▷Anthem review: a great place to start 🥇

BioWare has decided to enter the world of Shared World Shooter with Anthem, a title as promising as it is fun. As always, however, not all that glitters is gold: the latest effort by the American software house is not free from defects. Which? I'll explain it to you in this review.

Between the walls of Fort Tarsis

Anthem wastes no time: it will only take you a few minutes to find yourself catapulted into the dangerous world of Bastion, a world where the Specialists, brave warriors equipped with a peculiar and technology called armor rays, they face missions of all kinds on a daily basis. In fact, there are huge beasts waiting for you, the numerous metamorphic and the troops of the Dominion, interspersed with the inevitable search for materials and people.

Your point of reference in this wild and indomitable land will be only one: Fort Tarshish, a central hub where you can power up, arm yourself and store everything you don't need. To differentiate it from the Tower created by Bungie for Destiny there are a couple of important differences. The strong is first of all complex and populated by people with extremely human needs and demands, people you can interact with and talk to. Indeed, Anthem doesn't just treat you as a passive listener, it offers you dialogue choices that define your personality and measure your loyalty to the cause. The inhabitants of Tarsis will also entrust you secondary missions, which will help you gain resources and experience, and then rejoice with you every time you achieve new success.

Of course, not everything is perfect. Getting lost in the alleys of the fort is very simple and moving from one side to the other is almost difficult, due to the slow pace of our character, a pace that contrasts strongly with the freedom of movement that Anthem gives us during the missions.

This slowness, often frustrating, however, brings with it an undeniable advantage: your walks will allow you to observe every single element and not miss the numerous clues that will then enrich your Cortex. Contrary to the main plot, which is not very original, the lore is indeed surprisingly vast and fascinating.

In the blue painted blue

The 4 Javelins of Anthem. From left: Colossus, Interceptor, Guardian and Storm

The strong point of the new BioWare videogame is undoubtedly the movement system. Anthem allows you to whiz through the sky, swoop down into the forest and cool your javelin by passing through the many waterfalls in the area. Moving in this world, relying on a level design that focuses a lot on verticality, it's really fun and balance a gunplay that is not the most satisfying. In fact, the feeling of the weapons is not what other giants of the genre have accustomed us to, but the possibility of dodging, hovering in the air and getting around enemies quickly makes everything surprisingly pleasant.

They think about further animating the fighting the four exoskeletons at our disposal. For tank lovers there is the huge colossus, equipped with an extremely resistant shield, while for those who love close combat there is'Interceptor, agile and equipped with razor sharp blades. More like traditional wizards it is instead Storm, ideal for attacks from a distance while guardian it is the most balanced of the four and is perfect for the undecided who do not want to give up anything. Each of these can count not only on two slots dedicated to classic firearms, but also on ability and on a tide of components different.

All this of course you will earn and you will find by participating in the different quests or by giving yourself to free play. In short, play, accumulate and then carefully select your equipment, eliminating what you do not need and leaving room for what fits best with your style and with the javelin selected.

Finally, I would like to point out the presence of a crafting system which, however, is not too satisfactory. In fact, after the first few hours of the game, you will find traditional research much more useful than the more elaborate creation of armaments.

[

The drama of repetitiveness

Quantity is certainly not a problem for Anthem: the endgame in fact includes a large amount of public events and the more complex raids in three Fortresses, all activities that will keep you busy for several hours. The problem is the non-existent variety of offices, all boringly similar to each other. A huge flaw for a "Game as a service", a game that was created to attract players not only for the few days required to complete the campaign, but for several months, or even years. Of course, continuing to play and reliving the routine allows gamers to upgrade your Javelin or bring home new cosmetic items, but can we really consider it a sufficient stimulus?

Of course, all is not lost. BioWare seems intent on adding new content and to make some interesting changes. Soon the first expansion should arrive, which could give us some other interesting hours of play.

An excellent work

Impossible not to appreciate the graphic rendering of Anthem. THEThe lighting, particle effects and animations are of an excellent standard and make the gaming experience even more immersive. Also appreciable dynamic weather, which not only gives variety to the game but also affects your ability to fly.

Also promoted the soundtrack, dubbing and matchmaking, while the interface could benefit from some improvements.

Anthem: buy it or not buy it?

I have mixed feelings towards Anthem: on the one hand we have a promising and fun shooter, with a surprising narrative frame and exciting gameplay, on the other we find a somewhat frustrating and really unexpected repetitiveness. In short, more could have been done, but there is still room for improvement. What we've seen and tried is a great foundation, but BioWare needs to build upon it, refine it, and add that variety we need.