ANTHEM currently sits at around a score of 60 on Metacritic across PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It's safe to say that the game's struggled, and for what was supposed to be a AAA Destiny-killer, you could argue that ANTHEM has been nothing short of a disaster for EA and BioWare. The game could well improve over time -- the developer is already making positive changes -- but in its current state, ANTHEM is a mess.
It's been one week since the title launched on Sony's system, and so we're here to ask: were the reviews right? Is ANTHEM really that middling? Have you played it? For how many hours? What review score would you give it? Vote in our polls, and then feed us your honest opinion in the comments section below.
One week later, what do you think of ANTHEM? (1,226 votes)
It's one of the best games of 2019 so far9%
It's very good, I've enjoyed it a lot26%
It's okay, nothing amazing13%
It's not very good9%
It's rubbish11%
I haven't played ANTHEM31%
How many hours have you spent playing ANTHEM? (1,059 votes)
Over 30 hours21%
Around 20 to 30 hours16%
Between 10 and 20 hours15%
Under 10 hours11%
I haven't played ANTHEM37%
Do you think ANTHEM will get better? (1,065 votes)
Yes, it's going to be a far better game given time22%
Yes, but I already think ANTHEM is very good13%
Yeah, I think we'll see some good improvements down the line19%
I'm honestly not sure14%
I think it'll improve, but it won't be enough to make it a good game14%
Nope, you can't polish a turd, but BioWare will try8%
No, ANTHEM is going to die very quickly10%
What review score would you give ANTHEM? (1,068 votes)
Robert (or Rob if you're lazy) has been a fan of PlayStation since the 90s, when Tekken 2 introduced him to the incredible world of video games. He still takes his fighting games seriously, but RPGs are his true passion. The Witcher, Dragon Quest, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, he's played 'em all — a little too much, some might say.
I do think some negative reviews were bashing just to bash. Some reviews even negative ones were fair and correct for making good points. I do think the game is a 7 with a chance to become a better game. Looking at their road map, maybe a may release would have been better.
I think most of the average reviews were being quite generous. Average is the very best Anthem ever got for me. It's the most monotonous, messy, and soulless game I've played in a long time. I can't believe this came from the same team behind the Mass Effect series. How dare EA and BioWare throw out a "road map" when they couldn't even be bothered to get the car out of the driveway.
I've really enjoyed making my way through the story, but there are definitely things holding it back. For one, the conversations at the Fort get really tedious and kill the momentum from the awesome combat.
Also, now that I've reached the endgame all I can say is: what we're Bioware smoking when they promised that this part of the game would be great? It's like I've hit a brick wall. There's no real motivation to do the contracts, the disappointing amount of Strongholds and the whole grind in general is so unrewarding. I was really enjoying the game but now I find that I've suddenly stopped having the urge to boot it up and drifted back to FFXIV instead. Even the great combat struggles to make the endgame meaningful.
It sounds like it's the very definition of an average and generic game - something that it always seemed to look like. I have no doubt Bioware will improve it over time, but by then the division 2 will be out and everyone's short attention spans will be diverted to that. The only way I can see Anthem being properly successful now is if it does a comeback 'Destiny the Taken King' style, but even that's unlikely
Within the first 20 min the votes were skewed to the negative with the majority doubting a decent game could come out of it. Now seems to have balanced out.
I do think the deciding factor will be how much EA will stick their proverbial <censored> in it or will they let BioWare try to produce at least something half decent.
Still, the whole buy now and maybe the game will become good letter just stinks.
@Shepherd_Tallon FFXIV is different since they hired Naoki Yoshida and the team completely overhauled it. Not sure if Bioware can do the same with Anthem.
7/10 for me. Good gunplay and graphics but story and dialogue are a bore. I'm also not a fan of having a loading screen every 10 mins either and the hub world has less going on than any world in the original Kingdom Hearts. But when I actually am playing with other people it is a fun game.
This game sucked so much, and was not what Bioware promised at all. Extensive armor customization is paltry aside from recoloring your armor, all the guns feel horrible to use (I only used the interceptor and the storm, the colossus has better guns I think), the loads where way too frequent and long, I only ever got the same 8 or 9 abilities for each Javelin (I don't know how many are in the game), difficulty was scaled in an abnormal way that made the game feel really tedious to play sometimes, and a cake walk at others, and the thing that kills it for me the most is the fact you can't change your loadout mid-mission. I don't want to endure two long loads if I don't like the guns I'm using..
Flying was good and the graphics are great though. Glad I only rented it. I'll probably give it another shot if they stick with it after a year, and I hope they do.
I'm in the 'Not bad' category, i.e. 6/10 (and 7/10 when fixed some more). I get the same thing from this game that I got from Destiny, it's similar but in 3rd person. I do enjoy the combat more in Anthem than in Destiny. So for me Anthem is more fun to play in a technical sense. I never expected Destiny or Anthem to offer me a great storyline or a deeply fascinating game-world, so my focus has been on how fun the combat was.
I've only played Anthem on PC though, and it worked quite well when I played it. The console versions seem the worst off by the sound of things, as it ran more or less smoothly for me.
However, if I had to pick one game to play from this narrow genre (mmo shooter thingy), it would be The Division. Not only does it have [for me] very satisfying combat, it also has a rather immersive game-world (for these types of games).
I think there is a good game in there but the tech issues are ruining it. The load times are down right awful. There is a glitch in a story mission that you can't finish if it happens. I had to restart it three times before it let me finish it. The main thing keeping me coming back is the combat.
The world and combat are excellent once you understand the combos and make use of the hovering/evade movements. Conversations can be dull and still crashes out at the end of some missions. Loading screens are still too long. Basically, mostly technical issues. The game itself is good imo. A solid 7.
I went with the haven’t played option for the first two since I haven’t played post demo. However, my time with the demo was average at best. I even loaded the demo up once, thought to myself, “Do I really want to do this?” Decided no and deleted it.
I’m sure it will get better with time, but that’s why I jokingly said previously that that this is a day 366 for me...if it has legs to get there.
Today I did free play for the Tombs quest (I can just imagine how tedious it was before the patch...). I was flying for at least half an hour to discover the tombs entrances....while the world is lush and gorgeous (but also samey) I did not find a single random event or a giant... nor even a bunch of mobs to shoot down.... I was even thinking it was a bug. The environment looks so barren and void, almost meaningless at time.
The more I am playing, the more I see how everything seems broken/unfinished.
Fortunately I got it for 5 euro at gamestop givin back some old games...
I can't wait for the Division 2 to come. It is the only looter shooter that strikes an almost perfect balance between storytelling, immersive environment, gunplay, variety of meaningful content and loot.
I'm having fun with it. Missions are samey, but where do you not get that. I found the same thing in Destiny until the new chapters came out. And Spider-man missions got monotonous too - so much so that I gave up on completing the 'City that Never sleeps' DLC after the first one. As for characters and side stories in Anthem. The Marl & Gunter story was very funny, I'd like to see more of those two. The characters in the Fort are interesting and I hope to see their stories develop.
I'm having a really good time with it and I honestly don't understand all this negativity around it. The graphics and the gameplay are so good ! I'm really hooked to this game. I respect everyone's opinion, but it's my sacred right to disagree with the general tone of the reviews involved here. This isn't a mixed bag for me. It's not a "meeeh... Ok, but..." No. It's one the best games I've played in a long time. But, hey, that's just my opinion.
It's funny, Anthem has an appealing world and the javelin suits but isn't very polished. The Division 2 will be much more polished but the world, outfits, guns and enemies are all so bland they don't appeal to me in the slightest.
@Shepherd_Tallon Yeah, that's the thing. I think the bugs and performance issues can be fixed but adding more to do that's not the same and boring underwhelming missions that's gonna take some time even if Bioware does decide to do so.
Im not paying for unfinished games i stand by that. Liveservice i never liked the idea its just a cheap way to drop a Shell of a game and fix it later with 90% of the games.
A 5 or 6 for me, I played about 15 hours using a friend's account and the core gameplay is actually very good. The problem is the game it's in is pretty poor at best, some very badly designed missions, some truly abysmal conversations in fort tarsis which itself is rubbish and feels like a different game. A loot system that is fundamentally broken with too much rubbish thrown at you and random stat rolls that can literally be 0 for buffs. Too many aspects are locked behind loading screens or deep into convoluted menu's and it's pretty much obvious to everyone that this game wasn't ready for launch. Oh and those big Star Wars inspired walker things shown a couple of years ago are now just static objects.
As for positives like I said the core gameplay loop is very good so it has a good foundation to build upon. The development team seem very responsive to the communities complaints and are looking to address them. In 6 to 12 months this could be a very good game
Biggest problem with the game for us is that it was incredibly boring, We have origin access, 3 months for the price of one, so at did not cost a lot but both me and both my boys found it very boring, even if we ignored all its issues I would still not put any more time into the game.
Yeah this just feels like a PVE ripoff of Destiny, I am honestly gutted about this but in a way I am glad I kept my money in my back pocket so I never got burned (based on DAO)
i'd probably give it a 5 for its basic core, most of the wrapping is rubbish. when you hear a character say he'd bet on a rumour that you dined on some "korox danglers" there's not much lower the dialogue can sink. they could have removed fort tarsis in its entirety and would have had little impact on the game.
@Shellcore My problem is that you see to many half###### attempts. Like lets release it and fix it two months down the road. Now i know why the PS1 was my favorite console. 🤓
Comments 33
I do think some negative reviews were bashing just to bash. Some reviews even negative ones were fair and correct for making good points. I do think the game is a 7 with a chance to become a better game. Looking at their road map, maybe a may release would have been better.
Definitely not a perfect game but very fun for me and my friends. Easily a 7 or a 7.5 from me.
I think its a good game it will get better if BioWare sticks with it.
Conversations bores me to hell (in the night I even felt asleep with the pad in my hands). Combat is great but missions are all the same.
Free play solo is a clusterf....it is impossible to stick together.
Combat and graphics I rate as a 8, all the rest is a 4.
I think most of the average reviews were being quite generous. Average is the very best Anthem ever got for me. It's the most monotonous, messy, and soulless game I've played in a long time. I can't believe this came from the same team behind the Mass Effect series. How dare EA and BioWare throw out a "road map" when they couldn't even be bothered to get the car out of the driveway.
I've really enjoyed making my way through the story, but there are definitely things holding it back. For one, the conversations at the Fort get really tedious and kill the momentum from the awesome combat.
Also, now that I've reached the endgame all I can say is: what we're Bioware smoking when they promised that this part of the game would be great? It's like I've hit a brick wall. There's no real motivation to do the contracts, the disappointing amount of Strongholds and the whole grind in general is so unrewarding. I was really enjoying the game but now I find that I've suddenly stopped having the urge to boot it up and drifted back to FFXIV instead. Even the great combat struggles to make the endgame meaningful.
Rarely seen polls on this site be so divided. Says it all, really.
It sounds like it's the very definition of an average and generic game - something that it always seemed to look like. I have no doubt Bioware will improve it over time, but by then the division 2 will be out and everyone's short attention spans will be diverted to that. The only way I can see Anthem being properly successful now is if it does a comeback 'Destiny the Taken King' style, but even that's unlikely
Very fun game, with a good amount of faults. Would rate it a 7 as of now. I have faith it will improve over time
Within the first 20 min the votes were skewed to the negative with the majority doubting a decent game could come out of it. Now seems to have balanced out.
I do think the deciding factor will be how much EA will stick their proverbial <censored> in it or will they let BioWare try to produce at least something half decent.
Still, the whole buy now and maybe the game will become good letter just stinks.
@Shepherd_Tallon FFXIV is different since they hired Naoki Yoshida and the team completely overhauled it. Not sure if Bioware can do the same with Anthem.
7/10 for me. Good gunplay and graphics but story and dialogue are a bore. I'm also not a fan of having a loading screen every 10 mins either and the hub world has less going on than any world in the original Kingdom Hearts. But when I actually am playing with other people it is a fun game.
This game sucked so much, and was not what Bioware promised at all. Extensive armor customization is paltry aside from recoloring your armor, all the guns feel horrible to use (I only used the interceptor and the storm, the colossus has better guns I think), the loads where way too frequent and long, I only ever got the same 8 or 9 abilities for each Javelin (I don't know how many are in the game), difficulty was scaled in an abnormal way that made the game feel really tedious to play sometimes, and a cake walk at others, and the thing that kills it for me the most is the fact you can't change your loadout mid-mission. I don't want to endure two long loads if I don't like the guns I'm using..
Flying was good and the graphics are great though. Glad I only rented it. I'll probably give it another shot if they stick with it after a year, and I hope they do.
I'm in the 'Not bad' category, i.e. 6/10 (and 7/10 when fixed some more). I get the same thing from this game that I got from Destiny, it's similar but in 3rd person. I do enjoy the combat more in Anthem than in Destiny. So for me Anthem is more fun to play in a technical sense. I never expected Destiny or Anthem to offer me a great storyline or a deeply fascinating game-world, so my focus has been on how fun the combat was.
I've only played Anthem on PC though, and it worked quite well when I played it. The console versions seem the worst off by the sound of things, as it ran more or less smoothly for me.
However, if I had to pick one game to play from this narrow genre (mmo shooter thingy), it would be The Division. Not only does it have [for me] very satisfying combat, it also has a rather immersive game-world (for these types of games).
I think there is a good game in there but the tech issues are ruining it. The load times are down right awful. There is a glitch in a story mission that you can't finish if it happens. I had to restart it three times before it let me finish it. The main thing keeping me coming back is the combat.
The is like failed game Evolve except that was PvP only and this is PvE only. Even if loot is fixed there isn't enough base game.
The world and combat are excellent once you understand the combos and make use of the hovering/evade movements. Conversations can be dull and still crashes out at the end of some missions. Loading screens are still too long. Basically, mostly technical issues. The game itself is good imo. A solid 7.
Nope, you can't defend this game, there are things they even lied about in original marketing such as choices mattering in the story 😂 just no.
I went with the haven’t played option for the first two since I haven’t played post demo. However, my time with the demo was average at best. I even loaded the demo up once, thought to myself, “Do I really want to do this?” Decided no and deleted it.
I’m sure it will get better with time, but that’s why I jokingly said previously that that this is a day 366 for me...if it has legs to get there.
Today I did free play for the Tombs quest (I can just imagine how tedious it was before the patch...). I was flying for at least half an hour to discover the tombs entrances....while the world is lush and gorgeous (but also samey) I did not find a single random event or a giant... nor even a bunch of mobs to shoot down.... I was even thinking it was a bug. The environment looks so barren and void, almost meaningless at time.
The more I am playing, the more I see how everything seems broken/unfinished.
Fortunately I got it for 5 euro at gamestop givin back some old games...
I can't wait for the Division 2 to come. It is the only looter shooter that strikes an almost perfect balance between storytelling, immersive environment, gunplay, variety of meaningful content and loot.
I'm having fun with it. Missions are samey, but where do you not get that. I found the same thing in Destiny until the new chapters came out. And Spider-man missions got monotonous too - so much so that I gave up on completing the 'City that Never sleeps' DLC after the first one.
As for characters and side stories in Anthem. The Marl & Gunter story was very funny, I'd like to see more of those two. The characters in the Fort are interesting and I hope to see their stories develop.
I'm having a really good time with it and I honestly don't understand all this negativity around it. The graphics and the gameplay are so good ! I'm really hooked to this game. I respect everyone's opinion, but it's my sacred right to disagree with the general tone of the reviews involved here.
This isn't a mixed bag for me. It's not a "meeeh... Ok, but..." No. It's one the best games I've played in a long time. But, hey, that's just my opinion.
It's funny, Anthem has an appealing world and the javelin suits but isn't very polished. The Division 2 will be much more polished but the world, outfits, guns and enemies are all so bland they don't appeal to me in the slightest.
@Shepherd_Tallon Yeah, that's the thing. I think the bugs and performance issues can be fixed but adding more to do that's not the same and boring underwhelming missions that's gonna take some time even if Bioware does decide to do so.
Im not paying for unfinished games i stand by that. Liveservice i never liked the idea its just a cheap way to drop a Shell of a game and fix it later with 90% of the games.
@Shellcore It sounds like a mess what where they doing for 6 years? I just hate liveserviceeee e games.
A 5 or 6 for me, I played about 15 hours using a friend's account and the core gameplay is actually very good. The problem is the game it's in is pretty poor at best, some very badly designed missions, some truly abysmal conversations in fort tarsis which itself is rubbish and feels like a different game. A loot system that is fundamentally broken with too much rubbish thrown at you and random stat rolls that can literally be 0 for buffs. Too many aspects are locked behind loading screens or deep into convoluted menu's and it's pretty much obvious to everyone that this game wasn't ready for launch. Oh and those big Star Wars inspired walker things shown a couple of years ago are now just static objects.
As for positives like I said the core gameplay loop is very good so it has a good foundation to build upon. The development team seem very responsive to the communities complaints and are looking to address them. In 6 to 12 months this could be a very good game
Biggest problem with the game for us is that it was incredibly boring, We have origin access, 3 months for the price of one, so at did not cost a lot but both me and both my boys found it very boring, even if we ignored all its issues I would still not put any more time into the game.
I got it for £34 on Amazon so I'm pleased with it for that price.
I think Bioware was making a different style of Mass Effect but EA made do a Destiny game half way through development.
Not having your online mates in the Temple is a mistake. Instead you have to hang out in a boring hanger lol
Change the loading screen images every 5 seconds as well please.
The Temple feels like Dishonored with Mass Effect questions thrown in.
The outside world feels like Mass Effect Andromeda/Destiny.
Plus to keep your jet pack cool you need to hover over the water so why not just have the Destiny hoover bikes? Lol
Yeah this just feels like a PVE ripoff of Destiny, I am honestly gutted about this but in a way I am glad I kept my money in my back pocket so I never got burned (based on DAO)
@Flaming_Kaiser I am enjoying it. As you hate live service games, I understand why you may not like it.
i'd probably give it a 5 for its basic core, most of the wrapping is rubbish. when you hear a character say he'd bet on a rumour that you dined on some
"korox danglers" there's not much lower the dialogue can sink. they could have removed fort tarsis in its entirety and would have had little impact on the game.
@Shellcore My problem is that you see to many half###### attempts. Like lets release it and fix it two months down the road. Now i know why the PS1 was my favorite console. 🤓
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