D
Darth Tagnan
Guest
The Anthem Saga continues…. No one else playing anything?
Anyway, the story has taken a turn for the better. A couple of nice characters have been introduced - and it's getting interesting. I have to say I'm very impressed by the performances as well - and the nuances of the facial animations seem to get better as the game goes along.
I also have to officially nominate Anthem for best moment-to-moment gameplay of all time. I mean that - it's like they combined the recent Doom with something like Ninja Gaiden. Ultra tight and satisfying.
At least, that's how I feel about the Interceptor. Maybe it's just a lucky match for my playstyle and preferences - but I'm hearing a lot of players really enjoying their own particular favorite Javelins.
What remains up in the air is the long-term viability of the formula. I don't know how long it will take me to finish the story, but for this subgenre the story is basically the introduction.
It's already miles ahead of Destiny 2 in terms of character build options - and Bioware learned a few lessons from Blizzard when it comes to not holding back on the power. In Destiny, it's a slow crawl with tiny incremental power increases - and they're terrified of letting you actually kick ass.
In Anthem, kicking ass is the default gameplay - but, unlike Warframe, it's actually required to play well to succeed - and that's playing on normal, with or without a party.
Of course, that's just based on my experience - but I'm usually pretty good at making such estimates.
Again, it's a looter shooter and it's not the next Mass Effect or the next Doom. It's all about progression in an extremely beautiful environment with superb gameplay.
After around 10 hours, I'm reasonably comfortable claiming this is a big success - and I hope they will sell a zillion copies. Not for EA, but for the future of a game which oozes potential.
Well done, Bioware.
As for negatives:
The loading times are a pain, but they're shorter than the demo. If they can reduce them by, say, another 20-30% they won't be a real issue.
The Fort Tarsus sequences are odd. I usually enjoy kicking back in hubs after a mission - but in this game the contrast between walking around and talking to NPCs and being on a mission is pretty glaring. It's like you're playing two entirely different games and they don't gel as well as I would have expected.
The actual dialogues are decent enough - but it's one of the worst examples of meaningless dialogue options. You only ever have two options - and it's even worse than Mass Effect in terms of your character saying something you can't predict. If you ask me, they should have done away with these choices altogether - as it would flow better and the game just doesn't seem to support a great C&C story anyway.
I think that's about it.
Contrary to my initial impressions, this could be an actual evolution of the genre - and not just another variation.
Highly, highly recommended for fans of looter shooters.
Anyway, the story has taken a turn for the better. A couple of nice characters have been introduced - and it's getting interesting. I have to say I'm very impressed by the performances as well - and the nuances of the facial animations seem to get better as the game goes along.
I also have to officially nominate Anthem for best moment-to-moment gameplay of all time. I mean that - it's like they combined the recent Doom with something like Ninja Gaiden. Ultra tight and satisfying.
At least, that's how I feel about the Interceptor. Maybe it's just a lucky match for my playstyle and preferences - but I'm hearing a lot of players really enjoying their own particular favorite Javelins.
What remains up in the air is the long-term viability of the formula. I don't know how long it will take me to finish the story, but for this subgenre the story is basically the introduction.
It's already miles ahead of Destiny 2 in terms of character build options - and Bioware learned a few lessons from Blizzard when it comes to not holding back on the power. In Destiny, it's a slow crawl with tiny incremental power increases - and they're terrified of letting you actually kick ass.
In Anthem, kicking ass is the default gameplay - but, unlike Warframe, it's actually required to play well to succeed - and that's playing on normal, with or without a party.
Of course, that's just based on my experience - but I'm usually pretty good at making such estimates.
Again, it's a looter shooter and it's not the next Mass Effect or the next Doom. It's all about progression in an extremely beautiful environment with superb gameplay.
After around 10 hours, I'm reasonably comfortable claiming this is a big success - and I hope they will sell a zillion copies. Not for EA, but for the future of a game which oozes potential.
Well done, Bioware.
As for negatives:
The loading times are a pain, but they're shorter than the demo. If they can reduce them by, say, another 20-30% they won't be a real issue.
The Fort Tarsus sequences are odd. I usually enjoy kicking back in hubs after a mission - but in this game the contrast between walking around and talking to NPCs and being on a mission is pretty glaring. It's like you're playing two entirely different games and they don't gel as well as I would have expected.
The actual dialogues are decent enough - but it's one of the worst examples of meaningless dialogue options. You only ever have two options - and it's even worse than Mass Effect in terms of your character saying something you can't predict. If you ask me, they should have done away with these choices altogether - as it would flow better and the game just doesn't seem to support a great C&C story anyway.
I think that's about it.
Contrary to my initial impressions, this could be an actual evolution of the genre - and not just another variation.
Highly, highly recommended for fans of looter shooters.