Ahh Anthem, Where do I even begin this article. On one hand you have the internet and its various reviews bashing the game and on this hand you have me playing it for seven days straight and getting addicted to it.
Now before I say anything, let me say that this is only my opinion and this is not a reply to all the reviews out there, they have their own opinions and I respect that. I m just here to share mine.
Now you may be asking yourself how can you play a game for seven days straight and not stop playing it, if its so bad? That’s exactly it, it’s not. Anthem is a good game, slightly flawed yes, but I find it no way as bad as the reviews and articles put it out to be. Not one bit.
Lets take a look at Vanilla Diablo, Destiny or the Division. Were they perfect on their release? Did they need fixes and patches to be successful? Anthem has a lot of potential. It’s unique in its own way, the flying around in your mecha suit, dodging while flying in the air to freezing a hoard of enemies so your fellow storm can go to combo heaven by throwing a blazing giant fireball from above.
The sad part that I find disturbing is that a lot of people look at or read a review and decide right then and there to pass or buy. As a gamer for more than 20 years do not do that. Remember a review is mainly the thoughts and opinions of the certain person that made the review. Not yours.
Lets take me as an example. If I saw the reviews of Anthem and decided not to get this game, I would be missing out on tones of fun and enjoyment I’m having now. That’s just a little tip to those of you still thinking of picking this game up. Go try before you buy, don’s assume you have the same thoughts and opions as others. Though there is an element of truth in reviews they are purely based on opinion not fact.
To me Anthem is amazing. The story is something I have taken a liking to thanks to the brilliant acting and voices of the actors. Is it super unique? No. Is it interesting enough to keep you engaged? Yes. There was twists and turns I did not see coming so that made it better.
The combat is brilliant with the four Javelins being widely different in abilities and play style. Unique is the only word that I can find. I have not felt this experience in any other looter shooter to be honest. Setting up combos, chaining them and getting hoards of multikills now and then, never felt better.
The enemy design is brilliant, ranging from the Scars, Dominion, Ursix , Titans, Skorpions and all the other little wildlife that want to kill you. Grunts on high difficulty can mess you up very badly if you don’t stay mobile and use your surroundings for cover. So enjoyment and challenge are both there. There are some tweaks that need to be done, such as fixing the fact that the heavy hitters sometimes stand around for a good few seconds before becoming active, but overall the enemies are pretty challenging if you want them to be.
I’m grinding endgame now and, yes the loot needs be patched to make it more worthwhile to run strongholds, various contacts and free play but boy am I having fun doing those. Specially having fun doing the strongholds, That’s where you’ll need most of your skill with your Javelin. Now a days we lost track of what the main reason is for buying games. To enjoy them and to have fun. I think games are so heavily nit picked that the enjoyment can be stripped out of them.
I’ll end the article by saying Anthem isn’t as good as all of the looter shooters out there just yet, But it is a good game. Don’t blindly follow reviews, make up your own mind.
Play it and try it out first. See if a friend has it or a friend of a friend. Maybe you’ll fall in love with it like I did, the moment I flew of that platform.
