Anthem
What to Know
0%
Critics Recommend
0%
Average Score
- February 22, 2019
- BioWare
- RPG, Shooter
Total Reviews: 125
Skip It
Critics Consensus
Anthem is pretty to look and there are flashes of brilliance, but boring loot and a tedious endgame disappoint. Stay away.
- In-Game Purchases
- Users Interact
Anthem
- February 22, 2019
- RPG, Shooter
0%
Skip It
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews: 125
- In-Game Purchases
- Users Interact
Spread the Word
WHAT TO KNOW
Critics Consensus
# Reviews: 125
Anthem is pretty to look and there are flashes of brilliance, but boring loot and a tedious endgame disappoint. Stay away.
Rate and Review
RATE AND REVIEW
What did you think of Anthem?
Player Reviews0 Votes
Critic Reviews for Anthem
HIGHLIGHTED CRITICS
Critic Reviews
Score Distribution
125
Reviews
Average Score - 61/100
61%
Ranges
6.5/10
James Duggan (IGN)
Anthem has energetic combat but it saves too much of what precious little content it has for the endgame, making playing through its mismatched story a tediously repetitive grind.
February 21, 2019 |
There are flashes of brilliance, especially when it comes to the flying, but confused storytelling, boring loot, and unsatisfying missions don’t justify the game’s massive time investment.
February 22, 2019 |
6/10
GameCentral (Metro GameCentral)
55/10
Steven Messner (PC Gamer)
Anthem’s disjointed story, boring loot, repetitive missions, and shallow endgame are all disappointing. At least it’s pretty.
February 21, 2019 |
James Duggan (IGN)
6.5/10 - (Read Review)
Anthem has energetic combat but it saves too much of what precious little content it has for the endgame, making playing through its mismatched story a tediously repetitive grind.
GameCentral (Metro GameCentral)
6/10 - (Read Review)
There are flashes of brilliance, especially when it comes to the flying, but confused storytelling, boring loot, and unsatisfying missions don’t justify the game’s massive time investment.
Steven Messner (PC Gamer)
55/10 - (Read Review)
Anthem’s disjointed story, boring loot, repetitive missions, and shallow endgame are all disappointing. At least it’s pretty.
**Read all 125 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.
Read the Reviews (125 total)
| Outlet | Author | Score | Date | Quote | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3DNews | Алексей Лихачев | 4 / 10 | 03-02-2019 | Anthem has a chance to become a good game somewhere down the line, but right now it’s a huge disappointment. | Read review |
| ACG | Jeremy Penter | Not Recommended | 02-21-2019 | Video Review | Read review |
| Ars Technica | Sam Machkovech | Not Recommended | 02-19-2019 | Wait until EA finishes the game, if that ever happens. | Read review |
| Atomix | Miguel Reyes | 70 / 100 | 02-25-2019 | Anthem is not a bad game as a whole, but rather an interesting project with wasted potential. It has really great gameplay mechanics and an awesome setting that, sadly, got negatively affected by bad choices and poorly implemented ideas like a forgetable story with horrible narrative, repetitive mission structures, painful loading screens and a multiplayer approach with null sense of cooperation. | Read review |
| Attack of the Fanboy | William Schwartz | 3.5 / 5 stars | 02-27-2019 | Anthem impresses on the presentation front and the javelin suits are a blast to play with, but a lack of diversity in the game and uninspired loot-driven progression system make it feel like Anthem could be a much better game than it currently is with a few updates. | Read review |
| AusGamers | Kosta Andreadis | 6 / 10 | 02-25-2019 | It’s a shame then that everything surrounding this core feels so disjointed. A story that lacks momentum outside of a few moments, mission design that reveals all its nuance in a matter of minutes, and a cumbersome progression system interrupted by walls | Read review |
| Bloody Disgusting | Andrew King | 3.5 / 5 stars | 02-22-2019 | My hope is that BioWare, too, will be able to overcome the ways that their game is broken. Since that demo, Anthem has steadily grown more stable. Some issues, though—like the repetitive mission structure—run deeper than glitchiness. But, Anthem’s core mechanics are satisfying, its world is enticing and its characters, by and large, are charming. With this review done, I will continue to play it. I want Anthem to get better, and I only hope that EA will give BioWare the time and resources to make this game as good as it can be. | Read review |
| But Why Tho? | Rashaad Johnson | 6.5 / 10 | 03-02-2019 | I’ll be playing this game for some time to come and will only hope that it gets better by year’s end, because honestly if it doesn’t address the issues they have now, I can definitely see this game being forgotten fairly quickly. | Read review |
| Cerealkillerz | Patrice Naderi | 6.6 / 10 | 02-23-2019 | n his current state, Anthem is a nice action game in the beginning, that loses its momentum very fast due to strong flaws in game- and missiondesign, a slow RPG part, a weak story, uninspired mechanics and many technical issues. We currently don`t recommend a buy and only a round in the play first trial with EA or Origin Access after a potential healing in a couple of months. | Read review |
| CGMagazine | Cole Watson | 7 / 10 | 02-19-2019 | Despite its myriad of issues, I still enjoyed the fun gameplay of Anthem and plan to revisit the game after it has developed a larger suite of content and events for me to experience. | Read review |
| Cheat Code Central | Unknown | 3 / 5 stars | 02-26-2019 | Anthem is a game that tries to be an answer to Destiny’s popularity and even seeks to answer some of the issues people have with that game. At the same time, it ends up feeling derivative, and any fatigue you have with Destiny is likely to carry over | Read review |
| Checkpoint Gaming | Elliot Attard | Not Recommended | 03-01-2019 | What frustrates me the most about Anthem is that the things that work in the game’s favour are really well implemented. It feels like a complete waste to have these awesome traversal and combat mechanics utilised in such an uninspired game | Read review |
| COGconnected | Scott Sullivan | 60 / 100 | 02-22-2019 | Despite Anthem’s very noticeable hiccups, there’s enough of a solid groundwork here that I think Anthem can be built off of into something unique. Sadly, it falls into the same shortcomings as its predecessors, featuring a minimal endgame and some almost obtuse design choices. | Read review |
| Critical Hit | Darryn Bonthuys | 6 / 10 | 02-25-2019 | Anthem may look like a slick blend of action and exploration all wrapped up in some shiny armour, but beneath its surface lies a game that is riddled with bugs, shallow world-building and a paint by numbers approach to its design. | Read review |
| Cubed3 | Drew Hurley | 6 / 10 | 03-04-2019 | Perhaps it will get better, but whether the audience is still there when it does is questionable. Cool flying mechanics can only keep the interest of the masses for so long. | Read review |
| Cultured Vultures | Ashley Bates | 5 / 10 | 02-26-2019 | Though the core gameplay loop of getting better loop will undoubtedly hook players in, Anthem currently doesn’t offer enough original content to make the investment worth it. | Read review |
| Daily Dot | AJ Moser | 3 / 5 stars | 02-26-2019 | If BioWare can salvage the great gameplay ideas the game is built on and streamline some of the obtuse checklists, maybe Anthem will become the engrossing, living world I wanted it to be. But maybe I’m searching for something that was never there. | Read review |
| Daily Mirror | Matt Osborn | 3 / 5 stars | 02-22-2019 | As it stands, Anthem needs some work done to it if we want to see its full glory. | Read review |
| Daily Star | Lloyd Coombes | 3 / 5 stars | 03-01-2019 | Here’s hoping for a swift fix for the game’s most pressing issues, because almost everything that works, works well. With some more polish, Anthem could be a great way to spend an evening playing with friends | Read review |
| Destructoid | Chris Carter | 7 / 10 | 02-19-2019 | BioWare will need to build quickly on top of its shimmering jet-fueled foundation to hold people’s interest, but folks looking for a new neighborhood to move into might want to give Anthem a try — either now or after fixes and updates. | Read review |
| Digital Chumps | Ben Sheene | 7 / 10 | 06-17-2018 | In a matter of weeks Anthem has marveled with its engaging action and technical incompetence. As a power fantasy, the game achieves many co-op thrills but the highs are often spread too thin over questionable design choices. BioWare’s pedigree feels suppressed by a game that needed much more time in the oven. | Read review |
| Digital Trends | Unknown | 3 / 5 stars | 01-25-2019 | Anthem is a blast at times, but its best moments are separated by too much grind and an inconsistent story. | Read review |
| DualShockers | Logan Moore | 5.5 / 10 | 03-01-2019 | BioWare’s Anthem is as disappointing as it is boring, with the game’s biggest fault being that it just gets in the way of its own self. | Read review |
| Easy Allies | Brandon Jones | 3 / 5 stars | 03-03-2019 | Fans that have waited for Anthem will have to wait a bit longer until it’s up to speed with a lot of the competition. Long load times, repetitive missions, and a lack of end-game surprises take a lot of excitement out of what is otherwise a beautiful game with inventive controls. | Read review |
| EGM | Nick Plessas | 7.5 / 10 | 02-28-2019 | Anthem is a beautiful car that is an absolute joy to drive, but so far, it only has enough gas to get you a couple miles. Also, the wheels will periodically fall off. Sold as a live-service game, fans of Anthem’s exhilarating gameplay have to hold out hope that things will improve, but there’s no denying the initial expedition was rough. | Read review |
| Eurogamer | Oli Welsh | Not Recommended | 02-26-2019 | Beautiful, broken, with flashes of brilliance, Anthem is a disorganised mess in search of a reason to be. | Read review |
| Everyeye.it | Alessandro Bruni | 7.6 / 10 | 02-22-2019 | Anthem is the imperfect result of a creative birth that has placed in the hands of the public one of the most promising shared-world shooter of the last few years. | Read review |
| Fextralife | Languard | 6 / 10 | 03-05-2019 | Anthem is an excellent Iron Man simulator bogged down with poor mission design set in a fascinating world with a lack-luster story. Coupled with a critical lack of end-game content, this is by far the weakest offering from BioWare. Enjoyment of this game will fully rest on how much you enjoy the combat. | Read review |
| FingerGuns | Rossko Keniston | 5 / 10 | 03-05-2019 | Anthem is not worth the money they’re asking. It just isn’t. It might be someday, the ‘quality of life’ has to be improved significantly because once you’re in the game, you can see what BioWare want Anthem to be, you know where it’s heading and the story ending leaves it open enough to ensure that it’ll continue in the same way that Destiny just keeps on going. It’s not dreadful, there just needs to be a serious overhaul of the navigation, the bloody menus and the ‘looter shooter’ aspect which at this present moment is ensuring you’re getting very little back for your momentous efforts. | Read review |
| Flickering Myth | Shaun Munro | 5.5 / 10 | 02-19-2019 | Slick flying and gunplay collide with infuriating design choices throughout Anthem. But its biggest problem is a lack of soul – this is a cynical, committee-produced product bereft of any significant creative spark. | Read review |
| Forbes | Paul Tassi | 7.3 / 10 | 03-04-2019 | Anthem may thrive. Anthem may fail. It has the bones to be something great but I am tired of saying that about so many games in this genre and five years after Destiny 1, I can’t believe we’re here yet again. Get it right the first time, because everyone is losing patience. | Read review |
| Game Informer | Andrew Reiner | 7 / 10 | 02-26-2019 | Anthem tries to be too many things, and ends up losing focus in all aspects of the experience | Read review |
| Game Revolution | Mack Ashworth | 2.5 / 5 stars | 02-22-2019 | Unfortunately, I feel like fixing this game goes beyond patching glitches, fixing bugs, and then cramming in expansions. | Read review |
| Game Volt | Mohamed Ashmawy | 7.3 / 10 | 03-01-2019 | ANTHEM has the potential to become a great game after a while, only the content we get on the first day is game greatest weakness point, and with the completion of updates and provide a serious support plan will have a great future. | Read review |
| Gameblog | Camille Allard | 6 / 10 | 02-22-2019 | Even if it has some good ideas, plays very well and is dashing technically speaking, Anthem is a huge disappointment. Because of its repetitivity and lack of real of real attractiveness in terms of story and characters, it feels more like a technological showcase without a soul. | Read review |
| GameCrate | Quibian Salazar-Moreno | 7.3 / 10 | 03-07-2019 | There’s a good game somewhere in Anthem. Somewhere behind the loading screens, asking for meaningful endgame content. Hopefully in the next few months, when BioWare starts launching its post-launch content and quality of life fixes, the game will become what it’s meant to be. | Read review |
| Gamefa | Amirmehdi Namjoo | 7 / 10 | 02-25-2019 | Anthem is a game that didn’t use a lot of its great potential. On one hand, some of the gameplay mechanics like flying is very well implemented and it also has very beautiful visuals, but on the other hand, the singleplayer and multiplayer aspects of the game contradict each other. Both are well implemented separately, but when they are put together, they just don’t work well. The story also didn’t come up to the expectations we have from BioWare. At all, Anthem in its current state is just simply a normal good game and nothing more. | Read review |
| GameHaunt | Excelle Escalada | 4.5 / 5 stars | 02-27-2019 | Anthem is a great game and you can definitely remember a lot of interesting moments. | Read review |
| GameMAG | Unknown | 5 / 10 | 03-03-2019 | For many of us, BioWare RPGs became very special. Now we have Anthem, a product created by the hollow shell of the once great studio in the miserable attempts to jump onto the leaving Destiny train. It is difficult to say what lies ahead for this game and the company that created it, but we have serious concerns. | Read review |
| GamePitt | Unknown | 8 / 10 | 02-28-2019 | In short, Anthem is a great game which has had some bad reviews based on what is on offer right now and the fact that it’s not quite sure of its identity. While promoted as a multiplayer game, its deep storytelling makes it more an experience I wanted to discover alone. That being said, once the campaign is finished, it’s great to be able to play end game content with friends as that’s part of what keeps you coming back, playing with people you know. To me, Anthem is a single player game with some co-op experiences, there is no PVP for the hard-core shooter fans out there and that will put some people off. Sadly, the fact it’s being labelled as multiplayer has also put off people that enjoy single player games, people who I think would enjoy this game very much. | Read review |
| Gameplanet | Baz Macdonald | 6 / 10 | 03-05-2019 | Anthem is a game with unmet potential at every turn. The gameplay is fantastic and recreates the ’30 seconds of fun’ that has made its competitor Destiny such a success. But in its current state of bugs, server issues and poor design decisions, it is planted firmly in the ‘play it in six months’ category. | Read review |
| GamePro | Linda Sprenger | 65 / 100 | 02-27-2019 | The basic structure of the Bioware shooter is fun, but story and mission design disappoint. Anthem still has a long way to go. | Read review |
| Gamerheadquarters | Jason Stettner | 7.2 / 10 | 02-21-2019 | Anthem delivers a fairly solid experience, it has enjoyable elements but does also come across as rather generic. | Read review |
| Gamersky | 不倒翁蜀黍 | 7 / 10 | 02-19-2019 | Wearing armor and fighting like the Iron Man is really amazing, but this game at this time is also full of flaws. The story is dull. The gameplay is repetitive and boring. What’s worse, there are too many bugs and network issues. Maybe it will be a great game when its DLCs come out. | Read review |
| GameSkinny | Synzer | 7 / 10 | 03-02-2019 | Bioware’s new live service shooter, Anthem, may be off to a rough start, but the core gameplay is still fantastic, and there is definitely hope for the future. | Read review |
| GameSpew | Jack Bampfield | 6 / 10 | 02-22-2019 | At this point in time, Anthem feels like a title that needs more work. I want to like it, but damn does it make it hard. Like the games that came before it in this genre, I’ve no doubt that Anthem will get better and bulkier with updates over time, but if Bioware takes too long in getting there, I fear most of the player base will have moved on. | Read review |
| GameSpot | Kallie Plagge | 6 / 10 | 02-22-2019 | BioWare’s Anthem has good ideas, but most of those ideas don’t end up working well together. | Read review |
| GamesRadar+ | Sam Loveridge | 2.5 / 5 stars | 02-22-2019 | Anthem is ultimately severely flawed, and very unfinished. There’s half a good game in there, but it doesn’t do enough to diminish the overall feeling of emptiness and repetition. | Read review |
| GameWatcher | Chris J Capel | 6.5 / 10 | 03-03-2019 | Anthem is a tremendously fun base for a game, but is significantly lacking as a game right now. We know for sure that BioWare is making that game and it’s coming soon, but it sure as heck didn’t launch with it. The Anthem gameplay is incredible as an Iron Man simulator, with some great abilities, and the sense of flight is wonderful. The world and story is potentially interesting too. | Read review |
| GameZone | Mike Splechta | 6 / 10 | 03-05-2019 | Bugs, crashes, bad optimization, repetitive objectives, horrible load times and lots more, unfortunately, overshadow the game’s great flight and combat system. | Read review |
| Gaming Nexus | Nicholas Leon | 7 / 10 | 03-07-2019 | Anthem is a competent looter-shooter. It is not an overwhelming, hallelujah-inducing entry into BioWare’s storied history, but it’s fine. I doubt I’ll engage with the game past unlocking the final javelin, even though there is that tease at the end of further content. | Read review |
| GamingBolt | Will Borger | 5 / 10 | 02-21-2019 | When everything clicks, Anthem is great. But it is a game with major flaws, and how much you enjoy it will depend on both your ability to tolerate them and BioWare’s ability to fix them. | Read review |
| GamingTrend | Ron Burke | 80 / 100 | 02-23-2019 | Anthem’s rich storytelling and engaging combat lays the foundation for Bioware’s newest adventure. While there are plenty of quality of life improvements to be made, Anthem’s ambitious approach to the looter-shooter genre is encouraging given the development team’s steadfast community engagement. With a roadmap stretching far into the horizon, we’ll be flying around the world of Anthem for a long time to come. | Read review |
| GearNuke | Danial Arshad Khan | 6.5 / 10 | 03-15-2019 | The world and setting of Anthem are amazing, the gameplay is super fun, but the mission structure and loot system let the game down. | Read review |
| Geek Culture | Owlbear Gaming | 6.8 / 10 | 02-25-2019 | BioWare’s first foray into the looter-shooter genre absolutely nails high-flying action, but drops the ball in all other aspects. A disappointment at launch, Anthem nevertheless contains plenty of untapped potential that will hopefully survive being buried under a tidal wave of negativity. BioWare sorely needs to turn things around for this game, but whether or not they will succeed remains to be seen. | Read review |
| Geeks Under Grace | Joe Morgan | 6 / 10 | 02-26-2019 | Anthem is like playing in a mud puddle. It’s a mess, but it’s fun. It features fun third-person shooter combat with likable characters. Unfortunately, the rest of the experience is marred by technical bugs, bad design decisions, and poor pacing. You’ll have a good time when all the gears are turning, but the downtime may cause death by a thousand papercuts. | Read review |
| Giant Bomb | Brad Shoemaker | 2 / 5 stars | 03-01-2019 | BioWare joins the ranks of developers who have learned the hard way how difficult it is to make a good loot game. | Read review |
| God is a Geek | Mick Fraser | 6 / 10 | 02-26-2019 | Despite some new ideas and a core gameplay loop that does its best to carry the experience, Anthem is ultimately a bit of a disappointment from BioWare | Read review |
| GotGame | David Poole | 6 / 10 | 03-05-2019 | Overall, Anthem seems to be a solid foundation buried under a mixture of problems. While some bugs are minor, some of them are game-breaking enough to even cause a system crash. It’s really unfortunate, because I actually like playing Anthem. I really wanted it to succeed, and I know with time, Bioware can make it something amazing. Sadly, it’s very possible that it might not even be worth the time at this point. | Read review |
| GRYOnline.pl | Dariusz Matusiak | 6.5 / 10 | 02-20-2019 | Anthem is a constant emotional see-saw. There is a lot of fun from flying, shooting and admiring this beautiful world, and almost as much frustration due to a surprising amount of bad ideas and issues. Some won’t be bothered by them and keep flying, and others will go somewhere else. Anthem is a game to both love and to hate at the same time. | Read review |
| Guardian | Rick Lane | 2 / 5 stars | 02-22-2019 | BioWare’s shooter jets promisingly into battle on a stunning alien world, but what unfolds is patchy | Read review |
| Hardcore Gamer | Jacob Bukacek | 2.5 / 5 stars | 03-11-2019 | Anthem is a game based on a fantastic idea. | Read review |
| Hobby Consolas | Álvaro Alonso | 70 / 100 | 02-20-2019 | Under a myriad of problems and bad design choices, lays a fun game, with rich lore and lots of potential… Maybe even a Bioware game. Sadly, right now it’s difficult to find it. | Read review |
| IGN | James Duggan | 6.5 / 10 | 02-21-2019 | Anthem has energetic combat but it saves too much of what precious little content it has for the endgame, making playing through its mismatched story a tediously repetitive grind. | Read review |
| IGN Italy | Francesco Destri | 7.6 / 10 | 03-01-2019 | Anthem is an imperfect and evolving game, but if you are looking for a rewarding experience in terms of gunplay, fighting and settings, you will hardly be disappointed. | Read review |
| IGN Middle East | Haya Borham | 7.5 / 10 | 03-03-2019 | Anthem is an entertaining game, but not for a long time because of its refined playing style. Offering stunning graphics with many visual details and a wide world, we encountered several problems. As the Javelins are the focus of the game, Anthem deserves the experience because of them, especially if the game price is less than $ 60. | Read review |
| IGN Spain | David Soriano | 7.5 / 10 | 02-18-2019 | We prefer to highlight the playable elements that make Anthem fun to play at times. Everything else that surrounds the Bioware game has yet to improve and add more content to mitigate the feeling of repetitiveness, because the history and the world of Bastion has a huge potential that at the date of its release still seems untapped. | Read review |
| Impulsegamer | Nathan Misa | 3 / 5 stars | 03-04-2019 | Anthem offers a solid multiplayer PvE action-shooter experience and exo suit power fantasy dampened by fundamental design problems and loot system inconsistencies. | Read review |
| INDIANTVCZ | Filip Kraucher | 4 / 10 | 02-26-2019 | After playing many hours of Anthem, I was frustrated. Big promises are converted into just an empty execution from once beloved developers. There is still a potential. But right now the game has nothing much to offer, if we are talking about original gameplay at least. This is a sign that an over-successful team can always create a very average thing. | Read review |
| Jump Dash Roll | Peter Taylor | 6 / 10 | 03-06-2019 | We hoped beyond hope that Anthem would show the world just how sci-fi online action role-playing games were done. What we got, however, was far from that and without some serious improvement, Anthem could take Mass Effect: Andromeda’s crown as BioWare’s worst ever release. | Read review |
| Just Push Start | Oliver East | 3.4 / 5 stars | 02-27-2019 | Comparison aside, Anthem can be a fairly chilled game to play with friends, despite explosions big enough to fill screens, and this is 100% the way to play the game. The constant challenges to defend areas or collects things are made less of a chore with a competent ally. Also, having a friend to cooperatively combo with helps push all of the over the top fun to the surface. The niggles are still there and present but it is much easier to forgive when not solo. With all the glorious map there to fly around, the vast ways to cause explosions and cooperative play, Anthem is well worth playing, especially once the roadmapped content starts to come online. | Read review |
| Leadergamer | Alper Dalan | 3 / 10 | 02-16-2019 | Anthem has a great potential. But right now, it has a few problems. | Read review |
| LevelUp | Luis Sánchez | 6 / 10 | 03-05-2019 | Anthem struggles to deliver an engaging and ongoing experience to return and grind every day. Even if you manage to look above his flaws, like underwhelming loot design, mission structure and rigid combat, there is little joy to be found in this game. | Read review |
| Merlin’in Kazanı | Furkan Güler | 55 / 100 | 02-22-2019 | We are really afraid, because Anthem could be last game we seen from BioWare. The game has big issues from both gameplay and performance aspects. The lack of content is biggest problem of it. | Read review |
| Metro GameCentral | Unknown | 6 / 10 | 02-22-2019 | There are flashes of brilliance, especially when it comes to the flying, but confused storytelling, boring loot, and unsatisfying missions don’t justify the game’s massive time investment. | Read review |
| MMOGames | Phil DeMerchant | 6 / 10 | 03-01-2019 | Anthem is an MMO-lite looter-shooter with potential sadly unrealized. Most of its design decisions feel woefully underdeveloped, despite how it excels in its frankly addicting gameplay. The interjection of a freemium forced economy as well as the simultaneous extension of and lack of any traditional end-game or development beyond the main story screams of publisher intervention. Anthem’s systems are absolutely wonderful, but they feel crippled by its other design decisions. | Read review |
| MMORPG.com | Michael Bitton | 6.5 / 10 | 02-22-2019 | Six months or a year from now, Anthem, like many of the other games before it, may be a wholly improved experience and complete its redemption arc, but right now it may as well be AAA Early Access. | Read review |
| MonsterVine | Michael Elliott | 2.5 / 5 stars | 03-07-2019 | Many of the individual aspects of Anthem work well. The world of Bastion is gorgeous, the graphical fidelity is truly next level, and no game has done flight quite as well as this one. Unfortunately, when mashed together in a rough looter shooter, these great aspects of the game are hidden away and replaced with a slow and frustrating experience riddled with technical and balancing issues and a simply average story doesn’t make up for any of it. | Read review |
| New Game Network | Alex Varankou | 60 / 100 | 03-09-2019 | Anthem manages to offer up moments of fun, with occasionally chaotic action, Javelin gameplay variety and freeform traversal. But an overly convoluted and forgettable story, underwhelming RPG elements and outdated design choices make for a rough introduction to this brave new world. | Read review |
| Nexus | Keegan Govender | 6.5 / 10 | 02-24-2019 | Anthem has the potential to be something greater than it is, but BioWare needs to focus on a clear path to get it there. It may be riddled with bugs that break the game, but there are core elements that can’t just be fixed with a simple update down the line. | Read review |
| Niche Gamer | Zoe Renee | 5 / 10 | 02-24-2019 | I’d be remiss not to mention that I personally really enjoy looter shooters, way back to Borderlands in 2009, and I actually adore Destiny (fight me). There was a part of me that really hoped this would be Bioware’s comeback, but that just wasn’t meant to be. Anthem doesn’t just not reach the bar set by others, it doesn’t even attempt to reach for it. | Read review |
| NoobFeed | Adam Siddiqui | 50 / 100 | 02-26-2019 | The starting moments of Anthem are truly amazing, with breathtaking environments, a promising story, and the ability to take to the sky at will. This excitement eventually fades as you continue forward on your journey to kill hordes of the same enemies to obtain lackluster loot and explore the same areas. Anthem looks and plays like it should be better than it is but suffers rigorously from repetitive gameplay, bland loot, and tiresome characters. | Read review |
| Oyungezer Online | Can Arabacı | 6.5 / 10 | 02-22-2019 | Despite all the negative aspects, I don’t close the door to the possibility that Anthem could be a good game in the future, because it has really good ideas and fun mechanics. I’m sure BioWare will do its best to make Anthem a success story. But one thing is certain and that is Bioware had released Anthem without learning from other examples like The Division and Destiny. | Read review |
| Pardis Game | Sadra Salehi | 7.5 / 10 | 02-28-2019 | Despite the fact that the gameplay and the graphics are high quality and the game has its own share of fun and memorable moments, for now the game remains a unrealized potential. Anthem needs improvement in many departments: story, level design, boss fights, looting and more content in general. As of this piece, the game doesn’t have much to entertain a gamer for hundreds of hours. There seems to be a long time schedule for supporting Anthem and evolving the game. It remains to be seen wether Bioware will fill the world with new contents and items, cause right now Anthem has the markings of a great shooter looter. | Read review |
| Paste Magazine | Dante Douglas | 6.5 / 10 | 02-25-2019 | Anthem is not “for me”, yet Anthem is trying desperately to be “for everyone.” It is a slow, sometimes terribly frustrating game with nonetheless incredible flying mechanics and adequate shooting. It is the future of videogames, built to be played forever and yet somehow forgettable—the sustenance meal of the online shooter-looter genre, inexplicably buoyed by a company known for legendarily good writing forced to hide its own characters behind mission talk-overs and loot notifications. | Read review |
| PC Gamer | Steven Messner | 55 / 100 | 02-21-2019 | Anthem’s disjointed story, boring loot, repetitive missions, and shallow endgame are all disappointing. At least it’s pretty. | Read review |
| PC Invasion | Jason Rodriguez | 2.5 / 10 | 02-21-2019 | Anthem offers near unlimited potential, with certain features, taken separately, representing a marvel in design. Combined together and it proves to have a lot of style but very little substance. | Read review |
| PCGamesN | Richard Scott-Jones | 6 / 10 | 02-21-2019 | Beautiful and mechanically robust throughout, but weighed down by repetitive missions, a flabby structure, and a lot of the people you meet in Fort Tarsis. Even the strongest beats become tiresome if repeated or drowned in white noise, and that’s Anthem in a nutshell.Richard Scott-Jones | Read review |
| PCMag | Gabriel Zamora | 2.5 / 5 stars | 03-19-2019 | Anthem mimes shoot-and-loot games, but doesn’t do enough to stand apart from the competition. Plus, bugs and tedious level design mar a potentially entertaining title. | Read review |
| PlayStation LifeStyle | Blake Grundman | 6.5 / 10 | 03-01-2019 | As much as I personally wanted Anthem to be a runaway success, it ends up delivering an inconsistent experience that constantly waivers between mediocre and excellent. Unfortunately, regardless of where the quality falls on that spectrum, the biggest takeaway is that it feels decidedly un-Bioware. Characters deliver narrative in a compelling way, but the overall storyline lacks the player ownership found in their previous releases. And while it possesses the building blocks necessary to deliver a standout title, at launch, this has yet to coalesce. I have no doubt that Anthem will dramatically improve over time, but right now, this flight should remain grounded. | Read review |
| PlayStation Universe | Laddie Simco | 7 / 10 | 02-26-2019 | Anthem may never get the chance to live up to its potential due to a series of unfortunate game design decisions and issues. The first IP from BioWare in over ten years displays moments of grandeur with fun and unique gameplay that unfortunately is undermined by the game’s current condition. | Read review |
| Polygon | Russ Frushtick | Not Recommended | 02-20-2019 | Anthem trips over itself trying to blend two genres into one | Read review |
| Post Arcade (National Post) | Chad Sapieha | 6 / 10 | 03-01-2019 | Edmonton-based BioWare’s first kick at the cooperative online shooter can needs a little more oomph | Read review |
| PowerUp! | Kizito Katawonga | 7.7 / 10 | 03-19-2019 | Anthem is one of my favorite games in a long time. Yes, there are some design and technical problems with Anthem but absolutely nothing that can’t be fixed. | Read review |
| Press Start | Ewan Roxburgh | 6 / 10 | 02-24-2019 | For all its flaws, it has to be said that Anthem is a lot of fun. Some 60 hours in, between both PC and PS4 where I’m onto the endgame in both, I still enjoy the moment to moment gameplay. | Read review |
| PSX Brasil | Bruno Henrique Vinhadel | 75 / 100 | 03-03-2019 | A good cooperative system, excellent gameplay and other qualities in the new world created by BioWare can not be ignored by the various errors that the game presents. Anthem seems limited and incomplete in its launch, but can receive several changes in the coming weeks and become a much better game in a few months. Today the game does not stand out among the various loot shooters already on the market, but maybe this can happen when its potential is fully achieved. | Read review |
| Push Square | Robert Ramsey | 5 / 10 | 02-26-2019 | Given time, ANTHEM could slowly start to bloom into a much more cohesive experience, but the worry is that it won’t be given a chance. There’s a good game in here somewhere, but only the flashy, satisfying combat stands out amongst a background mess of shockingly bad design decisions and woefully undercooked systems. ANTHEM feels unfinished and, frankly, undeserving of your time when there are much better live titles currently available on PS4. Check back in a year from now, and we might be onto something. | Read review |
| Rectify Gaming | Dave Rodriguez | 8.3 / 10 | 02-21-2019 | Strong alone, stronger together, Anthem is a fantastic action-RPG experience for solo players or groups. | Read review |
| Rock, Paper, Shotgun | Alice Bell | Not Recommended | 02-25-2019 | I want to want to spend more time with it, because there are bits of it I really enjoy. But it needs more than the world map to change a bit, or have seasons, or better social interaction. It needs changes to how it actually works, which is a lot to ask. But the biggest fight I’ve had with Anthem so far is against Anthem. | Read review |
| Saudi Gamer | ريان الدويش | 6 / 10 | 03-11-2019 | Anthem is a disappointment, there are a core design issues and technical issues that prevented the game from becoming a great game and made it just another looting game. | Read review |
| Screen Rant | Cody Gravelle | 2.5 / 5 stars | 02-22-2019 | Anthem has a few good ideas, but it struggles under the weight of its own gameplay mechanics and some truly baffling design decisions. | Read review |
| SECTOR.sk | Matúš Štrba | 7 / 10 | 02-22-2019 | BioWare put a lot of effort into Anthem but every single brilliant idea is overshadowed with something boring or shallow. | Read review |
| Shacknews | Ozzie Mejia | 5 / 10 | 02-25-2019 | Right now, Anthem is not good. And given what’s come out of BioWare in the past and the kinds of lasting, impactful experiences that the gaming world knows BioWare is capable of delivering, that’s truly sad. | Read review |
| Skill Up | Ralph Panebianco | Not Recommended | 02-20-2019 | Video Review | Read review |
| Slant Magazine | Justin Clark | 2.5 / 5 stars | 03-02-2019 | The game’s bland mélange of competence feels like the deliberate, calculated, focus-tested murder of ideas. | Read review |
| Softpedia | Silviu Stahie | 7 / 10 | 02-28-2019 | I will review the game again after a year of new content and patches, with the hope that Bioware still exists. And I can only hope that they return to do what they know best, and that is adventures with great characters and engaging stories. | Read review |
| SomHráč.sk | Róbert Herda | 50 / 100 | 03-05-2019 | Anthem is yet another half-baked looter shooter. However, it’s just at the beginning of its lifecycle and Its future success is only up to the developers. If you’re a diehard Bioware fan, you shouldn’t expect anything like their previous titles. Otherwise, you’ll be even more disappointed. | Read review |
| Stevivor | Hamish Lindsay | 6 / 10 | 02-25-2019 | Bungie fixed Destiny. Massive fixed The Division. Bioware have all the pieces of the puzzle, but right now Anthem isn’t living up to its potential. It’s bad, but not so bad it can’t be fixed. | Read review |
| TechRaptor | Samuel Guglielmo | 7 / 10 | 02-22-2019 | Anthem’s fast-paced shooting gameplay is a ton of fun, but it suffers from long loads, repetitive missions, bad filler, and an iffy story. Still, this is an extremely solid base for more content. | Read review |
| Telegraph | Tom Hoggins | 2 / 5 stars | 02-24-2019 | It would be easy to write off the bewildering state that Anthem is in as the result of video game design by committee. | Read review |
| The Angry Joe Show | Joe Vargas | 4 / 10 | 02-24-2019 | Video Review | Read review |
| The Digital Fix | Eden Penketh | 7 / 10 | 02-21-2019 | Anthem’s technical shortcomings, dull combat and pretty but messy environments combine poorly with a narrative that uses pointless binary conversation choices, a thoroughly typical, snarky protagonist and worn out tropes to fuel it’s characterization and plot. These elements come together to make Anthem a chore of a game that’s highly unlikely to satisfy anyone but the most desperate groups of loot motivated gamers in it’s current state. | Read review |
| The Games Machine | Erica Mura | 6.6 / 10 | 02-23-2019 | Anthem is a hymn to laziness, where a great potential is held back by strong repetitiveness, the absence of some basic features and the artificially increased level of difficulty. Moreover, BioWare and Electronic Arts made an incomplete product, a mere idea of a full game with the promise that each patch will bring us closer to what we might call a final product. Still, is it possible to have fun with a group of friends and spend some pleasant time exploring or fighting? Sure, but the experience will quickly turn into an infinite loop devoid of any goal. | Read review |
| TrueAchievements | Kevin Tavore | 3 / 5 stars | 03-01-2019 | It’s not all bad. The combat and the flying are legitimately amazing in Anthem. They’re so good that, despite everything else about the game being quite bad, I still thought about playing the game during my hours away from it. In a few years, Anthem might be a good experience. Today, it’s hard to recommend. | Read review |
| Twinfinite | Jesse Vitelli | 3.5 / 5 stars | 02-22-2019 | The controls of Anthem are intuitive and engaging. Flying through the world of Bastion is a sight to behold, and coordinating with your team on higher difficulties like Grandmaster is rewarding. Despite some questionable design choices and shortcomings, Anthem has a strong foundation that has potential to be a genre leader, but isn’t quite there just yet. | Read review |
| Unboxholics | Κυριάκος Στεργιάδης | Not Recommended | 02-21-2019 | Anthem seems to be a really big lost chance for something trully enjoyable. It does not live up to its hype neither its full potential…for now. Bioware mirrors Bungie on Destiny 1 but in a much more messier scale. That doesn’t mean that there is no room for improvement over time. | Read review |
| USgamer | Mike Williams | 2.5 / 5 stars | 02-22-2019 | Anthem is a frustrating experience. There’s a core gameplay idea that’s fun, but it’s not enough to keep the experience alive in endgame and beyond. It wants to sell us on flying and combat, but Grandmaster levels stop that dead. It offers a wide world to explore, but offers no reason to do so. Anthem ultimately doesn’t feel like the best BioWare can do, and that’s a horrible shame. | Read review |
| VideoGamer | Mike Harradence | 5 / 10 | 03-01-2019 | Anthem is gorgeous to look at and can be fun in places, but for now it feels decidedly half-baked. | Read review |
| Wccftech | Alessio Palumbo | 6.5 / 10 | 03-03-2019 | It is frustrating to rate Anthem. The game looks great, plays even better and has an intriguing setting to boot. However, the fragmented world design, overabundance of loading screens and severe lack of content considerably drag down the experience, at least for the time being. Still, this is a live service game after all and the folks at BioWare have the chance to right this ship by adding enough content in the upcoming months, though it won’t be easy. | Read review |
| We Got This Covered | David Morgan | 2.5 / 5 stars | 03-01-2019 | Anthem is two core ideas clashing violently, making for an abrasive and dull experience. On top of feeling incomplete and low on content, it struggles to achieve even a mildly addicting gameplay loop: a death knell for games of its kind. | Read review |
Game Info
GAME INFO
Game Description / Storyline:
Anthem is a shared-world action RPG, where players can delve into a vast landscape teeming with amazing technology and forgotten treasures. This is a world where Freelancers are called upon to defeat savage beasts, ruthless marauders, and forces plotting to conquer humanity.
RELEASE DATES:
DEVELOPER(S):
- BioWare
PUBLISHER(S):
- Electronic Arts
GENRES:
- RPG, Shooter
SERIES/FRANCHISE:
- n/a
GAME MODES:
- Multiplayer
GAME ENGINE:
- Frostbite 3
DLC:
- -
BUNDLED IN:
- -
DIRECTOR(S):
- Jon Warner
PRODUCER(S):
- Mike Gamble, Ben Irving, Leonard C. Quam
DESIGNER(S):
- Preston Watamaniuk
PROGRAMMER(S):
- Scott Neumann
ARTIST(S):
- Derek Watts
WRITER(S):
- Drew Karpyshyn, Jay Watamaniuk, Cathleen Rootsaert
COMPOSER(S):
- Sarah Schachner
Detailed Information
GAME MODES:
- Multiplayer
GAME ENGINE:
- Frostbite 3
DLC:
- n/a
BUNDLED IN:
- n/a
DIRECTOR(S):
- Jon Warner
PRODUCER(S):
- Mike Gamble, Ben Irving, Leonard C. Quam
DESIGNER(S):
- Preston Watamaniuk
PROGRAMMER(S):
- Scott Neumann
ARTIST(S):
- Derek Watts
WRITER(S):
- Drew Karpyshyn, Jay Watamaniuk, Cathleen Rootsaert
COMPOSER(S):
- Sarah Schachner
Developed by BioWare. All titles, content, brand names, trademarks, logos, artwork, and associated imagery are trademarks and/or copyright material of their respective owners. © All rights reserved.
People Also Like
RECOMMENDED
Follow VSG on Instagram
Your go-to for the news, reviews and info you need from the gaming industry. Without access. Without favor. Without interference.
