So, Anthem, Bioware's stab at a "looter shooter," God how I hate that term. Where to begin? I suppose I will do the classic compliment sandwich where I start with a compliment that acts as a piece of bread, then go into the criticism that acts as the meat, and then end with a compliment that acts as the last piece of bread. Just a heads up, the bread on the sandwich will be very thin.
Compliment 1: Despite what some other people have said, I think the story section of the game was rather enjoyable. I found myself really enjoying the characters and connecting with them, though it is hard to connect with them too much since the story is only roughly 15 hours long.
Criticism: Since I mentioned it in my first compliment, I will start with how barebones and generic the story is. Though like I said, the characters are very enjoyable, the story that the characters are in is very, very, general sci-fi. As someone who played Mass Effect Andromeda more than any sain human should have, I found that this story could have definitely been made to fit in that world, especially since tons of the enemies seem like they could have been completely ripped out of Andromeda. Another criticism I had with Anthem was how buggy the game was. Enemies would spawn out of thin air directly in front of me, the sound would load only half the time, the loading screens are atrocious, and there was an immense amount of pop in. I have played the game after the latest update, as of writing this review the last time I played the game was March 2, 2019, and it has not addressed most of my main issues.
Even if those criticisms were put aside, I would still give Anthem a 4 because the end game is so anemic that I could not bring myself to even reach max player level or power. Once the story was completed I found myself at level 15 - the max level is 30 for those who do not know. Then I did all the missions for all of the three factions, and I was around level 18. Then I grinded out the three strongholds in the game for almost 10 more hours, and now I am currently level 21. Despite me not being max player level, and despite me not being nowhere near max power - with me being at power level 246 out of 486 or so - I have already done everything that Anthem has to offer almost a dozen times.
But wait, there is more. Even if I put aside the fact that I did everything Anthem has to offer a dozen times within 30 hours or so, that is not the game's biggest problem. No, Anthem's biggest problem is that it has unforgivably boring loot. In a game that is based on getting better and better loot, it is unacceptable that the loot is so mundane. All of the weapons within their respective categories look the same, and no weapon has a really cool effect that will make one want to chase them down, like in Destiny.
To put a conclusion on this criticism section, I feel like there is nothing in Anthem that will keep players hooked beyond the 30 to 40-hour mark, and the last half of those hours are just boring grinding of the same THREE strongholds. The roadmap that Bioware has released has nothing that will make me want to come back to the game before the Cataclysm in May, and by then I will have deleted the game off of my system, and I cannot confidently say that I will bother redownloading it then.
Compliment 2: The game is the prettiest "looter shooter;" yep, still despise that term. I feel like there is a lot of potential in Anthem's world, but it is going to take Bioware years before they can conceivably live up to that potential.
Final Verdict: I gave this game a 4 out of 10 because on Gamespot's scale that is "Poor," and that is how I truly feel about this game. It was poorly executed, and sadly, I do not foresee it becoming anything else than that until Anthem 2 if that ever sees the light of day.
I played 30 or so hours of Anthem on a standard PS4 and I played as a Storm javelin exclusively.
Thank you for reading my review, be sure to check out my page for more.
Thanks!!! :p - Alex
