Anthem [PC, PS4, XBone] - February 22nd 2019

[Sly Boots]

Metacritic score sitting at 61% after 16 official reviews:

https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/anthem

User score 1.1

Is EA already dragging Bioware out behind the woodshed, rifle in hand?

[Medicine Man]

Bioware were done after Mass Effect 2.

Are we at the stage where they have made more mediocre games than good ones? Cant be far off it, if they're not there already.

[Sly Boots]

Bioware were done after Mass Effect 2.

Are we at the stage where they have made more mediocre games than good ones? Cant be far off it, if they're not there already.

I think if you were to create a chart or graph the trend/trajectory would be deeply worrying at this point.

A week or so ago I started another replay of NWN1. I know this was never even remotely their best work on release (although the expansions were much better), but it's notable that I've been having far more fun with it than I did on my recent replay of Inquisition.

[DjchunKfunK]

Bioware were done after Mass Effect 2.

Are we at the stage where they have made more mediocre games than good ones? Cant be far off it, if they're not there already.

I don't think we are there yet. They developed 10 games up to and including Mass Effect 2 and I think you can take Mass Effect 3 as a good game just with a bad ending, so you only have 5 other games after Mass Effect 2. They are certainly on a downward slope and I don't think they are capable of making a game like Mass Effect 2 now as the studio is completely different now. Part of their problem is that even though they are a different studio in many ways people still expect them to make a 'Bioware' game and trying to chase that goal is in many ways impossible. They would be better off just trying to make something completely new. That was kind of the idea behind Anthem but the seem to have become 'lost in the weeds' along the way.

[Maturin]

I got just as much enjoyment out of Andromeda, if not more, than the earlier ME games. Just had a terrible launch and a poorly voice-acted character (who was annoyingly present in the opening section of the game) but I started playing it after the major bugfix patch and had a great time. Likewise with Inquisition; really enjoyed it.

[Sly Boots]

I got just as much enjoyment out of Andromeda, if not more, than the earlier ME games. Just had a terrible launch and a poorly voice-acted character (who was annoyingly present in the opening section of the game) but I started playing it after the major bugfix patch and had a great time. Likewise with Inquisition; really enjoyed it.

I enjoyed my time with Andromeda well enough, but the main story and in particular main antagonist were just pretty dreadful really. Also, while I know it can be really subjective, I didn't really like any of the new companions, for me they were either boring, annoying or both. The exploring and action were good though, and the introduction of the jetpack especially was a very nice addition. The premise of the game was good, the gameplay was good, but the writing was noticeably poorer (both story, dialogue and companions) than previous games in the series.

I tried a replay a while back but got a bit mired down in the snow planet (forget the name) and haven't really been back to it.

I had a bit of a rant about it in another thread but Inquisition's opening 10-15 hours are dreadful, which really gets highlighted when you replay it. It does get better once the story has got rolling a bit and you're done with the Hinterlands, but I let out an audible sigh every time I unlocked a new map as the exploration isn't particularly fun, many of the areas are too big with too little of interest to do. I'm glad I played it again with the DLCs, though, much of the new content were the highlights of the game, though it beggars belief that Trespasser was DLC rather than being the actual end of the base game, tying up the story as it did.

[Lee]

Seems GGGmanlives had to pull his video down and remove the EA watermarks because he was paid as part of the Game Changer program. They didn't like his honest opinion on it. He's reuploaded it again now.

https://www.vg247.com/2019/02/22/paid-r ... -youtuber/

YouTuber Gggmanlives says he was paid by EA to review Anthem as part of the Game Changers initiative.

He put up a review and gave his honest, negative impressions despite money changing hands. EA says this is something it encourages as part of Game Changers, and that it wants its audience to be able to trust these paid reviews.

We encourage the Game Changers to be honest in their content, it’s one of the most important parts of the programme and the community trusts them because of that honesty. Feel free to ask me or any of the game changers about how it works. More info here https://t.co/U6S8ZAyJ7q

— Lee Williams (@justbiglee) February 22, 2019

However, shortly after the review went live, the YouTuber was asked to remove EA watermarks, he claims. These watermarks are what show the audience that someone is a member of Game Changers.

In a Twitter DM conversation with Gggmanlives, he told me, “I basically wasn’t allowed to say anything negative about the game if I also had the watermark in because the watermark means EA endorses it and shares it through the Game Changers network or something. I really don’t know what it all means. I was just told it was to be pulled down and was basically a breach of contract or something along those lines.”

And his reuploaded video

[Wrathbone]

So, what EA meant was the guy was paid to advertise Anthem.

[Lee]

Yep highlight the highs as much as possible and downplay the bad stuff. But GG has been pretty honest in his reviews so no idea why they thought he wouldn't highlight the huge list of faults with the game. He's certainly not said anything that was bullshit about the game when you look at all the other reviews.

[Sly Boots]

Already going for £35 on CDkeys, and it was only officially released yesterday!

I'm kinda tempted to check in in a month or so's time, reckon it could be down even more by then. If it hits £20 my curiosity may get the better of me.

[Lee]

Wondering if it will get the same support as Andromeda and just abandoned after 2 months.

[Raid]

I suppose it depends on how profitable the microtransactions are. This live-service model depends entirely on player (or more specifically, wallet) engagement; if it's not bringing in the moolah, they'll move development to a small team and move on to something else.

And then probably close Bioware.

[DjchunKfunK]

Think EA will give it support for a bit but if the revenues and player retention are not there they could pull the plug.

Having got to the end-game and started to get some of the Masterworks I have to say that they make a big difference and some of them are really cool. However it has made me realise that the biggest issue this game has is the loading. When you are meant to just grind loot in the end-game having to sit through so many loading screens over and over is just a killer and totally breaks the flow of the game.

[Lee]

Aye more than likely.

[Hatredsheart]