Anthem is a computer game from BioWare, released on February 22, 2019, by Electronic Arts. As a shooter, the game invites you to immerse yourself in a science-fiction world and try to save humanity.
At first glance, the similarity to the game Destiny is immediately noticeable: the hero's safe place is a hub (Fort Tarsis), where they rest, communicate with comrades, replenish supplies, and receive new assignments. And everything beyond the fortress is a world fraught with dangerous perils, teeming with the fiercest enemies who make no secret of their desire to enslave humanity!
But thanks to freelancers, mercenaries, local heroes, and their combat suits called Javelins, there is hope for salvation. You will be playing as one such freelancer. You can go solo, but it's better to play as a team (up to 4 players).
Javelins
Javelins are divided into classes: "Colossus," "Interceptor," "Ranger," and "Storm." They differ from each other in combat style, defense, speed, and weaponry. Almost everything in the suit can be modified and upgraded. This can be done in safe cities, where the player rests between battles. As you progress through the game, other Javelins will become available.
Grind Missions
The missions are all fairly monotonous: get to a point, destroy enemies along the way, collect something somewhere, activate something, sometimes fight a mini-boss, receive a reward, and fly off to the next mission. The missions, much like the enemies, resemble each other. So after a few hours of gameplay, the "Groundhog Day" effect kicks in.
The World
The map is large, but there isn't as much content on it as one would hope. On the other hand, the visuals of the post-apocalyptic world are mesmerizing. It's pleasant to observe the local flavor, the landscapes, and the changing weather. In fact, weather effects play an important role in Anthem. Various artifacts scattered around the world activate weather cataclysms, and the player must neutralize them.
The characters in Anthem have their own histories, problems, and personalities. They always come to you for some kind of advice. It's actually pleasant to chat with them, hear some interesting story, or learn a fascinating fact from the past. The chatter doesn't affect the plot in any way—it's a nice way to relax between battles, because the characters are genuinely interesting to watch and listen to. BioWare has truly excelled with the excellent work on animation, facial expressions, voice tones, and voice acting.
The game has a backstory—a good, interesting, and rich one—but the main storyline suffers. It lacks depth. It feels as though all the most interesting things are happening somewhere out there in the vast open world of Anthem, but not with you. And the grinding is quite irritating. However, there are still reasons to play Anthem: flying in a Javelin and feeling like Iron Man is a blast, and the unique gameplay of each Javelin helps break up the routine of the game.
The review of Anthem is coming to an end, but before you go play, you should take a look at the minimum and recommended system requirements of Anthem.
