Microsoft’s FPS Boost feature is pretty stunning in action. Somehow, someway, this tech can up the frame rate in select Xbox games without the original developers doing a thing. It’s outstanding. Sadly, though, Mass Effect Andromeda is a game that doesn’t support this feature at this moment in time. It’s still stuck in the land of 30 FPS. So I’m here today to advocate for Mass Effect Andromeda FPS Boost as a thing the world needs. Something I need.
I have a secret
I’m a huge Mass Effect fan. I tore through the original trilogy back in the day, and am in the process of replaying it all over again via Mass Effect Legendary Edition. That remaster, by the way, is everything I hoped it would be. It’s a complete visual upgrade, and there are gameplay enhancements in all the right places. But enough of the original titles remain to remind me of how things used to be.
I’ve played about 20 total minutes of Mass Effect Andromeda. Part of that is due to when the game dropped: in a stage of my life where I didn’t have quite as much time to binge RPGs. But part of it is also due to its reception. When other fans turned sour on Andromeda, it made me think I wasn’t really missing out on a whole lot. So after diving in, playing a few minutes, and then finding something else to do, I never came back.
I’m ready to give the game another chance; at least, I will be after I complete Legendary Edition. But see, here’s the thing…
I’m now a frame rate snob
I never replayed the original Mass Effect trilogy until Legendary Edition came along. Why? Because I find it unbearable to play games at 30 frames per second now. This current console generation has ruined those games for me. Playing anything at less than 60 FPS now feels like watching TV on a black-and-white CRT set.
With FPS Boost comes a way to bring some of those older games forward, however, and make them feel more modern in the frame rate department. I’ve already played some older titles that were previously locked at 30 FPS and been blown away. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition feels like a new release with the frame rate bumped up. As does ReCore. All I want is for Mass Effect Andromeda FPS Boost to be a thing, just as it is for those titles. Perhaps with a little love — not even from EA, but from Microsoft — people like me could come to appreciate it, finally.
Crossing my fingers
The addition of Dragon Age: Inquisition to the FPS Boost list has me hopeful that Andromeda will also get its due. The game already looks pretty darn good thanks to its Xbox One X enhancements. A little FPS Boost magic would likely trick people into thinking it’s a native Xbox Series X/S port.
So if you’re out there and listening, FPS Boost team: please add Mass Effect Andromeda to the list of games you’ll bring forward into the universe of higher frames. After playing through Mass Effect Legendary Edition, a bunch of people may want to continue on and check out Andromeda. If they can do so — if I can do so — in the best way possible, we all might come away with a very different feeling about the game.
