It is certainly very easy to pick on a game which hasn’t been doing since release, and while there is every right that the individuals who paid $60 entrusting the developers to deliver a complete project it is not always been the case with some examples like Anthem, Destiny, No Man’s Sky and more.
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Can Anthem Be Fixed?
While there has been a ton of coverage about the wrongdoings of Anthem and how and why it failed, one of the most annoying things about this has been the fact not many people care about making the game what it should be. There has been a ton of coverage with how BioWare has stopped looking after Anthem and the postponed the updates do not certainly help the cause, but my first reaction towards Anthem had been nothing short of excitement.
Even though I was unhappy with how the turn of events took place, Anthem and the Javelins never really took flight as it barely hovered above mediocrity, but it had an identity to itself. An Identity which many successful games lack. Anthem was at first marketed as Destiny 2 killer and these expectations were made straight after the 2016 E3 reveal.
Since then Anthem went through a phase of uncertainty and a constant change of people at the helm of the project. BioWare looked like it had an idea at first but could never execute it, it mirrors the state of the game in which most characters talk about Anthem being this intangible force which moves through everyone and connects every living being but a failure to show that is exactly what the developers did.
EA and BioWare recently announced that they are working on the next phase for Anthem which is currently being called as Anthem 2.0 or Anthem Next, while this might sound like another disaster waiting to happen, this is the perfect opportunity for EA and BioWare to show that they can resurrect a game back from the dead.
How Anthem Can Be Fixed?
Anthem has everything in place, a good skeleton is already in place, what it lacks is a soul that gives it a much-needed purpose. Most of this can be fixed but it will certainly take years minimum. Anthem can be still saved and I have certain points which I would like to state out for anyone who thinks that Anthem can be a really good game if the developers really care.
Purpose
First, Anthem needs to find a purpose, the folks at BioWare need to find a new purpose. If BioWare really takes some time and develop Anthem with a proper structure and a single idea to move it forward, it is possible. BioWare has shown in the past that they are one of the best when it comes to single-player based campaign stories, Respawn Entertainment which made the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order showed it that with time and patience you can make a great game. All BioWare needs to do is find their roots again and start over.
Second, every player that purchased Anthem needs to be rewarded to given somewhat of a token of appreciation by offering the game for free, if you charge someone for a full game you owe that person a full game and since Anthem could not deliver, EA and BioWare could win over the gaming community by giving it to every person purchased Anthem.
Gameplay
The missions in Anthem seemed more like random killings of an alien creature and for the resources that you put into, more than often you would not even get back 10 percent of it. The loot system needs to be looked at, this is the same mistake that Bungie did with Destiny and fixed it with Destiny 2. The missions do not need to be in caves where people can hardly fly, or randomly roam. Bring some of the major missions out in the world where they can be more real-time effects to the game. Spending 10-20 minutes just to take on a giant Alien seems redundant if the effort does not match the excitement of the end.
The skills and different types of armors are amazing but there’s not a proper balance to them. What should be 4 different but equally important types of javelins is a battle between two of the most popular.
Anthem that was released in February 2019 should be termed as Episode One. Now there’s a ton of ways in which these episodic events can progress, but it needs to be paid attention to and speaking of the multiplayer mode, this is where Anthem has the most potential and needs the most amount of work.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer activities are limited to basic shooting and skill showoff, while this is something that the Cataclysm event was made to address even those failed to amaze players. The multiplayer modes need to be more dynamic and not just two dimensional, the way it is. Multiplayer needs fixes and there needs to be a sense of a team spirit or cohesion which can be voice chats to make it possible, and with Multiplayer if the characters can have the ability to pull off combo moves, it will bring up more of a reason to be involved in Multiplayer mode.
Hopefully, these ideas and many more might make sense and deliver to the community who has stood by the game, but it won’t last long and the people need to see this being made into a successful game.
