BioWare and EA gave us a glimpse into what Anthem might turn into at last year’s E3, which showed a world where you could cruise in your javelins. Post release though you will find yourself travelling through the world of Bastion, doing the same thing again and again and this feels like the core of the game, the game lacks a substantial story that players are accustomed to from BioWare who has published some of the memorable single player games in recent history.
Anthem suffers from a very high expectations and the failure to meet them is a major issue. You cannot expect a AAA title to be so empty in it’s gameplay. Anthem feels more like a Chapter 1 of a massive story as a lot of things seem open ended and there’s a lack of cohesion about how it feels. To add insult to injury Anthem suffered major connectivity issues during launch and though they have been addressed in the Day one patch, the game will still often throw you out and you will have to go through endless loading screens to get back to where you were before.
Anthem does everything absolutely perfect in it’s visual department as the world is designed to be aesthetically appealing and shows visuals of pure bliss and total carnage in a perfect contrast pack. The soundtracks too have been designed beautifully and they match the visuals in its praise. These two things often take your mind off a lot of the bugs the game is facing.
Anthem is facing a delicate issue where the supply boxes are not available and it becomes tedious where you have to constantly fly by the ground to collect look and dive right out of the mayhem.
The character designs for almost everything has been absolutly top notch but as there is a lack of a story to bind it, you will often find characters standing by themselves looking idly into the distance with a fixed expression which grows creepier the more you look at it.
Though there have been a several negative backlash almost no one is talking about how restrictive the game tends to feel, as in Fort Tarsis is a beautifully designed safe area but it lacks in character, many places are unavailable and the developers have missed a huge oppurtunity in taking the players through the fort, among every nook and corner so that the players get a proper feel of the place the character is in without their javelin suits.
Gameplay
The gameplay feels amazing at first but grows repetitive and tedious in a couple of hours into the game, apart from the story the freeplay missions lack any ingenuity in them, all you have to do is point and shoot, the lack of versatality hurts the game. You quickly realise that after a number of missions that this all that thee is to the game, though you will need a proper strategy in place according to the javelin you are currently using, the end result is the same with just different tricks for different characters.
The voice acting is at times heartwarming and many of the NPC character scattered around Fort Tarsis have much more to tell than what you get to enjoy in the story campaign, there aren’t even chosices which out you in a dilemma which would have had a profound effect on the players and maybe make a part of the game
Story
A lack of a concrete story is a major issue for Anthem, though there is one in place but the major plot is revolved around trying to find a legendary javelin to take down the dominion and save the people of Bastion.
Anthem has many issues to it but the major issue which it cannot fix is that people are still judging the title based on the mishap EA did with Battlefront 2, yes Anthem has its negative aspects but the kind of hate it is generating feels completely off. It feels like the case of EA bringing its heat over from the STar Wars Battlefront 2 launch. Which is comlpetely infair towards Anthem.
Yes the game has flaws and yes, it hasn’t delivered what couple have been a title that could revolutionized the genre, but it seems that it could be fixed, though not impossible but incredibly difficult to pull off. Anthem feels like a work in progress that has been released before the game could be finished and the developers rushed it.
Before launch there was a lot of anxiety about how EA and BioWare would handle the microtransactions in-game and it seems to be justly done. There isn’t anything in the game hiding behind a paywall for players to be forced to shell out more, anything in the shop can be purchased with the in-game currency called coins or shards which can be bought by real money.
Though there is the usual grind but we are glad that EA learnt from their previous mistake and have made amends. A roadmap was recently revealed which shows how the game will progress in the coming months begining from March where new missions and world events will be added. This was announced recently.
Anthen though certainly does not deserve the hate it has been getting, the game lacks substance and that is about it. The game isn’t broken in any way and neither will you be disappointed by your purchase, neither overwhelmed which a lot of people had been hoping for, and this is the main issue that seems to be left out of the conversation when talking about the game. The developers have been quick to address the issue underlying in the game and the developers have openly admitted to trying to fix most of the issues in the game.
All in all, though Anthem could be a great game it falls short on its promise but it isn’t something that you will regret buying as it has its moments where you will find yourself completely submerged in the fast-paced action adventure, where you sort of get to become Iron Man and fly beyond the high walls of Fort Tarsis, travelling through one of the best in-game world architecture and settings this generation of games have to give.
Anthem Game Review PS4
The game holds its pros and cons but will keep you captivated at some point. Should give Anthem a try once.
- Story 6
- Gameplay 7
- Graphics 7