Anthem reviews are trickling in and they're not good

[KnightBrolaire]

64 aggregate from opencritic right now
https://opencritic.com/game/7084/anthem
70 from metacritic (only 4 reviews though)
https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/anthem/critic-reviews

Basically the TLDR is that the game is pretty, shooting is good, the story is meh, load times are horrendous and ever plentiful, bugs are everywhere currently, missions are super repetitive and amount to "kill everything and activate the objective".

So it's essentially EA's half assed attempt at making Destiny mixed with Iron man.

 

[MFB]

Had a feeling the missions would be all the same thing as that's all the demo was, so good to know I made the right call skipping out on this one

 

[beerandbeards]

Ooof

 

[wankerness]

The silver lining is since they put all their money into this, the game they just released and put no marketing behind that's actually GOOD is still free and doesn't look to have been severely meddled with like usual.

The bad news is that when Anthem bombs they'll probably try monetizing that more aggressively

 

[GatherTheArsenal]

Damn i was hoping it would get better reviews, it seemed like they were doing something different with this one.... guess not. Still though I'm not writing it off though yet til I try it.

But kinda not surprised on the luke warm meh feeling, for awhile now the whole formula of "multiplayer-shootemup-resurrect-rinse&repeat" is getting old in the eyes of a growing number of gamers, despite big sales. The genre is starting to show its lack of substance IMO.

I mean how many times could you release multiple games a year with the same (almost exact) premise with a different setting and expect it not to get old? I know I'm generalizing the genre but I know I'm not alone when I roll my eyes everytime another multiplayer shootemup is announced.

 

[Ralyks]

I heard the day one patch is suppose to fix the load times.

Otherwise, sigh. I was hoping this would cure the itch that Destiny 2 left behind after I gave up in Forsaken after a couple of weeks. Oh well, back to go through the back catalogue...

 

[TedEH]

This kinda just sounds like modern gaming in a nutshell. Big gaming company that everyone loves to hate releases a flashy title that jumps on all the bandwagons but nobody really asked for, always online, full of micro-transactions, released in a janky state, targeting a vocal audience who will tear it to shreds but still play it for hours on end for who knows what reason.

 

[Mathemagician]

I bought Borderlands 2 for like $20 a year or so ago on PS4 and had a great time. Looking at the clips for this game I kept thinking “why would I play this over more borderlands?” And couldn’t get more than the flying mechanic which is admittedly cool. But I dropped $100 on Destiny 2 at launch, and then the same for BLO4S and that’s my mistakes for this decade.

 

[wankerness]

I bought Borderlands 2 for like $20 a year or so ago on PS4 and had a great time. Looking at the clips for this game I kept thinking “why would I play this over more borderlands?” And couldn’t get more than the flying mechanic which is admittedly cool. But I dropped $100 on Destiny 2 at launch, and then the same for BLO4S and that’s my mistakes for this decade.

You'd play it because there is actually a playerbase. That's kind of how they get you with these things; the only way to be sure of keeping up with the crowd is to buy the new thing since they all did. If everyone just kept playing Borderlands 2 then the world would be a better place.

 

[TedEH]

If everyone just kept playing Borderlands 2

I still play Borderlands 2 sometimes. If Steam is to be believed, it's the game I've poured the most hours into. I play it entirely single-player though, so how many other people are playing makes zero difference to me.

 

[Ralyks]

Man, now I want to play some Borderlands 2. I cannot give up on that game until I get the Platinum, which I'm pretty close to.

I guess what I really want to say is, yeah, I'd pick more Borderlands 2 over what Anthem is shaping up to be. Hell, I'll even play some more Pre-Sequel. Yeah, I said it.

 

[wankerness]

I played it single player mostly (I think between console and PC I had ~200 hours, got to max level and did all DLC on every single class before the DLC ones like psycho), but it's a LOT more fun multiplayer as everything's balanced around it, especially at higher difficulties where practically every single enemy will 1-shot you and it's all based around having a healer on your team to do rezzes etc. Problem is, most of my friends didn't like it and playing through the low levels is HORRIBLE since it forces everyone to listen to all the dialogue as you advance through the story.

 

[Mathemagician]

Yeah my 40 or so hours (1.5 slow playthroughs) was entirely single player. I am not dropping $60+ a game to keep up with strangers. At that price I throw my money at games like FF14 since as an MMO it gets steady story and content updates and the playerbase generally holds if not grows over time.

Every few years like this year i’ll buy a COD just to play with my buddies who got too hyped and all pre-ordered.

 

[BlackMastodon]

I bought Borderlands 2 for like $20 a year or so ago on PS4 and had a great time. Looking at the clips for this game I kept thinking “why would I play this over more borderlands?” And couldn’t get more than the flying mechanic which is admittedly cool. But I dropped $100 on Destiny 2 at launch, and then the same for BLO4S and that’s my mistakes for this decade.

I was also burned by Destiny 2, that's why I didn't bat an eye when Anthem was announced. The biggest kick in the balls for me here is that they put Mass Effect and Dragon Age on hold for this subpar, rushed clone of other games. I feel most sorry for BioWare here, just seems like they're at EA's mercy whenever it comes to their games for the last decade, and EA just views everyone as a cash printing machine.

 

[Mathemagician]

What’s hilarious is that EA is a behemoth that still makes plenty of money but cannot actually “get ahead” of anything enough to have THE game in these newer genres of MOBA, survival, battle royal, etc.

They do fine but it seems like they’re always chasing last season’s goldmine.

 

[wankerness]

That's usually how large corporations in any field function, I think.

 

[dhgrind]

For all the advancement in technology games keep getting worse due to big business.

Oddly enough I log into warframe daily even just to collect the login rewards...


Anthem was too little way too late. They should have been on D1’s heels not D2’s wreckage. Ea was a guarantee that this game would be half baked.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

For all the advancement in technology games keep getting worse due to big business.

Oddly enough I log into warframe daily even just to collect the login rewards...


Anthem was too little way too late. They should have been on D1’s heels not D2’s wreckage. Ea was a guarantee that this game would be half baked.

Warframe is a lot of fun because of the movement/shooting mechanics being so damn good and varied. I've been playing off and on since the closed beta and it's insane to see how much that game has added over that time. The melee overhaul, the jetpacks, pets ,etc are all cool ideas that make destiny/anthem seem barren in comparison featurewise.

 

[AxeHappy]

Anthem was gonna need to be real good to pull me away from Warframe but every review I've read from gaming places I enjoy has completely bagged on it.

I was willing to give it a chance, as I'm an old school Bioware fan boy, but fuck it looks...rough.

The Javelin cosmetic customisation seems on point though...

 

[beerandbeards]

I’m actually enjoying Anthem so far. My brother and nephew got it so as a coop it’s enjoyable. I guess we will see after a week or so.

Seems like they fixed a lot of stuff so far. Definitely noticeable from the demo