Anthem (Demo)
I applaud Bioware (and I guess EA in this case, too) for running an open demo to Anthem. And, after the connectivity issues reported during the advanced/press demo last weekend, I also have to give kudos to those behind the technical improvements - I didn't get disconnected at all.
That said, I think I'm probably going to pass on the game.
I could point to a lot of little things that I dislike. None of them are truly serious, though. Some may even be "pros" to other players:
- Between flight and the menus, controls seem seriously geared toward controller, with keyboard/mouse an afterthought.
- The hub appears to be solo-instanced, and pulls you from the third-person view in play to first-person with walking speed that feels sluggish. I guess that inconsistency helps separate it from the rest of the world, but it takes me out of things a bit.
- The "freeplay" zones seem decently sized, but are either private or "public," which means four-person instanced. In some ways it's good not to be overrun by dozens of other players, but this feels a little too quiet/small to me.
- Zone edges have no indication in regular play. I flew outside a couple times to get a "leaving mission zone" warning that gives a few seconds before reloading you back into the zone (with loading screen). I also hit a loading screen when I went from a main zone map to what was apparently a smaller, mission-instanced map with no clue there was a division there.
- The game is group-centric. This is no surprise and a good bit of it seems perfectly soloable if you don't mind that heftier enemies will take a loooong time to burn down.
- Loadouts are locked when you leave the hub. Similarly, drops are only shown by rarity in-mission - you don't get to see what they actually are until you return to the hub.
Running and gunning feels pretty good. It's not as acrobatic as Warframe, though the ability to fly and hover (limited by an overheat meter) is a cool additional aspect. With the verticality, it is possible to cheese some enemies, though some of them have jump jets and you may well need to run through the battlefield itself to pick up ammo drops. The big bug boss fight in one mission was suitably "boss-y," though not really memorable beyond that. The story mission involved going back and forth to the same area(s) and was... okay, though without the framing context of earlier and later play, it lacks any resonance. The couple characters available to talk to in the hub seemed fine, though there were only a couple dialog options with little difference between them. From what I understand (though haven't seen myself), the intended endgame largely revolves around doing the same stuff on higher difficulty levels (and there were something like six total).
Overall, the game seems fine, but it's lacking any X-factor that would draw me in. Unless reviews come out after release saying the story is awesome, I don't see there's any real reason for me to get into it.
That said, I think I'm probably going to pass on the game.
I could point to a lot of little things that I dislike. None of them are truly serious, though. Some may even be "pros" to other players:
- Between flight and the menus, controls seem seriously geared toward controller, with keyboard/mouse an afterthought.
- The hub appears to be solo-instanced, and pulls you from the third-person view in play to first-person with walking speed that feels sluggish. I guess that inconsistency helps separate it from the rest of the world, but it takes me out of things a bit.
- The "freeplay" zones seem decently sized, but are either private or "public," which means four-person instanced. In some ways it's good not to be overrun by dozens of other players, but this feels a little too quiet/small to me.
- Zone edges have no indication in regular play. I flew outside a couple times to get a "leaving mission zone" warning that gives a few seconds before reloading you back into the zone (with loading screen). I also hit a loading screen when I went from a main zone map to what was apparently a smaller, mission-instanced map with no clue there was a division there.
- The game is group-centric. This is no surprise and a good bit of it seems perfectly soloable if you don't mind that heftier enemies will take a loooong time to burn down.
- Loadouts are locked when you leave the hub. Similarly, drops are only shown by rarity in-mission - you don't get to see what they actually are until you return to the hub.
Running and gunning feels pretty good. It's not as acrobatic as Warframe, though the ability to fly and hover (limited by an overheat meter) is a cool additional aspect. With the verticality, it is possible to cheese some enemies, though some of them have jump jets and you may well need to run through the battlefield itself to pick up ammo drops. The big bug boss fight in one mission was suitably "boss-y," though not really memorable beyond that. The story mission involved going back and forth to the same area(s) and was... okay, though without the framing context of earlier and later play, it lacks any resonance. The couple characters available to talk to in the hub seemed fine, though there were only a couple dialog options with little difference between them. From what I understand (though haven't seen myself), the intended endgame largely revolves around doing the same stuff on higher difficulty levels (and there were something like six total).
Overall, the game seems fine, but it's lacking any X-factor that would draw me in. Unless reviews come out after release saying the story is awesome, I don't see there's any real reason for me to get into it.
Comments
Post a Comment