Anthem (BioWare) PS4, XB1, PC - 2/22/19

[Koby]

Anthem is an online multiplayer action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released worldwide for  PC , PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 22, 2019.

 

 

Set on an unnamed planet, players assume the role of a Freelancer: heroic adventurers who wear powerful exosuits to defend humanity from the threats beyond their cities' walls. The game's title refers to the Anthem of Creation, a powerful and mysterious force responsible for most of the extraordinary technology, phenomena, and threats in the world. In the main narrative, the player's Freelancer is tasked with stopping a villain named The Monitor from seizing control of the Anthem.

 

Anthem received mixed reviews from critics, who criticized it for its grind, technical aspects, and story, contributing to an experience that felt repetitive and shallow, although its combat, flight controls, and visuals received some praise.

 

 

Anthem combines third-person shooter and action role-playing game elements in a "contiguous open world" shared with up to three other players in which they take the role of a Freelancer donning fully customizable exosuits called Javelins. These suits can be customized to have various unique weapons and superhuman abilities. Two classes of Javelins were shown during Anthem's presentation at Microsoft's E3 2017 Conference: the Ranger, which is an all-around and balanced Javelin, and the Colossus, which is a larger and more heavily armored Javelin made to fill in more of a tanking role. Other Javelins include the Storm, which uses powerful technology to unleash the "rage of the hymn" while floating effortlessly in the air, and the Interceptor, which is focused on close-quarter combat and can move quickly into and out of combat.

 

Players can build relationships with various non-playable characters, but they cannot establish romantic relationships with them, as was a trademark of previous BioWare games. The central meeting point of the game takes place in Fort Tarsis, the central stronghold of Anthem. Built by the eponymous General Helena Tarsis, it serves as a fortified settlement against the threats of the outside world and is also the point where the player goes to receive new missions and freelance assignments. It is a melting pot where all the different factions of the game meet, including the Sentinels, Corvus, Cyphers, and Arcanists.

 

The game features both single-player and co-operative multiplayer elements in a "shared world" that can have up to four squad members per team. Teams can fight savage beasts and ruthless marauders while exploring lost ruins and experiencing massive, world-altering terrain occurrences, such as "Shaper Storms".

 

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The game seemed to have been downgraded visually between the time of the 2017 E3 gameplay video and the actual retail game as this comparison talks about:

 

 

There is apparently also reports on reddit and other forums, which the developers have responded to saying they're working on it as of days ago, of a critical error with the game that is hard crashing most commonly on PS4 which shuts down the console in an unsafe way and results in a safety check of the harddrive.

 

 

It's became a meme:

 

BioWare has already started banning players for " opening too many open world loot chests."

 

One such person who was banned was Gladd who is pretty well known Twitch streamer. He and his (high-end PVE) clan Redeem are well known especially in the Destiny community for being the first to complete new raids and content. Gladd did a lot of streaming of Anthem prior to and upon release and was pretty darn supportive of the game despite the hate the game was getting. His platform likely brought people to the game that might have passed on it. It was a pretty shit move to ban him for bringing attention to things the developers left open as opportunities.