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« on: February 27, 2019, 08:37:41 PM »
I don't really disagree with Max's summary, aside from the fact that I can't relate to the bugs - I've been dropped from the server once in about 20 hours of play, and had issues with match-making once. I haven't had any other bugs, at all. It's been smooth as butter for me.
My list of Things Anthem Rocks at:
- Flight and combat are absolutely stellar - feels even better than ME:A, which had the best combat of any Bioware game, ever. The game encourages you to be mobile, and use flight to your advantage. Combos are awesome, and there is a wide variety of gear/guns to suit however you'd like to play.
- The world is absolutely gorgeous. There are all kinds of nooks and crannies to explore, and the game is constantly taking my breath away. It's also three dimensional, in that it feels like they took the verticality of the game seriously. Fort Tarsis is also pretty great, with lots of attention to detail.
- Characters are mostly pretty great, with some incredible voice acting. They have cut dialogue options down to two, but there are some really memorable interactions.
- The game encourages you to play with other people, without any of the drama. This is one of the biggest positives for me - loot and ammo/health pickups are player specific, and they've worked hard at eliminating options for griefing. No PvP to worry about, you can easily drop in to a mission with randoms and not have to worry about it. Even when you're playing with people, it almost still feels like single player (except you're all killing mobs). And they have managed to somehow balance level mismatches - you can drop into a mission with someone twice your level, and it still feels like you're contributing equally.
- You're not stuck having to level up the different javelins. You unlock them at different levels, and you have a higher chance of finding loot that works with the javelin you're currently using, but you can switch into another suit and play style at any point without starting from scratch. I played my first 10 hours with the Ranger, then switched to the Storm. I'll probably switch again to the Interceptor.
- The customization of the suits is absolutely bonkers. Aside from the difficulty in getting new cosmetic armor pieces, every suit has 7 or 8 different components that you can change both the material as well as the cover, in addition to other cosmetic armor pieces, in addition to vinyls, in addition to wear states. Aside from the default suit designs, I haven't seen the same Javelin twice.
- The world is absolutely steeped in lore.
- While there are microtransactions, they are solely cosmetic and the devs have said repeatedly that you can earn every item in game (as well as earning coin to purchase items in game).
Things that Anthem could Improve:
- Maps. There isn't the ability to set waypoints, so you're constantly having to check the map if you're trying to get somewhere.
- Missions. They are pretty formulaic - Fly here, fight some creatures. Fly there, fight enemies while gathering things to silence a relic. Fly over there to fight a mini-boss.
- Story. For a Bioware game, it's pretty light on story. That being said, they've said that they intend to offer the game as a "live service" and have updates mapped out. I think I recall one dev saying on twitter that from now until the end of March, it's basically the intro. We'll have to see whether that's true or not.
- Loading screens. Holy fuck, even on an SSD the loading screens take forever.
tl;dr - Anthem isn't the "Bob Dylan" of video games, not by a long stretch. But it's a fun multiplayer loot shooter, and Bioware didn't pretend it was anything different.
Protip - if you have an interest in trying Anthem, sign up for Origin basic ($5 bucks a month). It will give you 10 hours of playtime, and a 10% discount if you decide to buy it. It's not as good as a free demo, but it's not a ton of money to drop to try it out, and if you do buy it, you wind up paying the same amount as if you you had just bought the game in the first place.
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