Anthem Reviews
Given time, ANTHEM could slowly start to bloom into a much more cohesive experience, but the worry is that it won't be given a chance. There's a good game in here somewhere, but only the flashy, satisfying combat stands out amongst a background mess of shockingly bad design decisions and woefully undercooked systems. ANTHEM feels unfinished and, frankly, undeserving of your time when there are much better live titles currently available on PS4. Check back in a year from now, and we might be onto something.
Anthem may never get the chance to live up to its potential due to a series of unfortunate game design decisions and issues. The first IP from BioWare in over ten years displays moments of grandeur with fun and unique gameplay that unfortunately is undermined by the game's current condition.
Anthem is a hymn to laziness, where a great potential is held back by strong repetitiveness, the absence of some basic features and the artificially increased level of difficulty. Moreover, BioWare and Electronic Arts made an incomplete product, a mere idea of a full game with the promise that each patch will bring us closer to what we might call a final product. Still, is it possible to have fun with a group of friends and spend some pleasant time exploring or fighting? Sure, but the experience will quickly turn into an infinite loop devoid of any goal.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Despite Anthem’s very noticeable hiccups, there’s enough of a solid groundwork here that I think Anthem can be built off of into something unique. Sadly, it falls into the same shortcomings as its predecessors, featuring a minimal endgame and some almost obtuse design choices.
As it stands, Anthem needs some work done to it if we want to see its full glory.
Anthem offers near unlimited potential, with certain features, taken separately, representing a marvel in design. Combined together and it proves to have a lot of style but very little substance.
We only had a taste of what Anthem’s end-game has to offer, and we can’t wait to see what else the developer has in store for players over the coming weeks and months.
Anthem mimes shoot-and-loot games, but doesn't do enough to stand apart from the competition. Plus, bugs and tedious level design mar a potentially entertaining title.
There's a good game somewhere in Anthem. Somewhere behind the loading screens, asking for meaningful endgame content. Hopefully in the next few months, when BioWare starts launching its post-launch content and quality of life fixes, the game will become what it's meant to be.
Anthem is a game with unmet potential at every turn. The gameplay is fantastic and recreates the '30 seconds of fun' that has made its competitor Destiny such a success. But in its current state of bugs, server issues and poor design decisions, it is planted firmly in the 'play it in six months' category.
The game's bland mélange of competence feels like the deliberate, calculated, focus-tested murder of ideas.
Anthem is two core ideas clashing violently, making for an abrasive and dull experience. On top of feeling incomplete and low on content, it struggles to achieve even a mildly addicting gameplay loop: a death knell for games of its kind.
The basic structure of the Bioware shooter is fun, but story and mission design disappoint. Anthem still has a long way to go.
Review in German | Read full review
BioWare’s new loot shooter is fun at times, but ultimately underwhelms with its tedium and lack of depth
Anthem is a beautiful car that is an absolute joy to drive, but so far, it only has enough gas to get you a couple miles. Also, the wheels will periodically fall off. Sold as a live-service game, fans of Anthem's exhilarating gameplay have to hold out hope that things will improve, but there's no denying the initial expedition was rough.
Anthem is not a bad game as a whole, but rather an interesting project with wasted potential. It has really great gameplay mechanics and an awesome setting that, sadly, got negatively affected by bad choices and poorly implemented ideas like a forgetable story with horrible narrative, repetitive mission structures, painful loading screens and a multiplayer approach with null sense of cooperation.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If BioWare can salvage the great gameplay ideas the game is built on and streamline some of the obtuse checklists, maybe Anthem will become the engrossing, living world I wanted it to be. But maybe I’m searching for something that was never there.
The controls of Anthem are intuitive and engaging. Flying through the world of Bastion is a sight to behold, and coordinating with your team on higher difficulties like Grandmaster is rewarding. Despite some questionable design choices and shortcomings, Anthem has a strong foundation that has potential to be a genre leader, but isn't quite there just yet.
Anthem is the imperfect result of a creative birth that has placed in the hands of the public one of the most promising shared-world shooter of the last few years.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Anthem may look like a slick blend of action and exploration all wrapped up in some shiny armour, but beneath its surface lies a game that is riddled with bugs, shallow world-building and a paint by numbers approach to its design.