Discussion
Anthem is a 3rd-person-shooter and action-RPG from Bioware, creators of Knight of the Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
Yes, Mass Effect Andromeda wasn't great, but that was essentially farmed out to a newly founded, inexperienced secondary wing of the studio, whereas Anthem's Project Lead and new Studio Head is Casey Hudson, one of the original executive producers for the Mass Effect Trilogy. Say what you will about the final moments of Mass Effect 3, but 99% of that trilogy was utterly enthralling and I'm very much looking forward to this.
For those of us who enjoy nothing more than a looter shooters, for anyone who enjoyed Destiny, The Division, Warframe, or even the likes of Diablo, this looks worth keeping a close eye on.
If anyone is considering pre-ordering, ShopTo have the game for PS4 and Xbox One for the very generous price £32.85. It'll show as £40ish quid until you add it to your basket. (credit Eurogamer)
https://youtu.be/ZFwylDNpgFc
https://youtu.be/2drI_iT4NUg
Yes, Mass Effect Andromeda wasn't great, but that was essentially farmed out to a newly founded, inexperienced secondary wing of the studio, whereas Anthem's Project Lead and new Studio Head is Casey Hudson, one of the original executive producers for the Mass Effect Trilogy. Say what you will about the final moments of Mass Effect 3, but 99% of that trilogy was utterly enthralling and I'm very much looking forward to this.
For those of us who enjoy nothing more than a looter shooters, for anyone who enjoyed Destiny, The Division, Warframe, or even the likes of Diablo, this looks worth keeping a close eye on.
If anyone is considering pre-ordering, ShopTo have the game for PS4 and Xbox One for the very generous price £32.85. It'll show as £40ish quid until you add it to your basket. (credit Eurogamer)
https://youtu.be/ZFwylDNpgFc
https://youtu.be/2drI_iT4NUg
Full disclosure; I adore sci-fi shooters, hence Mass Effect being one of my favourite gaming experiences in the last... well, ever really. I've also played literally thousands of hours of Destiny and Destiny 2, but the appeal of that series long-term is largely social and as my regular crew have reached max light (or whatever other arbitrary goal they set themselves) and started to drift away from the game again, my own interest has waned.
I played a reasonable amount of the Division (50-60 hours) and my biggest concern with the sequel is that it looks so similar that you'd struggle to tell it was a sequel. Granted, that's based on zero hours spent playing it, but it certainly didn't do much to really whet my appetite.
And I do very much enjoy Warframe, I've been playing on and off for two and a bit years, but I find it a game I tend to dip back into for a few weeks then put down again for months at a time.
These games are mentioned only because they're the yardstick I use to judge others, I didn't necessarily mean to make a direct comparison between them!
I played a reasonable amount of the Division (50-60 hours) and my biggest concern with the sequel is that it looks so similar that you'd struggle to tell it was a sequel. Granted, that's based on zero hours spent playing it, but it certainly didn't do much to really whet my appetite.
And I do very much enjoy Warframe, I've been playing on and off for two and a bit years, but I find it a game I tend to dip back into for a few weeks then put down again for months at a time.
These games are mentioned only because they're the yardstick I use to judge others, I didn't necessarily mean to make a direct comparison between them!
Plot and gameplay are two sides of the same coin as far as I'm concerned. Destiny is my most played game ever, but it's played like a hobby in its own right and only a handful of those 2000 or so hours were truly memorable. In twenty years time I don't know how much of it I'll recall. Mass Effect though? Knights of the Old Republic? Finding Ciri in The Witcher 3? Story moments are what makes those things truly memorable, and I honestly think I'll remember all those for the rest of my life.
However, those story moments are one and done. They leave an impression, but they don't keep you playing past the one-hundred, two-hundred, five-hundred hour mark. Solid basic gameplay is what does that.
However, those story moments are one and done. They leave an impression, but they don't keep you playing past the one-hundred, two-hundred, five-hundred hour mark. Solid basic gameplay is what does that.
Well, let's be honest, the opening few hours of the VIP Demo were a catastrophe.
The demo allegedly went live at 5pm UK time yesterday, available for those who had pre ordered and a few friends. Within minutes, there were messages greeting players eager to try the game that the servers were at capacity. The Anthem twitter account hurriedly rushed out information that they were bringing more servers online to cope. That's a bit odd though, right? Surely they know how many people have jumped through the required hoops to access this supposed VIP demo? If it had been an open demo, I'd have understood if the numbers trying to play had caused an issue, but when it's limited, I'm not sure that's acceptable.
The lucky few that did connect were apparently hit by other issues; infinite loading screens, character models not loading properly, and disappearing enemies in the field.
Still, it took EA and Bioware a little while to get their house in order, but I've spent a good few hours playing today, and will take a little further time to gather my thoughts.
The demo allegedly went live at 5pm UK time yesterday, available for those who had pre ordered and a few friends. Within minutes, there were messages greeting players eager to try the game that the servers were at capacity. The Anthem twitter account hurriedly rushed out information that they were bringing more servers online to cope. That's a bit odd though, right? Surely they know how many people have jumped through the required hoops to access this supposed VIP demo? If it had been an open demo, I'd have understood if the numbers trying to play had caused an issue, but when it's limited, I'm not sure that's acceptable.
The lucky few that did connect were apparently hit by other issues; infinite loading screens, character models not loading properly, and disappearing enemies in the field.
Still, it took EA and Bioware a little while to get their house in order, but I've spent a good few hours playing today, and will take a little further time to gather my thoughts.
Okay, the VIP demo has come and gone, and now that some of the emotion of the disastrous Friday night launch has been taken out of the equation, now is a good time to scribble down my thoughts, both the good and the bad.
We'll start with the bad, because A) it seems a lot of people want the game to fail just to spite EA, and B) it means I can finish the post on a positive note.
I've already mentioned the debacle at switch-on. I'm not sure what the exact problem was, and no, it wasn't life-threatening, but it was disappointing and frustrating. Following that, of course, was the issue that did unfortunately affect me all weekend, being the issue where you leave Fort Tarsis to head out on an expedition but the game hits roughly 90% on the load bar and just stops. The only solution was to force close the application and restart it. Most times the game would ask you if you wanted to rejoin the expedition and would then load you in just fine, but I had two occasions where the exact same thing then happened; it asked me to rejoin the expedition, then got stuck on the loading screen.
Once you made it into the game world itself, you're treated to an open world with... well, not a lot to do. Sure you can fly around in free roam, but other than the occasional World Event (think Destiny Public Event), a few resources you could harvest, or the occasional group of enemies, there didn't seem much reason to explore.
Fort Tarsis, the out-of-suit hub area, was a touch disappointing as well. It was quite sparsely populated, which made the background crowd noise all the more inappropriate, giving the audio impression of a bustling market place whilst visually there are maybe five or six NPCs within thirty feet of you. Also, you can't run, you can only walk. The useful area in the demo is pretty small, so it wasn't a massive issue, but looking at the map screen I fully expect Tarsis to open up as you progress through the game, and at that point walking around is going to get old, very quickly.
We'll start with the bad, because A) it seems a lot of people want the game to fail just to spite EA, and B) it means I can finish the post on a positive note.
I've already mentioned the debacle at switch-on. I'm not sure what the exact problem was, and no, it wasn't life-threatening, but it was disappointing and frustrating. Following that, of course, was the issue that did unfortunately affect me all weekend, being the issue where you leave Fort Tarsis to head out on an expedition but the game hits roughly 90% on the load bar and just stops. The only solution was to force close the application and restart it. Most times the game would ask you if you wanted to rejoin the expedition and would then load you in just fine, but I had two occasions where the exact same thing then happened; it asked me to rejoin the expedition, then got stuck on the loading screen.
Once you made it into the game world itself, you're treated to an open world with... well, not a lot to do. Sure you can fly around in free roam, but other than the occasional World Event (think Destiny Public Event), a few resources you could harvest, or the occasional group of enemies, there didn't seem much reason to explore.
Fort Tarsis, the out-of-suit hub area, was a touch disappointing as well. It was quite sparsely populated, which made the background crowd noise all the more inappropriate, giving the audio impression of a bustling market place whilst visually there are maybe five or six NPCs within thirty feet of you. Also, you can't run, you can only walk. The useful area in the demo is pretty small, so it wasn't a massive issue, but looking at the map screen I fully expect Tarsis to open up as you progress through the game, and at that point walking around is going to get old, very quickly.
I also had a few instances where you engage a group of enemies only to have them simply disappear. Not even despawn, they'd just all suddenly and completely vanish like they were never there, and one occasion where a full group of us fought through the Stronghold on Hard (which was genuinely pretty tough), only for the boss to bug out - no pun intended - and remain in his nest, impervious to all damage. Nothing we did could bring him out, and we ended up having to quite the activity and forfeit our rewards, which was a frustrating excercise to say the least.
When the boss did spawn on a successful run, he also felt like a mega-bullet-sponge, taking 15-20 minutes even on normal, with only ultimate abilities seeming to do any real damage.
Now for the good stuff.
The Frostbite engine is hardly new at this stage, but it's capable of creating some terrific scenery and some of the vistas are stunning. Thankfully, the central conceit of the gameplay; the mobility of the javelin exosuit, the gunplay, the abilities, the way it all ties together, it feels genuinely great to play. The verticality of the open world encourages you to explore it as a truly three-dimensional space, and it's extremely gratifying to do it.
The variety of the javelin was also a very pleasant surprise. They feel like very distinct entities, something much more akin to World of Warcraft or Diablo, than Destiny. The Interceptor, for instance, is the rogue character, fast, agile, able to get in quickly and inflict massive damage with vast manoeuvrability, but also takes heavy damage if you make an error. In contrast, the Colossus cannot dodge, it's equivalent is to raise a huge physical shield to mitigate the damage it takes, and it's able to use taunting abilities to draw aggro feels very much like an MMO staple.
The customisation deserves mention as well, giving you option to change material type, from plastics to fabric to metal, as well as aged, dirty, clean, or damaged and colours too. Want a shiny plastic looking toy? Done. Want a beat up hunk of rusting iron? Yea, you can do that too. A bright pink and yellow neon monstrosity? If that's what floats your boat, then yes.
I do have some further concerns, some possible issues I foresee with the final release, but until we know what the full game has in store, I'll sit on those a bit longer. Sure, when it didn't work, the demo was bloody frustrating, but when it did I thoroughly enjoyed it.
When the boss did spawn on a successful run, he also felt like a mega-bullet-sponge, taking 15-20 minutes even on normal, with only ultimate abilities seeming to do any real damage.
Now for the good stuff.
The Frostbite engine is hardly new at this stage, but it's capable of creating some terrific scenery and some of the vistas are stunning. Thankfully, the central conceit of the gameplay; the mobility of the javelin exosuit, the gunplay, the abilities, the way it all ties together, it feels genuinely great to play. The verticality of the open world encourages you to explore it as a truly three-dimensional space, and it's extremely gratifying to do it.
The variety of the javelin was also a very pleasant surprise. They feel like very distinct entities, something much more akin to World of Warcraft or Diablo, than Destiny. The Interceptor, for instance, is the rogue character, fast, agile, able to get in quickly and inflict massive damage with vast manoeuvrability, but also takes heavy damage if you make an error. In contrast, the Colossus cannot dodge, it's equivalent is to raise a huge physical shield to mitigate the damage it takes, and it's able to use taunting abilities to draw aggro feels very much like an MMO staple.
The customisation deserves mention as well, giving you option to change material type, from plastics to fabric to metal, as well as aged, dirty, clean, or damaged and colours too. Want a shiny plastic looking toy? Done. Want a beat up hunk of rusting iron? Yea, you can do that too. A bright pink and yellow neon monstrosity? If that's what floats your boat, then yes.
I do have some further concerns, some possible issues I foresee with the final release, but until we know what the full game has in store, I'll sit on those a bit longer. Sure, when it didn't work, the demo was bloody frustrating, but when it did I thoroughly enjoyed it.
simo1863 said:
Anthem is such a missed opportunity. The ME style combat is brilliant, the flying is brilliant, the Javelins (each with their own unique strengths and way they handle) are brilliant, the Javelin customisation is pretty good too, the setting and lore telling is pretty good too but other than that it's just negative after negative. It really must be one of the worst AAA game releases in recent times.
Hard to disagree with most of what is said here, though there's an important distinction between being an awful game release and being an awful game. The core gameplay is fantastic, the world is visually breathtaking in parts but I find it hard to believe no one saw some of the issues and customer concerns coming. The game has been blighted by issues since day one, and whilst Bioware have been pretty hot at responding to issues raised on social media and implementing hotfixes where applicable, it still feels like we're waiting for the content which is meant to keep us playing the game as a hobby.
Sure, it's genuinely huge fun to play, but that alone simply cannot be enough in todays market, there's simply too much competition for both our attention and our hard-earned.
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