Anthem (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

 

[deltamind]

22 FEB 2019, hmmmmmm. I can't wait :O

 

[Carlo_M]

On one hand the visuals are so astounding I honestly can't wait. On the other hand...it's EA...if ever a major publisher could find a way to screw something up...it's EA!

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Honestly, this game just looks so generic to me. It has great graphics but the art style is just so blah-future-space-marine looking. Given that this really looks like something that any studio besides Bioware could have produced, I don't understand what makes it seem so special to the people that are excited about it.

 

[Sam Posten]

 

[Sam Posten]

 

[Sam Posten]

It's VERY pretty on PC. Just a few missions in.
Anthem™ 2_16_2019 2_39_10 PM by Sam Posten III, on Flickr

 

[Dave Upton]

I've been planning to play it - but am going to go with Metro: Exodus first.

 

[Sam Posten]

I'm VC-Kadath on Origin

 

[Morgan Jolley]

This is one of the harsher reviews, but the general consensus seems to agree with it.

https://www.vg247.com/2019/02/18/anthem-review/

I honestly just don't get the appeal of this. From the beginning it looked blah.

 

[Sam Posten]

This one is more even handed but honest about what isn't working well.

I wouldn't count Anthem out any time soon tho.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/02/anthem-game-review-honestly-its-not-finished/

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Destiny and The Division are being pointed to as similar games, in terms of what they promised versus delivered on release, and both were able to recoup themselves and be supported by the fans enough to get sequels. I fully expect Bioware and EA can salvage this.

But the fact that Anthem had so much hype at it's reveal and that Bioware codenamed it "Dylan" because they wanted it to be a standard that was ahead of its time for games, in the same way they saw Bob Dylan for music, its just kind of shocking how...not great it is. Even if the game does eventually pull it together (in a way that, honestly, even Fallout 76 probably won't), it's still going to be seen as a huge late-gen failure.

 

[Edwin-S]

Is this a pay-to-play game? If it is, it is amazing how many of these games are coming only to have them labeled as "not ready for prime time".

In Canada, new releases are 80 bucks before taxes. At that price a person expects the game to be finished. You don't expect to pay to be a Beta tester.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Anthem is a single-purchase game ($60 US) but you need PS+ or XBL to play on consoles (just an internet connection for PC).

I believe it has some microtransactions but there's no content locked behind paywalls.

I think the game is finished, it's just not very good.

 

[Sam Posten]

No game is finished on release date any more.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

True, but how many big releases (that aren't primarily MMO-ish) are fundamentally bad or broken upon release? There's a difference between fixing bugs or adding features versus having to fix the core game structure.

 

[Sam Posten]

 

[CraigF]

Have you guys read the threads from people where Anthem bricked their PS4? I didn't even know that was possible, that some running software could do something at such a low level that it would prevent your power supply from turning on properly again (after the crash). Or something like that. Seems bad hardware design, and really bad software design. I am curious as to exactly how this could be done, but I also understand why the people involved (Sony, game studio) might not want to say exactly how.

 

[Carlo_M]

Yes, and apparently no one has any idea why, including EA.

My guess (and it's completely that, a guess) is if it's forcing a console shutdown, it has something to do with perhaps being so overly taxing on the CPU/GPU that it's causing a quick overheat and making the PS4 do a thermal shutdown out of safety. I don't own a PS4 so I haven't seen this phenomenon, and I have no idea how quickly Anthem shuts down a PS4, if it's within seconds of loading the game, or if it happens under a heavy graphics load.

I hadn't read that it prevented the power supply from turning it back on, if it does, that's even worse.

 

[CraigF]

I hadn't read that it prevented the power supply from turning it back on, if it does, that's even worse.

That may just be my interpretation of what some said...like you said, immediate PS shutdown when they try to re-start the PS4. Some people may have had panicky descriptions of what happened...

Still, what business does a game have changing something system-wise that you can't cold-start out of? None, IMO.