The reviews are in for Anthem — it’s not looking too good
It has great mechanics but a lackluster story.
EA may have hit a home run with its battle royale Apex Legends (developed by Respawn Entertainment), but it’s next major release isn’t doing so well. Long hyped as a “Destiny-killer”, Anthem is BioWare’s latest game, and it’s the studio’s take on the looter-shooter genre. Released just a few days ago, Anthem’s reviews are far from glowing.
Right now, Anthem is sitting at a 60 on Metcritic which means ‘mixed or average reviews’. The game’s Metascore isn’t based on early reviews mind you as it’s the average of 49 critics ranging from PC Gamer to Gamespot. It’s not faring better when it comes to user reviews as well, given its current User Score of 4.3 based on a 2,316 ratings.
Now for the reviews themselves, PC Gamer sums Anthem up nicely:
“Anthem’s disjointed story, boring loot, repetitive missions, and shallow endgame are all disappointing. At least it’s pretty.”
The Guardian meanwhile, had a bit of a harsher take on their Anthem review:
“Even where it is strongest, Anthem rarely stretches beyond the derivative. The combat, while well-designed, is little more than Gears of War with jetpacks, and narratively it veers between inconsequential and downright irritating. This anthem is, sadly, a tedious and conservative dirge that we’ve all heard before.”
While Anthem is a tough recommendation as of the moment, there’s at least hope that BioWare and EA can make a good game out of it after a couple of updates. Here’s hoping Anthem becomes much better in the coming months.