One of the most anticipated titles, in this bombastic 2019 videogame, is certainly Anthem, a new effort by the guys of BioWare, called to get back on top after the half misstep made with Mass Effect Andromeda.
The decision to produce a title with continuous support, a sort of MMO, immediately aroused great interest around the production, but it also generated many doubts: can BioWare, which has always been famous for its excellent ability to tell stories, try their hand in a convincing way in such a different environment? The answer, as far as we are concerned, after the first few hours spent in the company of the shared world TPS of the US-based software house, is positive, albeit with some reservations.
Stop everyone: Anthem's "problem" is certainly not the story which, on the contrary, probably represents a new stereotype - according to what we have seen so far - for the genre, but it is mainly linked to the actual gameplay, fun and spectacular, of course, but which shows the side of an all too evident background repetitiveness.
The narrative and historical universe created to be the background to the raids of the various specialists, shows itself, from the very first bars, of a high level.
The epic and solemn aura that envelops the entire production is breathable from the first chapter, a sort of prologue that, in a more or less clear way, aims to fully catapult us into the thematic system of Anthem. This is a far from simple undertaking, given that the amount of notions and information to be assimilated are so many, and all useful and that manage to make us feel part of a pulsating universe more alive than ever. The solid and safe (apparently) walls of Fort Tarsis, a place that acts as a central hub and a meeting point for the various NPCs gradually "unlocked" throughout history, preserve an immense knowledge: a knowledge dictated, unfortunately, by the dramatic events of the past.
Several millennia before the events narrated in Anthem, the known world was generated by the power of superior beings, who made use of a creation tool, called "Hymn": it generated new forms of life in a period of time roughly estimated at about ten of days. But it happened that, mysteriously, these beings suddenly disappeared into thin air, leaving the hymn unattended and free to arbitrarily generate new forms of life and more. Over the years, the genesis of a threatening and potentially hostile world led the human race to create a method for surviving the surrounding reality., and thus the so-called were born "Specialists", beings endowed with a special armor, called "Javelin", with the task of defending the weak and maintaining order in the world. An order, as usual, destined to collapse under the blows of an enemy as threatening as it is unable to manage its capabilities.
The order of humans called Dominio, eager to take possession of the Hymn of Creation, generated a cataclysm with unspeakable effects, to which only a few have survived to be able to tell it. Apparently our alter-ego is one of them, but the way back to lead a simple and easy life is far from around the corner. The Dominion, in fact, in the person of one of its leaders, the Watcher, is back stronger than ever, ready to declare war on the specialists and on the human race in general.
The premise for a living and pulsating world, in which the plot plays a fundamental and focal role, is all there and can be seen at every corner, both in the game world and in Forte Tarsis.
Every document, every dialogue, every single finding offer a never banal and always precise glimpse of what has happened or is happening around us. In full BioWare style, the narrative sector plays a fundamental role, which marks a clear and decisive junction point compared to other products of the genre in question. Even without tangible consequences on the actual play experience, then, the player will also have the opportunity to respond differently during the - many - dialogues with the various NPCs that populate the fort, dialogues that, net of an excessive nature prolix of the various protagonists, are always useful and never superficial, necessary to fully understand everything that goes through the minds of our "fellow villagers".
All this also extends to the “secondary” plots, often part of extra activities, told with the same mature tone and treated in detail. A commendable work, from this point of view, that dispels all doubts about the narrative sector that accompanies the Electronic Arts title.
Positively filed any doubts regarding the narrative, it's time to let yourself be carried away by the frenzy of a damn fun gameplay and designed to offer the player an unstoppable push to move forward and want more and more.
The first thing that catches the eye is certainly the spectacularity offered by the possibility of fluttering left and right with your Javelin, which, moreover, is not an end in itself, indeed. Approaching every fight, with or without the help or not of the flying skills of the special combat “suits”, is an important reading key, which can make a difference at any time. The firefights are clearly one of the most important topics to analyze and we absolutely feel we can fully promote the game formula in question. The various weapons have a very unrealistic feedback and they all appear too light, but they are excellently diversified and, above all, they always have different parameters, thus encouraging the player to "farm" more and more in search of the perfect equipment . And here comes the beauty: every single piece of equipment has different bonuses, ranging from elemental damage of a given type to a different amount of shields or health, making the loot even more important.
The splendid diversification of the four Javelins present in the game - which can be freely unlocked, but at certain levels - which offer an incredibly marked different and peculiar approach, thinks to increase everything. Facing the missions with the Colossus or the Interceptor, in fact, will have a totally different taste, not to mention that every single means of destruction can be discreetly customized through the creation of "builds", in reality all in all only sketchy. Overall, the advancement system is very pleasant and satisfying, either for the desire to improve your current Javelin or to unlock others, and it has never tired us over the hours spent exterminating the metamorphic or the insistent troops of the Dominion.
Is that all that glitters gold? Clearly not, and it couldn't be otherwise. In this type of product, with the exception of practically only Destiny, the specter of repetitiveness is around the corner and, unfortunately, Anthem does not seem to have managed to escape it.
If the gameplay is always fresh and fun, the same cannot be said for the actual missions, both the plot and the secondary ones, which seem all too similar to each other, bringing practically the same dish to the table over and over again. reheated properly, of course, but still the same dish. On balance, these are missions with a very similar objective, which in most cases consist of finding a given object, defending oneself from hordes of enemies or saving a specific NPC from the attack of the Dominion troops. An important limitation honestly, in a title like that, which could risk boring some gamers. This, we would like to point out, has never happened to us so far but clearly it is still very early to be able to talk about it with confidence. To this we will inevitably have to add an analysis of the end-game, a real needle in the balance of a product which, net of all structural deficiencies, has all the credentials to stand out as one of the most fun and functional of the current console generation.
The field in which Anthem manages to get everyone to agree is certainly the technical profile: on Xbox One X, the version we tested, the title is truly splendid to see, protagonist of impressive views and audio-visual quality clearly out of scale for the genre, but not only.
Between one shooting and another it is impossible not to get carried away by the splendid ravines in which the deeds of the Specialists move, in which even the fauna and all the details are beautifully in their place, offering a convincing and above all solid general picture, net of a frame-rate strictly locked at 30 FPS on consoles (at least for now) that in the most agitated phases, for example during explosions that bring up a higher number of particles, tends to let itself be carried away by rather showy drops but all in all acceptable.
What really does not go down in reality is the excessive redundancy and length of the loads that are too invasive and that constantly "haunt" the pace of the game. With the day one patch, BioWare has already made it known that it will fix this serious problem, and we can't wait to see it firsthand. A sumptuous work in this respect, which reveals once again the great care with which BioWare presented itself at the starting line of the arrival of its new creature.
The first few hours spent in the company of Anthem were more than positive and gave us a feeling of addiction and irrepressible satisfaction offered by solid and fun gameplay and a rich storyline and a strong narrative impact. The negative points, however, are certainly not lacking: above all there is an underlying monotony in the missions that are too marked (even if we hope to be wrong, once we have thoroughly tested the game), and some questionable technical solutions, such as the annoying high and continuous number of really heavy loads to digest and all the doubts regarding an end-game that is still completely unknown for now. BioWare, however, must immediately be given credit for having been able to create a perfect union between fiction and the so-called "game as a service", something not easy to achieve and which can represent an important pass for a bright future. With the right support Anthem can prove to be a new frontier for the genre, as well as a fundamental product for the entire gaming industry. For a complete judgment, including end-game, evolution of the story and all the other features not yet tested, we refer you to our complete review that will arrive after having carefully stripped the title.
► Anthem is an Action-RPG type game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 22/02/2019
Anthem is a beautiful game that cannot be missing from your collection: we have decided to evaluate it with a 76%, if you are interested in learning more you can read the Anthem Review
