Review: Anthem (PlayStation 4)

Unleash Your Power. In a world left unfinished by the gods, a shadowy faction threatens all humankind. Only you stand between the Dominion and the ancient power they covet. Team up as heroes in this cooperative action-RPG from BioWare

Pros:

• Gorgeous graphics.
• 42.80GB Download size.
• Platinum trophy.
• Access ability options: colorblind support, change font size, voiced menu selections.
• ARPG adventure gameplay.
• Opening and ongoing tutorial support.
• Can skip cutscenes.
• Daily/weekly/monthly trials.
• Four Javelin suits- Storm, Ranger, Colossus and the Interceptor. Each is unique and plays differently bring different abilities and stats.
• Forge-here you can change loadouts/customize and craft weapons and gear. Detailed paint editor where you can paint individual parts.
• Six difficulties–easy/normal/hard with a further 3 higher difficulties that unlock at level 30.
• Factions- you do tasks and talk to people to raise your rep with each faction and uncover each factions story.
• Privacy- public/private and an invite system.
• Co-op for 2-4 players online.
• Catch-up system in play. Lower level players rank up faster and get a buff so they can compete on the same level as the higher rank.
• Free play mode- open world free roam. Events occur in the world and you can do what you want and find collectibles, farm materials etc.
• Mission select hub- choose a mission, set difficulty, stronghold and free play shortcuts, invite friends, set privacy and add any consumables(one time buffs)
• Earn exp and level up to unlock new javelins and gear levels and drops are tied to your level. In the game you get, EXP popups for things like multi-kills and weak point kills etc.
• Materials are scattered around the game world and are used for crafting.
• Exp is shared between all players, you get more exp in a group and you only see your own loot and drops.
• Health and ammo packs drop from enemies.
• The rarity of gear and drops- common, uncommon, rare, epic and masterworks.
• Loot drops as a triangular pod and makes a satisfying noise when you pick it up.
• In engine cutscenes.
• Fort Taris is your main hub where you use the Fort, shops and get missions and contracts and talk with NPC.
• Social space is a smaller hub where up to 8 players can all join and chat, has a forge/shop/mission selector.
• Conversation with NPC garner multiple choice interactions.
• Very flashy and colorful as all the explosions go off.
• The crafting system allows you to craft weapons/armor/buffs etc. You earn blueprints from doing contracts and missions.
• You have two levels. You have your rank (tied to EXP and 30 is the max)and power level (tied to your gear and increases as you craft/collect new gear)
• 3 strongholds. One initially then 2 after finishing the campaign. Strongholds are set experiences like strikes in Destiny.
• Shop- in-game purchases for items (stock rotates) and crafting items. Rewards section.
• Rejoin session option if you get booted or blue screened.
• Repeatable contracts.
• Combo system–you have two equipable slots and you set a primer and an explosive to each slot and combo-ing them yields higher damage and bonuses. An example is shooting them with acid darts then a homing missile. You get a visual on getting a combo as well as a Loud chime.
• Contracts are missions and you can unlock legendary (harder) contracts.
• At mission en,d you get an EXP breakdown and can salvage/look at any collected loot.
• In game emotes.
• Flying in your Javelin is really well done, easy to control and looks cool AF.
• The story whilst predictable is actually varied and not that bad to play.
• Many collectibles in the game like finding location  Names and descriptions, hidden markings you scan.
• Strong gunplay.
• Many HUD options allowing you to customise every part of it.
• Codex- fills in as you discover items and scans. The Codex acts as a source of all info.
• 3rd person perspective.
• Strong orchestral soundtrack.

Cons:

• Long loading screens and the sheer volume of them is off putting.
• Audio can cut out suddenly.
• Very basic character creator.
• Menu upon menu acting more like an interactive encyclopedia.
• In freeplay, you get no markers, cannot set a waypoint or anything.
• A lot of reading.
• Missions not triggering or progress not being recognised.
• Constant pop ups of codex entries.
• Not everything is explained.
• IAP for shards.
• Movement in the hub is really slow and feels like you are stuck in the mud trying to run away from the loading screens.
• Changing load outs is a pain. Cannot be done in the game and instead, you have to go back to the hub then back to the forge.
• Loot is unknown until the mission end.
• A lot of slowdown and lag.
• Prompts don’t always work.
• Invisible enemies.
• Forced cutscenes in Co op.
• Choices with NPC have no bearing on anything.
• Can’t try out Javelins before you pick which one to unlock.
• The upgrade loop is horrible, you level up then have to craft each individual piece of gear for just a small increase in power level.
• When downed you can do nothing at all but move the camera. You cannot quit, spectate or even access the menu.
• Geomatry clashes.
• Only a handful of guns, the main difference is just the rate of fire.
• The loot lust and frequency only meaningfully increases when you hit a high level.
• Flying is a stop starter with you constantly having to land and cool down then fly again.
• Story is all told as a single player affair but the game openly encourages you to play in Co op.
• Out of mission range is a pop up you get as soon as you go one pixel behind the lead player in a mission. The game will then give you a timer to catch up otherwise it will fast track you via a loading screen. It is in fact possible to get stuck loading in to the only load in again and again.
• Strongholds are fun but the rewards are not good.
• Having loot tied to your level breaks the game overall. Why play on harder difficulties and/or help others on hard when you can just install kill on easy and still get the high level drops.
• Even at level 30 you still get low level drops.
• The world whilst looking amazing is a surprisingly dead empty world with so little going on.
• World size dissappears quickly as you constantly go to the same locations over and over.
• No way to rebind controls, changing weapons is press and hold a button which is not fluid.
• Took about 40 hours and after that, you are max level and have no real progression apart from running contracts and getting a new decal or something.
• Difficulty setting is just a name. It doesn’t carry a power level limit or anyway to stop low level players from joining. Yes, it can help boost a player a bit to try and balance but it’s not as powerful as it could be.
• Music when you hear it is good but it’s never really used!
• No fast travel.
• Small pool of mission types and are go here kill that then go here and kill a boss or more enemies, gather fragments and kill waves of enemies, hold onto a point and kill waves of enemies. That’s it over and over.