it deserved MUCH better!

Love it, big mass effect fan so I must own this. The contents are better than the original trilogy edition.

I got this as a gift for my boyfriend who has other art books like this for other games. We are both fans. We liked all the art that was put into this book. I liked the authors commentary through out the book. The book itself is a pretty big book, and I thought it would be an awesome coffee table book. It's a pretty good gift for anyone who's a fan of the series!

After finishing Mass Effect: Andromeda I immediately had to own the art book. To put it short, this exceeded my expectations. It came in brand new, wrapped in plastic. The cover is matte and the pages look and feel really good. One or two pictures are a bit blurry but the rest are clear. The concepts for the undiscovered worlds and new alien species are beautiful, and I'm so glad that I was able to experience Andromeda. Thank you, Bioware.