Well, it's safe to say that the ANTHEM VIP Demo didn't go exactly to plan. It launched last Friday but it was essentially unplayable for many due to numerous technical issues. Things straightened out as the weekend progressed, but infinite loading screens and other game-ending bugs continued to cause problems. There was some speculation that EA and BioWare may extend the VIP demo to make up for lost time, but nope, it's over.
However, the public demo, set to begin on Friday the 1st February, is still happening. Again, speculation suggested that it would be cancelled and pushed back to a later date, but clearly EA and BioWare are confident that they can get things working a lot better the second time around. Or at least, we hope that's the case.
Despite all the issues, we did sink a fair few hours into the ANTHEM VIP Demo, so we should have some hands on impressions for you soon.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 18
I've seen some videos on this and apart from the bugs, the game is looking pretty cool to be honest (the underwater levels look so cool), I also like the power armor thing they have going on.
I'm sure people will like this game despite how people feel about EA though I'm also sure people will hate this game because of EA
xD I love the internet.
Because of course it wasn't extended. Hopefully with the downtime they can get the server issues fixed, but even if it wasn't, this is EA. Since when did they care about good consumer relations? This was a scheme to get more pre-order numbers to them, nothing more. I'm staring at the headlines for another recent game that had issues with their limited-time beta, but you know what they did? Resceduled the Beta so people can try it when they think it's in a better state! Thanks, Namco Bandai! Thanks Square-Enix, when you had issues with the FFXIV relaunch! Thanks Capcom when you had issues with the SFV beta. Thanks Ubisoft when you extended The Devision's demo, even though you were encountering cheaters exploiting a glitch in the PC version.
This really is frustrating for me, because there's a decent game underneath (albeit one that's built upon ME3/A's multiplayer features, but hey, maybe those needed a standalone game to really stand out? Except now it's matched with Destiny/Borderland's skinnerbox gameplay that I only ever tolerated, but I get the appeal there, and I honestly could use a game like that when I need an inbetween game that I can easily drop without worrying about getting to an ending or being stressed out by PvP games), and it's a new IP to boot, but now I just feel punished for giving them the benefit of the doubt. I certainly won't make that mistake again.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to be busy this weekend.
I found that using the quickplay option gave a better chance of getting into a mission /stronghold with others. Worst part was completing the stronghold and being frozen out before we got our goods. Only three times, out of all the infinite load and freezes, did I see the blue screen 'report error' message come up. It did get better and ran smoother by Sunday so hopefully the public demo should play better.
No excuse, but the VIP demo was apparently running a 6 week old build. Changes have been made since then. I finished the story missions, but gave up due to infinite load screens following that, so no stronghold or freeplay for me. I enjoyed what I played, but ultimately disappointed at the shoddiness of the whole thing.
Well, if this is how they treat their very important potatoes, one can only wonder how the turnips will fair.
felt more like a loading screen demo. the matchmaking in the beta never worked for me. i played the alpha.. there were a raft of issues here that weren't in the alpha.
@RawnDawn Just FYI, the underwater bits just seem to be load-masking. They're pretty, but you don't actually do anything underwater as far as I know. Which might be for the best, I can't for the life of me think of a time when I enjoyed underwater combat, and while the Javelins work fine in the air, they are noticeably harder to handle once submerged...
Matchmaking? I thought this could be played solo like Destiny?
It is possible to play the public demo without PS+?
@ApostateMage you can play both
@ApostateMage It's got matchmaking but you can still play solo... Although based on my time with the demo, playing solo certainly isn't recommended. Some enemy design basically demands that you play with at least one other person.
@ShogunRok like the Escari? Damn that was a tough fight.
@ShogunRok @Starvex Ah righty ho. Cheers muckers.
What a sh*tshow that turned out to be!
And to think Sony delayed Days Gone for this tripe. 🙄
That Storm suit tho... It completes me.
@nathanSF I got two of my four strongholds attempted finished, the two unfinished ones were down to a lag out and a bug where we were missing the last bit of the puzzle that didn't spawn, pretty annoying, but I had a riot in the missions anyway, so if they can get this fixed this is going to be a really good fun game.
@CanisWolfred Ooo I did not know that, thanks for the information.
Tap here to load 18 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...