Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) - Anthem NEXT cancelled

It is £23.99 at Sainsbury's.

Just picked it up for £20 in Sainsbury.

Really enjoying it after the first hour or so. Flying is pretty great, though will take some practice to be really good. The combat is great at making you feel like a boss. It looks lovely and just generally is really cool to play.

Pretty fun teaming up too, can see it being a great laugh with mates.

Loading is a little egregious, but nowhere near as bad as Metro so far.

I really don’t understand the hate this has gotten, it’s a blast to play and I’ve barely scratched the surface yet, still only having used one Javelin and not gotten far in the story. Alright at times it feels a bit samey with fairly generic quests, but just flying around remedies a lot of that. The controls are tight, the combat feels good, even the story and world building offers some level of intrigue.

The loading is pretty painful but that’s about my biggest gripe so far.

If anyone has it and wants to squad up let me know.

Captain Kinopio wrote:I really don’t understand the hate this has gotten, it’s a blast to play and I’ve barely scratched the surface yet, still only having used one Javelin and not gotten far in the story. Alright at times it feels a bit samey with fairly generic quests, but just flying around remedies a lot of that. The controls are tight, the combat feels good, even the story and world building offers some level of intrigue.

The loading is pretty painful but that’s about my biggest gripe so far.

If anyone has it and wants to squad up let me know.

Glad you're enjoying it.

I really liked the movement and it's fun to just "be in" the game as you say

But that sameyness and generic quests feeling will only grow I'm afraid.

For me it didn't ruin the campaign (Storm combo beast!) but the endgame is empty.

Thanks.

It's introduced a bit more variation in latest play sessions with longer missions and more world exploring. The ever expanding Fort Tarsus keeps things interesting too. I get the complaints of the moment to moment getting a bit stale. But I would leverage that complaint far more against Destiny than this.

The 'loot' is a bit of a problem. Its not as bafflingly complex as Destiny but then the guns are all a bit bland and the special moves feel a bit indistinguishable. The fashion play on the Javelins seems like it could hold some fun but I've yet to delve into it properly.

Still keen for multiplayer if anyone's around.

I can't really get on with how ridiculously slow you move around the hub, it just completely breaks any flow of gameplay between missions.

Lagamorph wrote:I can't really get on with how ridiculously slow you move around the hub, it just completely breaks any flow of gameplay between missions.

Not noticed it as a problem tbh. I usually walk around even though there’s a run button.

And Done. Enjoyed my time I spent with this, aside from he flying there’s not much that’s memorable and it’s far from a classic but I’d say it’s equally far from the malicious panning it got on release. I simply don’t understand the vitriol for a pretty middle of the road game with some nice movement mechanics.

+ Flying around feels really nice
+ The shooting mechanics are functional and combine with flying and hovering can lead to some fun combat encounters
+ I like all the different abilities

- The game world while working well with the flying is really bland and samey
- The guns are all pretty boring and given the technology you’re using all your abilities are not as crazy sci-fi as it should be, just guns and explosions.
- Story is whatever.

7/10

Captain Kinopio wrote:I really don’t understand the hate this has gotten, it’s a blast to play and I’ve barely scratched the surface yet, still only having used one Javelin and not gotten far in the story. Alright at times it feels a bit samey with fairly generic quests, but just flying around remedies a lot of that. The controls are tight, the combat feels good, even the story and world building offers some level of intrigue.

The loading is pretty painful but that’s about my biggest gripe so far.

If anyone has it and wants to squad up let me know.

Just recently started myself, and this echoes my thoughts more or less exactly.

I’m just taking it for what it is, without the baggage of it being by BioWare. It’s fun and, so far, the random people it’s teamed me with have been OK.

This is currently 8.99 at Smyth's Toys.

https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/vid ... 4/p/168567

A huge bargain for a pretty new triple A release.

I wish the game was offline though then I'd be all over it for single player fun.

I don't know why they don't just make it Free to Play. They've already abandoned the roadmap before even starting it, might as well make it F2P before killing it if they think they can make more MTX money from it.

Then again, better option is to probably just kill it off altogether. Salvaging the game would take far more time and effort than EA would ever be willing to put in for an original IP.

I think it'll go free to play soon enough. They've built the engine and the brand while hugely damaged is still a brand so if they keep interest until Anthem 2 it makes sense to have people play it.

It's a terrible time for a game like this to shine with established free games, new COD on the way and Borderlands 3 showing how to do loot right.

If they released a version without the hub bit, no story but lots of loot they'd probably see it become popular. Or if they were really smart do Marvel promotion and have ironman and war machine skins.

Lagamorph wrote:I don't know why they don't just make it Free to Play. They've already abandoned the roadmap before even starting it, might as well make it F2P before killing it if they think they can make more MTX money from it.

Then again, better option is to probably just kill it off altogether. Salvaging the game would take far more time and effort than EA would ever be willing to put in for an original IP.

Brand management. BioWare are a premium developer, a prestige brand. Reducing one of their products, a hugely ambitious one no less, to a FtP game would do huge damage to the studio's reputation. Even if they just let it die out, which is probably what will eventually happen, that's less of a story than going FtP.

I don't think there's any doubt that its days are numbered however.

Tafdolphin wrote:

Lagamorph wrote:I don't know why they don't just make it Free to Play. They've already abandoned the roadmap before even starting it, might as well make it F2P before killing it if they think they can make more MTX money from it.

Then again, better option is to probably just kill it off altogether. Salvaging the game would take far more time and effort than EA would ever be willing to put in for an original IP.

Brand management. BioWare are a premium developer, a prestige brand. Reducing one of their products, a hugely ambitious one no less, to a FtP game would do huge damage to the studio's reputation. Even if they just let it die out, which is probably what will eventually happen, that's less of a story than going FtP.

I don't think there's any doubt that its days are numbered however.

Bioware already did that some time ago with KOTOR

BID0 wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:

Lagamorph wrote:I don't know why they don't just make it Free to Play. They've already abandoned the roadmap before even starting it, might as well make it F2P before killing it if they think they can make more MTX money from it.

Then again, better option is to probably just kill it off altogether. Salvaging the game would take far more time and effort than EA would ever be willing to put in for an original IP.

Brand management. BioWare are a premium developer, a prestige brand. Reducing one of their products, a hugely ambitious one no less, to a FtP game would do huge damage to the studio's reputation. Even if they just let it die out, which is probably what will eventually happen, that's less of a story than going FtP.

I don't think there's any doubt that its days are numbered however.

Bioware already did that some time ago with KOTOR

I'm guessing you mean TOR rather than KOTOR.

Though an actual MMO is a bit of a different case to Anthem, and going F2P there is a standard industry practice.

I think TOR was also seen as a secondary project for the studio too. I completely forgot about it for example! It was certainly never a tentpole release.

Anthem was BioWare's Next Big Thing, supposedly comparable to Mass Effect and Dragon's Age in the level of prestige coverage it was receiving.

Yeh I guess so. I remember at the time of it going FtP from a AAA subscription release within its first year and there was a big hoo-ha from people who had paid for it and having microtransactions added.

For £9 I'm very tempted, makes me wonder if they'll give you it for free just for entering the store come black Friday.

Well I’m still enjoying it.