Anthem Reviews
The world and setting of Anthem are amazing, the gameplay is super fun, but the mission structure and loot system let the game down.
I will probably fire up Anthem more than a few times again, if only to experience the joyous nature of plopping down a Colossus in the middle of a firefight and unfurling fiery, shelled death upon the landscape. It's a wonderful distraction. But unfortunately, Anthem doesn't look like anything more than that. I can't recommend it.
Anthem manages to offer up moments of fun, with occasionally chaotic action, Javelin gameplay variety and freeform traversal. But an overly convoluted and forgettable story, underwhelming RPG elements and outdated design choices make for a rough introduction to this brave new world.
Anthem is a disappointment, there are a core design issues and technical issues that prevented the game from becoming a great game and made it just another looting game.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
That said, great combat and traversal alone don't do enough to warrant playing Anthem right now. Poorly thought out progression, grating characters, and inconsistent performance make EA's answer to Destiny and The Division one to skip until after a major update or two hits.
I’d be remiss not to mention that I personally really enjoy looter shooters, way back to Borderlands in 2009, and I actually adore Destiny (fight me). There was a part of me that really hoped this would be Bioware’s comeback, but that just wasn’t meant to be. Anthem doesn’t just not reach the bar set by others, it doesn’t even attempt to reach for it.
Despite its myriad of issues, I still enjoyed the fun gameplay of Anthem and plan to revisit the game after it has developed a larger suite of content and events for me to experience.
Wearing armor and fighting like the Iron Man is really amazing, but this game at this time is also full of flaws. The story is dull. The gameplay is repetitive and boring. What's worse, there are too many bugs and network issues. Maybe it will be a great game when its DLCs come out.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Anthem's technical shortcomings, dull combat and pretty but messy environments combine poorly with a narrative that uses pointless binary conversation choices, a thoroughly typical, snarky protagonist and worn out tropes to fuel it's characterization and plot. These elements come together to make Anthem a chore of a game that's highly unlikely to satisfy anyone but the most desperate groups of loot motivated gamers in it's current state.
When everything clicks, Anthem is great. But it is a game with major flaws, and how much you enjoy it will depend on both your ability to tolerate them and BioWare's ability to fix them.
Right now, though, Anthem is in a bad state –- and no patches or performance improvements are going to be a quick enough fix to solve the fundamental problems that make it such an unfulfilling game
Anthem's fast-paced shooting gameplay is a ton of fun, but it suffers from long loads, repetitive missions, bad filler, and an iffy story. Still, this is an extremely solid base for more content.
It’s a shame then that everything surrounding this core feels so disjointed. A story that lacks momentum outside of a few moments, mission design that reveals all its nuance in a matter of minutes, and a cumbersome progression system interrupted by walls
Anthem is a game that tries to be an answer to Destiny’s popularity and even seeks to answer some of the issues people have with that game. At the same time, it ends up feeling derivative, and any fatigue you have with Destiny is likely to carry over
Anthem is an MMO-lite looter-shooter with potential sadly unrealized. Most of its design decisions feel woefully underdeveloped, despite how it excels in its frankly addicting gameplay. The interjection of a freemium forced economy as well as the simultaneous extension of and lack of any traditional end-game or development beyond the main story screams of publisher intervention. Anthem's systems are absolutely wonderful, but they feel crippled by its other design decisions.
Anthem is a tremendously fun base for a game, but is significantly lacking as a game right now. We know for sure that BioWare is making that game and it's coming soon, but it sure as heck didn't launch with it. The Anthem gameplay is incredible as an Iron Man simulator, with some great abilities, and the sense of flight is wonderful. The world and story is potentially interesting too.
Anthem is a fun game that has some weird oversights built into it. On the upside, BioWare has been quick to respond to issues and especially bugs in game which is hopeful for the future longevity of the game. Currently, if you play with the mindset of just wanting experience the game and take your time with it, it’ll likely be a fun experience. However, if you tend to have the mindset of needing to be max level NOW and have all the best gear NOW it will probably not be fun.
Anthem offers a solid multiplayer PvE action-shooter experience and exo suit power fantasy dampened by fundamental design problems and loot system inconsistencies.
Bugs, crashes, bad optimization, repetitive objectives, horrible load times and lots more, unfortunately, overshadow the game's great flight and combat system.
Anthem is an excellent Iron Man simulator bogged down with poor mission design set in a fascinating world with a lack-luster story. Coupled with a critical lack of end-game content, this is by far the weakest offering from BioWare. Enjoyment of this game will fully rest on how much you enjoy the combat.