Anthem Is Awesome

Hi,

I feel the need to share my thoughts on my experience with Anthem because it is getting far too much undeserved hate. I normally share my thoughts about games I enjoy anyways but this is a special one for me because of the ridiculous amount of hate being thrown out there.

Story

Seemingly unlike a lot of reviewers, I was able to approach Anthem at my own pace. I took my time. I knew that this game would rely heavily on Journal entries for the story because that was how it was designed. Fortunately, the Journal entries are brief, to the point, and very interesting. They easily immersed me into the universe and characters. There are some boring Journal entries that try to immerse you into the normalcy of the world but I'd say ninety-percent of them are focused on the deeper lore of the actual story and world.

I was not originally a fan of the idea of a video game's main story being told through a website or journals when I first saw it in Destiny but now I have realized that it's perfect for me in this type of game. I often complain about having to sit through twenty minutes to four hours of dialogue in a game before I'm able to get back into actually playing it. With Anthem, I approached it knowing that I would have to read the Journals and so I did.

Bioware has created an absolutely incredible universe in Anthem with its own history, fashion styles, and all the things that I don't know the words to. I say this because I keep seeing people complain that Bioware hasn't created a good story here which could not be more wrong. The difference, or "problem" to some, is that you get most of the story from the Journals.

As I said, I wasn't originally a fan of this idea. But for a game like Destiny or Anthem I think it makes sense. I love that not only can I enjoy the lore without having to sit through filler dialogue but I can jump into the fun action and enjoy the gameplay.

I don't hate games like The Witcher or Persona but I do get real sick of sitting through so much dialogue before I can play the game. Especially when at least half of the time that dialogue is incredibly dull and pointless because it only offers extra quirks into the specific character, but nothing for the overall story. There's nothing wrong with that at all. I'm just personally sick of that kind of thing. I'd rather see a character's quirkiness or personality shine through actual gameplay if possible than to read about how much they love cupcakes in a drawn out dialogue that makes me forget and not even care about what was said.

With Anthem's Journals I actually got invested into the universe and its characters, including the dead ones from its history! Thanks to  the Journal entries, I liked characters a lot more than I would have if I had just spoken with them in-game. Characters such as Owen who I had far more respect for because I understood what a Cypher was thanks to the Journals. If I had not been reading the brief lore entries as I continued playing, the story and characters would definitely take a huge hit and be less interesting.

So, yes, if you just played through the story of Anthem without ever getting into the Journal at all, I can imagine it would suck a lot more. I would prefer a game to have brief and good cinematics that continuously keep me engaged with the story than to have to read Journal entries but the story of Anthem and its universe is quite deep and really damn cool.

I literally cannot wait to see what happens next. Specifically with Owen and Matthias (their stories were my favorite) but of course with everything else as well. I'm very attached to many of the characters. I feel a connection to them. What I loved about Anthem's campaign is that it felt complete but is also open-ended enough to go anywhere with so much amazing potential.

Gameplay

Originally, my biggest worry about Anthem was its end-game content. With only three Strongholds advertised, I thought there's no way this game is going to keep me playing. But here's the surprising thing: I've already got a full experience out of the game. The story was wonderful and the game was super fun. I could stop now and have nothing but good things to say about it. I'm only level 19 out of 30 and I'm more than satisfied.

I played as the Interceptor javelin through the entire campaign. I stopped once to try the Storm and was like nahh. The Interceptor is freakin awesome. It's mainly a lightning fast hack-and-slash kind of gameplay and I always love that kind of thing. I played solo through most of it as well.

Mission and Freeplay in Anthem took me a bit to finally grasp an understanding of. It's pretty awesome. The way it works is that when you do Missions, you're specifically directed to stay on that Mission once you enter the world. The world itself is exactly the same as it would be if you were to play in Freeplay. The difference is, the game will not allow you to stray too far from the mission itself while you're on one.

At first that was annoying because I didn't really understand it. But I like it because it makes it easy to not get distracted and pulled away from the story I'm on by other shiny side things to do. When you want to do open world side stuff, that is when you enter Freeplay where you explore and have full free roam of the same exact world. It was weird at first but I really like this system.

Final Thoughts

One thing I want to mention is a "Challenge" that a lot of people complained about. There is a part during the campaign where you have to have certain "challenges" complete in order to proceed through a story mission. It's all basically done just by playing the game at all. Such as kill one-hundred enemies and stuff like that. Very simple. There's one where you have to have opened fifteen treasure chests.

Here's the thing: treasure chests are actually kind of rare in Anthem. I like that. It feels like actually finding a treasure, you know? This specific challenge is why I think a lot of reviewers and players have been rushing through the game. I played for two days and had this challenge completed without even trying. I'm not kidding. I imagine this may have been easier for me as I was solely focused on just enjoying the experience as well as played solo. Maybe it's harder to do this while focusing on online gameplay? Note: while the treasures are rare, they can be found on both Missions and Freeplay. I got ten of my fifteen from solo missions. I'm also not completely sure if Salvage counts towards it but I think it might. 

When it comes to loading screens, it's really not as bad as people make it out. I hate loading screens in general. I think people are just flat out hating on anything they possibly can. Loading screens from the city hub to missions or freeplay are a bit long but no longer than loading screens in most games.

Lastly, please don't let all the hate get to you. I was hyped for this game because I like the javelins. I like mech stuff. And the world looked beautiful. When I played the Beta I wasn't super impressed or anything but I liked it. I thought it was cool.

The full game is so much better. As a full campaign experience while reading the Journal I thought it was truly excellent. If you thought it was fun to play as a demo kind of thing in the Beta and you've had a small interest in it but weren't too sure, do not let this pass you up. I'm not saying rush out and spend a full $60 on it. Wait if you want. Just please do not let all the hate that's out there put you off. Anthem is pretty amazing.

Thank you for reading.

I also recorded a video of my ramblings on why I love the game if you'd like to listen to that. It's not a word-for-word with this article.