BioWare and EA’s latest title — Anthem, seemed very promising when first announced at E3 2017. However, as the days went on, fans got more worried about the titular game.
We are now at the finish line and have the end product of Anthem in our hands. How is it you ask? Well, it seems to be a bag of mixed rocks at the moment. There’s a lot of potential in the game, however, due to some poor decisions the game doesn’t reach its maximum capacity of greatness. Reviews for the game are in and for the most part, everyone is sort of on the same page.
Anthem has great gameplay and a decent replayability loop, however, the jargon-filled story, and boring core mechanics of the game weigh it down tremendously. If you were wondering on whether picking up the game at launch, perhaps a quick review roundup on the title could help you decide one way or another.
Down below are some of the most respectable gaming sites in the industry, check out the highlights for their reviews on Anthem down below:
IGN
65
Anthem has energetic combat but it saves too much of what precious little content it has for the endgame, making playing through its mismatched story a tediously repetitive grind.
GameSpot
60
Anthem has good ideas, but it struggles significantly with the execution. It’s a co-op game that works best with no one talking; it buries genuinely interesting character moments and puts its most incomprehensible story bits at the forefront; its combat is exciting until you get to the boss fights and find your wings have been clipped. Even the simple, exhilarating act of flying is frequently interrupted by the limitations of your javelin, and you never quite shake that feeling of disappointment–of knowing, throughout the good parts of Anthem, that you’ll inevitably come crashing back down.
PC Gamer
55
Anthem’s disjointed story, boring loot, repetitive missions, and shallow endgame are all disappointing. At least it’s pretty.
Destructoid
70
BioWare will need to build quickly on top of its shimmering jet-fueled foundation to hold people’s interest, but folks looking for a new neighborhood to move into might want to give Anthem a try — either now or after fixes and updates.
Guardian
40
Even where it is strongest, Anthem rarely stretches beyond the derivative. The combat, while well-designed, is little more than Gears of War with jetpacks, and narratively it veers between inconsequential and downright irritating. This anthem is, sadly, a tedious and conservative dirge that we’ve all heard before
Twinfinite
70
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.
And of course, we here at Gameranx had our own thoughts about the highly anticipated title, which you can check out down below:
Anthem is now available to purchase for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Did you decide to pick up the game at launch? Let us know in the comments below!
