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Anthem Review Thread

Slim Action

Slim Action

Member
Jul 4, 2018
5,565
I honestly love how much of a tryhard asshole Kai Leng is/was. He would fit in perfectly in a cyberpunk setting.

Introducing him in a book was indeed dumb though. A similar problem cropped up in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided where it's been two years since the last game, and a novel and several comics worth of events have occurred in between and the game itself hardly ever explains any of it.
 
timedesk

timedesk

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,937
Jarmel said:
Never forget.
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This moment is Mass Effect's most enduring legacy. Did Bioware ever actually produce a revised version of that story like the promised?
 
ElBoxy

ElBoxy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,123
Cado from Waypoint just had an anxiety attack on whether or not he should continue with Anthem. For him it's Destiny all over again but in a worse position.
 
RexNovis

RexNovis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,151
Heartimecia said:
HI y'all
My review at RPG Site is up and I don't imagine it'll do the Metacritic score any favors
https://www.rpgsite.net/review/8297-anthem-review
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This an exceedingly well written and explained review. Even as someone who disagrees on your opinions regarding certain past BioWare games it's clear you care a lot about the studio, it's history and what they usually bring to the table when it comes to their games and I can certainly relate to that. You really do a fantastic job taking that history and using it as a lense to deconstruct the ways this particular game just doesn't stack up (especially regarding character and story development). It's both informative and poignant. I also appreciate the solid use of metaphor to drive the point home too. Anyway, just wanted to say great job! I'll keep an eye out for your reviews in the future
 
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Quan

Quan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
76
Crushed said:
The entire intro sequence with Shepard and Anderson on Earth is hackneyed and contrived, especially since the game assumes you played Arrival, a bad DLC, and makes very little sense without it

The Mars sequence is rushed and a way to introduce a magic off switch, which they can build despite not knowing what it is, but describe as doing something with energy, which is basically the fundamental description of a machine

The EDI/Joker relationship is garbage

Javik is DLC

Kai Leng is an awful character that the game desperately wants you to feel is some powerful antagonist rival but just comes off as an annoying prick protected by hilariously transparent plot armor

The character side stories often feel like they exist merely to conveniently finish off character arcs or give former squadmates who didn't make the party cut this time an excuse to not be here the most important thing ever at the end of the universe

Personally this is a massive nitpick but I hated how Mordin just completely made up his mind and started working for a genophage cure off-screen between games and also I like his default death line rather than the one that most players will get (where he hums Pirates of Penzance if you got him to sing it in 2, which feels like a fanservice meme inserted into his character arc's finale). this is super nitpicky i know

Cerberus once again completely changes form, this time into a super army of infinite dudes even though you were told they had no resources left after Project Lazarus to revive Shepard in 2

The Galactic readiness thing is really half-baked

The weird Pac-Man thing on the galaxy map

There's all those missions where they drop you into the multiplayer maps to pick up a goober but unlike the multiplayer which is fun these are boring filler

Half the sidequests are boring filler where you overhear someone saying "well we lost our space stick on planet gobulon v when the reapers attacked" and then shepard magically teleports the bafmodad into the Normandy by scanning the planet and then walks up to the alien and is like "hey I found your thing" and they're all "wow great, NOW i'll help stop the apocalypse"

Certain plot arcs like destroying/preserving the baby reaper or the rachni ended up barely mattering outside of a handful of GR points

In contrast to 2, which had a lot of varied scenarios, the plot of 3 necessitates that nearly every single mission is set on a tech base where a bunch of Cerberus guys jump into with rockets, or a reaper-invaded rubble planet covered in husks. the only major deviation from this is the Rannoch missions

I really hated the writing for Rannoch, which ended up just making the quarians even bigger assholes than they seemed, and the finale of the geth subplot is that all of the cool unique things about them as a gestalt synthetic species that wants to exist on its own terms are thrown out the window so they can become generic robot individuals; Legion's death, while thematically necessary, was written super awkwardly (I can't copy and paste my code so I have to cut and paste my code, which will work instead... I have to go now, my planet needs me); afterward EDI gives this incredibly insulting explanation about how the geth having a form of consciousness that deviated from organic standards was objectively inferior and incorrect so it's good that they conformed and destroyed their unique identities. fuck off
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Yeah, ME3 had a lot of problems, but you know what did me in? The skybox on Mars. No joke.

I used to love visiting the different planets in ME2 and just looking at the different skyboxes. In particular, Hagalaz from Lair of the Shadow Broker had a breathtaking skybox.

So back to ME3, I get to Mars and what is the first thing that I do? Naturally, I look at the skybox and what do I see? A static painting of ugly reddish/brown clouds. I was actually shocked at how bad it looked. I kid you not, I was so disgusted that I literally uninstalled the game after that and didn't get back to it until a year or more later.

Eventually, I did play through the entire game and enjoyed it for what it was, but it was still a disappointment in the end.

Unfortunately, ever since DA2, each and every Bioware game has felt rushed in some way. And it seems that Anthem may be continuing that trend.
 
Admiral Woofington

Admiral Woofington

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
14,892
Remind me didnt Mass Effect 3 have one of those great bad movie cliches where someone with a gun decides to run straight towards melee range instead of shooting from far away.
 
bighugeguns

bighugeguns

Banned
Feb 21, 2019
126
Honestly, bless this game, I've gotten at least 8 hours of entertainment out of it, despite not playing it, I mean, that's value. Will definitely pick it up for $20 in a few months.
 
Orangecoke

Orangecoke

Member
Jan 14, 2019
1,812
So I put a couple of hours in as Colossus.

I'm torn. I don't think this is as bad as a 60 (or less). In fact, I think some of the core DNA of the action/combat/flight is very compelling. And the graphics are often gorgeous.

I think this could have been a massive hit, but as one review put it: the game gets in its own way - constantly.

There are just so many decisions and design elements that drag it down. It's almost tragic, how close this gets to being something amazing but then trips on its own shoelaces 😕
 
Laughing Banana

Laughing Banana

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,499
Bandung Indonesia
Whoever decides that players can't put waypoints in the map need a good scolding. Probably the same dude who decide on other equally baffling design decision in this game, such as the inability to change your equipment unless you go back to the hub, wtf.
 
MHWilliams

MHWilliams

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,473
Orangecoke said:
So I put a couple of hours in as Colossus.

I'm torn. I don't think this is as bad as a 60 (or less). In fact, I think some of the core DNA of the action/combat/flight is very compelling. And the graphics are often gorgeous.

I think this could have been a massive hit, but as one review put it: the game gets in its own way - constantly.

There are just so many decisions and design elements that drag it down. It's almost tragic, how close this gets to being something amazing but then trips on its own shoelaces 😕
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As I note in my review, the first 8-10 hours of the game are pretty fun. Then it's a slow series of cuts.

It's endgame where all the annoyances start to pile up like a hammer.
 
Killer

Killer

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,342
Jobbs said:
Okay let me just show you guys exactly what the tomb challenge involves for anyone who has just heard it vaguely described.

This is what I encountered a few hours into the game. I have to complete these challenges to continue, and I can't track them on screen. I have to dive into the menus (as shown here in this video) to check my progress.




To summarize, here's what I have to do:

Trial of Yvenia
  • Treasure Chests: 1/15
  • Harvests: 19/25
  • Javelins Repaired: 1/3
  • Collectibles: 0/10

Trial of Gawnes
  • Melee Defeats: 14/50
  • Ultimate Defeats: 0/50
  • Legendary Defeats: 2/3

Trial of Artinia
  • World Events: 1/5
  • Weapon Defeats: 30/30
  • Weak Point Defeats: 15/15
  • Elite Defeats: 9/9

Trial of Cariff
  • Missions: 1/3
  • Gear Defeats: 12/30
  • Combo Triggers: 1/15
  • Multi-kills: 1/3
The last two trials I have some good progress on to start with, but overall I have a lot of shit to do. I'm also not even sure how to do some of these or what they mean in the context of the game. I don't even really know what "collectibles" are, for instance. I don't know what a "combo trigger" is. I'm also not even sure what a "mission" is since this is my only mission right now.

Again, this isn't end game optional stuff. This is a few hours in and I HAVE to do this if I want to continue the quest. It's not optional.

So.. Yeah. I'm done unless they patch this mission out.
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Wow. Who thought this quest was a good idea?🤮
 
Chrome Hyena

Chrome Hyena

Member
Oct 30, 2017
8,768
The side stories are insane. They shoulda figured out a way to work these into the main game. They are really good. I will just say talk to EVERYONE in Tarsis as much as possible lol.
 
Heartimecia

Heartimecia

Member
Oct 27, 2017
73
RexNovis said:
This an exceedingly well written and explained review. Even as someone who disagrees on your opinions regarding certain past BioWare games it's clear you care a lot about the studio, it's history and what they usually bring to the table when it comes to their games and I can certainly relate to that. You really do a fantastic job taking that history and using it as a lense to deconstruct the ways this particular game just doesn't stack up (especially regarding character and story development). It's both informative and poignant. I also appreciate the solid use of metaphor to drive the point home too. Anyway, just wanted to say great job! I'll keep an eye out for your reviews in the future
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Hey, this put a smile on my face! Thanks so much. It's all the sweeter considering we disagree on opinions regarding past BioWare games. Thank you for this lovely piece of feedback. I've been super sick so I think reading this was the highlight of the last few days. :)
 
BizzyBum

BizzyBum

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,132
New York
I feel this game could have been really awesome if they just took this gameplay and just kept it a single-player RPG like their past games and really just established the lore and character development. It's such a shame it's attached to a grindy Destiny clone. I mean, even all the lore tidbits are mostly acquired as journal entries which is like fucking Destiny. lol

Even so, I played for about an hour on PC and it doesn't seem 60% metacritic bad, but I hear end game is bad right now. An hour is not enough to judge this yet. At least it looks good on PC and the flying is fun though controls kinda weird and the overheating happens way too fast IMO unless that can be addressed with upgrades down the line.
 

Deleted member 8777

User Requested Account Closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
1,260
bighugeguns said:
Honestly, bless this game, I've gotten at least 8 hours of entertainment out of it, despite not playing it, I mean, that's value. Will definitely pick it up for $20 in a few months.
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That's what destiny 2 was for me. A decent enough short singleplayer story that I was done with immediately after the story ended. I guess Anthem will be the same but these games absolutely deserve to be savaged by reviewers too.
 
Sinder

Sinder

Banned
Jul 24, 2018
7,576
BizzyBum said:
I feel this game could have been really awesome if they just took this gameplay and just kept it a single-player RPG like their past games and really just established the lore and character development. It's such a shame it's attached to a grindy Destiny clone. I mean, even all the lore tidbits are mostly acquired as journal entries which is like fucking Destiny. lol

Even so, I played for about an hour on PC and it doesn't seem 60% metacritic bad, but I hear end game is bad right now. An hour is not enough to judge this yet. At least it looks good on PC and the flying is fun though controls kinda weird and the overheating happens way too fast IMO unless that can be addressed with upgrades down the line.
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Mass Effect Andromeda's gameplay is very similar to this, aside from the flying.
 
javiergame4

javiergame4

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,642
Got over 40 hours so far. Loving the game. These reviews lol. I recommend people having their own opinion rather than counting on reviews. This game deserves higher
 
Vareon

Vareon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,806

Deleted member 20297

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
6,943
It looked so cool in the reveal trailer and on X it still looks stunning but there doesn't seem to be much flesh at the bone...
 

Deleted member 28386

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
2,304
Orangecoke said:
Who's Huber and why is this bad?
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Dysun said:
Mr. Swimming in Seven's himself can't handle it. BioWare really outdid themselves here
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As Dysun said, Mr. Swimming in Sevens. He's a member of the Easy Allies Podcast/YT channel. Very positive guy and even gets excited about the pure fun of solid 7 type games like Far Cry 5. He's just upbeat most of the time and rarely talks ill of games that are middling, much higher tolerance for "so so" games than most people.
 
SmartWaffles

SmartWaffles

Member
Nov 15, 2017
6,244
Heyrule said:
As Dysun said, Mr. Swimming in Sevens. He's a member of the Easy Allies Podcast/YT channel. Very positive guy and even gets excited about the pure fun of solid 7 type games like Far Cry 5. He's just upbeat most of the time and rarely talks ill of games that are middling, much higher tolerance for "so so" games than most people.
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Very positive guy would be an understatement for Huber.
 
Conkerkid11

Conkerkid11

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
13,945
Laughing Banana said:
Whoever decides that players can't put waypoints in the map need a good scolding. Probably the same dude who decide on other equally baffling design decision in this game, such as the inability to change your equipment unless you go back to the hub, wtf.
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It genuinely feels like this is the creation of a team that hasn't played any other game of this genre.
 
Tagyhag

Tagyhag

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,461
Crushed said:
Cerberus once again completely changes form, this time into a super army of infinite dudes even though you were told they had no resources left after Project Lazarus to revive Shepard in 2
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Well put, but especially this part. I understand that Cerebrus had to become a credible menace but they didn't even TRY to justify how they went from some sort of covert ops to the biggest army in the universe. Just do some shit like "Reapers helped them with resources or indoctrinated millions of humans" or something.

That ALL said, I still enjoyed Mass Effect 3. Especially after the Citadel DLC, that actually helped give me closure.

Anthem has none of that magic that helps me justify its shortcomings.
 
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