EA’s answer to Destiny is finally upon us and even though it was technically out last week for gamers with access to EA Origins or EA Access. Even with other big releases this month Resident Evil 2, Metro: Exodus, and Far Cry: New Dawn, Anthem is arguably the biggest release this year soꦦ far in terms of hype and certainly budget.

The game has been developed by RPG veterans BioWare who have worked on titles like Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mass Effect, Baldur’s Gate, and arguably the greatest Star Wars game of all time The Knights of the Old Republic.

Even though they have dipped their toes into the multiplayer market with Mass Effect and the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, Anthem is their first real attempt at taking on the online sho﷽oter genre.

It’s quite the step in another direction for the studio by hoping to outdo the likes of Destiny and The Division. Just like Destiny, Anthem is a shared world action shooter that focuses on loot and team battles🌸 whilst making it enjoyable for solo players too.

BioWare has a lot to prove with Anthem and it is going to take a lot of work to knock Destiny from its perch. Let’s take a look at whether the studio has lived up to expec൩tations or whether they should have stuck with doing what they do best: Developing single player RPGs.

30 Good: The Visuals Are Outstanding ඣ

Make no mistake, Anthem is on✅e of the best looking games released this generation. BioWare’s new shared world action RPG is arg🌸uably the best looking game to use the Frostbite engine.

It has clearly been developed with next-generation consoles in mind an🧜d even looks astonishing on the base Xbox One.

BioWare has clearly put a lot of effort into creating one of the most beautiful open-world experiences available today. It’s truly an exhilarating feeling flying through waterfalls and taking in the breathtaking views Anthem has to offer.

29 Bad: The Main Campaign Can Be Completed In a Weeke♈nd

It is obvious that there will be more story content for Anthem players to get to grips with but for no🀅w, those looking for a substantial campaign experience should look elsewhere.

The game’s rinse aꦰnd repeat nature will help pad things out for certain gamers but one could easily finish the main story in a weekend. Worse still, the story ends just as it starts to get interesting.

Sadly, Anthem’s campaign plays like a tacked on side-quest that you’d find in other BioWare titles like Mass Effect and even Dragon Age.

28 Good: Anthem Is The Best Iron Man Game You'll Ever Play ♛

You’ve only got to take a look at the Javelin mech suits in Anthem to see that it has taken a lot of inspiration from Marvel’s Iron Man. There are four suits to choose from all with unique abilities: The all-rounder su🌺it known as The Ranger, the tank class Colossus, the wizard-like Storm, and the fast rogue-like Interceptor.

The most noticeable nods to Marvel’s superheroes are The Ranger which looks and functions just like the normal Iron Man suit, the Interceptor is like Tony Stark’s Mark 40, and the Colossus which looks just like The Hulkbuster. You could also say that Storm shares similarities with Doctor Strange Iron Man-like suit from Doctor Strange #2 by Mark Waid and Jesus Saiz.

27 Bad: The Combat is🍒 Surprisin𒊎gly Bland

Your character’s ability to maneuver around Anthem’s environment does provide some moments of pure brilliance during combat scenarios. The ability to hover and fly to any vantage point gives⛄ the illusion of tactical gunplay.

However, this illusion quickly fades when you realize that most firefights will boil down to you flying somewhere out of range and shooting your enemies until their health bar runs down to z🦩ero. It’s something of an anti-climax when you’re gifted with all these abilities but you rarely get to p꧙ut them to good use.

26 Good: Anth💦em Captures That Epic Sci-fi Show Feel

If there’s one thing that Conviction – Neill Blomkamp’s – proves is theꦿ EA really know how to promote a video game. The video looked like it could easily develop into another interesting science fiction TV series.

Anthem’s backdrop manages to capture this feeling incredibly well and it at times it feels like you have been transported into shows like Terra Nova and Defiance – a series that also had its own video game.

25 ๊ Bad: Anthem Doesn’t Feel Very We🔴lcoming For New Players

If there’s one thing that the sudden surge in popular battle royale games like Fortnight, PUBG, and now Apex Legends tells us is that gamers love the drop-in and dropout quick fix multiplayer action. Shared-world action games like The Division and Destiny also offer this to an extent but Anthem seems to just drop you into a game without a tutorialܫ or an𒁃y real direction.

It’s almost as if it expects you to know what you’re doin🌺g 𝄹from the outset.

Although part of a game’s fun is learning the mechanics on the go, those looking to jump straight into the action while finding nothing but frustration in Anthem.

24 Good: A Goo🔥d Alternative To Destiny ♏

The multiplayer market is absolutely dominated by the Battle Royale scene at the moment. However, the likes of Fortnite, PUBG, and EA’s own Apex Legends don’t offer the same kind of depth as shared-universe games like Destiny and The Division.

Players enjoy games like Destiny because they are more rewarding when it comes to collecting loot and progression. Anthem offers a great alternative to both The Division and Destiny and is different enough to offer players ཧa rewarding alternative to catch up with the biggest games in the market.

23 Bad: The Wea꧟pons 𒉰Are Terrible

Anthem, when compared to the likes of Destiny and The Division, is the weapons. The Division had seemingly endless ways to upgrade and modify your real-world weapons and to be frank Destiny’s incredible wea🥃pons are what saved what may have been just another generic on📖line shooter.

Sadly, Anthem’🤡s weapons are incredibly average t🍰o play with in comparison.

It seems all the effort went into the Javelin’s special abilities instead of the weapons. This is meant to be 💝a futuristic science fiction game so can’t help but wonder why BioWare didn’t get a little creative instead of givin𝓡g players another game with machine guns.

22 Good: The Flying Makes Anthem Stand Out From The Crowd ♏

The Division series has a real-world post-apocalyptic backdrop to its conventional yet addictive RPG mechanics and the Destiny series has amazing weaponry 🌼to set them a🌺part from other shooters.

In Anthem it’s 🎀your character’s agility and flying mechanics that set it apart from just about every other game in the genr🦹e.

The 360-degree flight mechanics are so good that you’ll lose yourself for hours just playing around in the game’💎s environment. Taking to the skies, diving into lakes, and hitting that all-important superhero landing gives the player an incredib🎶le feeling of empowerment. It’s so good one has to wonder what BioWare could have done with an Iron Man license instead.

21 🐠 🍨Bad: Navigating Fort Tarsis Is A Chore

The most interesting part of Anthem is the ability to fly around with the agility of Marvel and DC’s best. However, the same can’t be said ๊when it comes to navigating the game’s main hub world Fort Tarsis.

Bafflingly, the game forces you into a first-person perspective and wander around interacting with non-playable characters at a snails pace. It’s infuriatingly slow and something needs to be add♚res🙈sed as soon as possible because less patient gamers will walk away from the game with no regrets.