When Anthem was first revealed by Bioware we got this “in engine” trailer that is unlike the actual game. We saw people moving around in the market place and people coming up to us and taking with our character in real time and a lot of moving object and people in the background. This is not what the actual game is like. People do not move around in the market place and there aren’t many people to start with.
The world of Anthem was so real in the trailers but that is not what the actual game is like. Anthem is nothing like the trailer and the marketing material has lied to the players. We see striders moving around in the trailers but they never move in the game.
In one of the trailers we see the name of the gun and different specifications pop up when loot is dropped but that does not happen in the game. The guns name is Jarra’s Wrath and it is a Colt rifle, which does not exist in the actual game.
In the actual game, you do not know what you have in the open world and you have to go through multiple loading screens in order to see the loot that you have got, which is not immersive at all. Bioware also showed off 40 minutes of customization in Anthem.
You had all the colors and customization but they did not touch on armor pieces. In the 40 minutes of customization, you only get to see the armor pieces for 3 seconds. There are actually multiple pieces of armor in the Livestream but they are not available in the game. The armor customization is not acceptable keeping in mind that this game has been in development for 6 years. The same is the case for vinyl and emotes. There were more in the Livestream compared to the playable game.
It is safe to say that EA or Bioware’s take on Anthem as a live service is not acceptable and this game is going to die in no time. You do not make a game and cut it into different pieces and deliver them over months. You have to deliver a decent experience and a lot of content at launch and then deliver new content over time. There are so many issues with the game and if a looter shooter cannot get the loot portion right then it is going to die.
According to the roadmap of Anthem that Bioware has shown us, players will have to wait till May in order to play the raid. You would imagine that EA and Bioware would have learned a thing or two from other games such as The Division or Destiny 2 which offered raids and other activities much sooner and did not make players wait weeks.
The content that you get in May is not new and is just locked for now. You get a new raid and that is pretty much it. I suspect that there is something fishy going on behind the scenes because this does not seem like a Bioware game. Anthem does not feel or play like a Bioware game and you have to ask yourself whether EA had something to do with this.
If there was some development issue and they had to start from scratch at some point, then the current state of the game would make sense but I do not buy that Bioware has been working on Anthem for 6 years and this is the end result.
New content is a separate matter entirely at this point, Anthem has so many issues and the content that we have available right now does not work. A few days back you could not get into missions and even if you could the matchmaking would not work and you would be running missions on your own.
The weapon drops are random and do not feel all that great. The masterworks system is broken, random and poorly thought of. Destiny has got a lot of heat for its own issues but this is what Bungie got right. Not to mention that the crafting system in Anthem does not work at all. Angry Joe talked about all this is detail and you can check out his remarks about the game in the video below:
The thing that scares me is that Bioware is a big developer and Anthem could have 500 people working on it. Now that the game is out, the major people that worked on the game will be moved to other games and only a small fraction of people will be left behind. The small team that is left behind will be in charge of fixing the issue and creating more content.
All the major talent is going to be moved to another project and it does not look like the game is going to be fixed any time soon. The content is just not there and the live gaming service model is not going to work for Anthem keeping in mind the kind of roadmap Bioware has in place and how long people have to wait for new content.
If you are playing the game then you can check out our different guides that will help you along the way:
- Anthem Hidden Places Guide – Where to Find Hidden Places
- Anthem Challenges Guide – How to Complete Challenges
- Anthem Titans Guide – Where to Find, How to Defeat
- Anthem Javelin Gear Guide – All Gear and Effects Details
- Anthem Best Ranger Builds Guide – Shieldbreaker, Multi-Range Build
- Anthem Faction Loyalty Guide – How to Earn and Get Loyalty Rewards
Let us know what you think about Anthem and what your experience has been like so far.
