' The Anthem Of Creation, it sings to us - Faye '
Anthem has been polarizing and for good reasons, while those that expected a solid story from the maker's of mass effect with branching choices and narrative are left wanting the idea that loot is missing in a looter shooter isn't very far off.
Anthem has had a very troubled development, we have seen this all tomany times now. Both destiny 1 and 2 had their own troubled development cycles, numerous mistakes and took them about 4 years to find a proper footing. The reason Anthem is not given the same leeway is because the game didn't launch alongside destiny 1 but has instead launched at the tail end of Destiny 2. But what anthem doesn't do is take into account the missteps of these games but instead chooses to completely ignore all of them while making a few on it's own.
Despite starting off in a negative way, there is so much to like about anthem, the gameplay is so much fun, each javelin feels significantly different from the other, the abilities are awesome. the setting is fantastic but anthem doesn't utilize any of these to their fullest potential leaving you wanting for more. Combat feels repetitive thanks to no different enemy types and really bad A.I. Loot is glaring missing from this looter shooter. All weapons feel the same, armor isn't part of the loot pool but is instead part of the EA store. There are a heap of technical issues ranging from hard rashes to audio glitches, to player tethering and the annoying transporting to mission location. Not only does the charm fade away after the first few hours but all of these problems are amplified when you hit a grind gate in the middle of the game. Where you are asked to complete a certain set of objectives to progress, not only does this kill the flow of the game but it also reminds you of why artificially extending the length of a game is never good. This single mission rips apart any good will the game has earned until now to show the actual problems modern day looter shooters face, stagnation.
The core story of anthem is amazing, even better than destiny dare I say, the premise is wonderful but the game itself needed atleast another year of development before it is anywhere close to enjoyable. Higher tier difficulties are unlocked once the campaign is done but there is no incentive to play it, to grind through the same 3 strongholds (one of them being a repeat of the last story mission) and to keep getting better loot doesn't really help because the gameplay loop isn't there. Everytime you pull the trigger in destiny it feels amazing that gameplay loop which so many games have perfected is lacking in this game. Too much randomization has made a lot of things in this game loose it's uniqueness, random enemy spawns (AI is completely unresponsive or one shots you), random weapon drops with varied stats (cannot tell the difference between any of them), all of these compound to bring to light where the game truly failed as a looter shooter.
On the positive side, the music is awesome, the characters are all memorable, every one of them unique and distinct waiting to be discovered. Some amazing voice acting and a solid story is what kept me going through the game despite it's shortcomings.
Final Verdict: The game is as broad as an ocean with the depth of a pond, Bioware's maiden attempt in the looter shooter genre goes wrong. Hope they get the time and resources to fix it.
Anthem has been polarizing and for good reasons, while those that expected a solid story from the maker's of mass effect with branching choices and narrative are left wanting the idea that loot is missing in a looter shooter isn't very far off.
Anthem has had a very troubled development, we have seen this all tomany times now. Both destiny 1 and 2 had their own troubled development cycles, numerous mistakes and took them about 4 years to find a proper footing. The reason Anthem is not given the same leeway is because the game didn't launch alongside destiny 1 but has instead launched at the tail end of Destiny 2. But what anthem doesn't do is take into account the missteps of these games but instead chooses to completely ignore all of them while making a few on it's own.
Despite starting off in a negative way, there is so much to like about anthem, the gameplay is so much fun, each javelin feels significantly different from the other, the abilities are awesome. the setting is fantastic but anthem doesn't utilize any of these to their fullest potential leaving you wanting for more. Combat feels repetitive thanks to no different enemy types and really bad A.I. Loot is glaring missing from this looter shooter. All weapons feel the same, armor isn't part of the loot pool but is instead part of the EA store. There are a heap of technical issues ranging from hard rashes to audio glitches, to player tethering and the annoying transporting to mission location. Not only does the charm fade away after the first few hours but all of these problems are amplified when you hit a grind gate in the middle of the game. Where you are asked to complete a certain set of objectives to progress, not only does this kill the flow of the game but it also reminds you of why artificially extending the length of a game is never good. This single mission rips apart any good will the game has earned until now to show the actual problems modern day looter shooters face, stagnation.
The core story of anthem is amazing, even better than destiny dare I say, the premise is wonderful but the game itself needed atleast another year of development before it is anywhere close to enjoyable. Higher tier difficulties are unlocked once the campaign is done but there is no incentive to play it, to grind through the same 3 strongholds (one of them being a repeat of the last story mission) and to keep getting better loot doesn't really help because the gameplay loop isn't there. Everytime you pull the trigger in destiny it feels amazing that gameplay loop which so many games have perfected is lacking in this game. Too much randomization has made a lot of things in this game loose it's uniqueness, random enemy spawns (AI is completely unresponsive or one shots you), random weapon drops with varied stats (cannot tell the difference between any of them), all of these compound to bring to light where the game truly failed as a looter shooter.
On the positive side, the music is awesome, the characters are all memorable, every one of them unique and distinct waiting to be discovered. Some amazing voice acting and a solid story is what kept me going through the game despite it's shortcomings.
Final Verdict: The game is as broad as an ocean with the depth of a pond, Bioware's maiden attempt in the looter shooter genre goes wrong. Hope they get the time and resources to fix it.
No comments:
Post a Comment