E3 of 2017 at the conference Microsoft Xbox, the new product is shown BioWare weblog Electronic Arts: Anthem! Just like its name, a chorus of amazement rises, a song of wonder for the show that is unfolding before the eyes of the world audience. The title struck me right away, now after over twenty years with my face smeared on the screens of the most disparate electronic devices, when a product has value, you can see it from the first game frames. The title was fresh, innovative, with that sci-fi feel mixed with the exotic of a jungle to explore. The possibility of being able to play together with other players, the true hub of modern entertainment, has not gone unnoticed. Dark Souls teaches: if a title is fun on its own, together is better. Fantasy begins to take over: what will it be like? Will I be able to call friends? What is the difference between a "suit" and another? In short, speculations, assumptions and that healthy chat between nerds that spread for the months to come. E3 2018 arrives, aware of wanting to see a title in depth, a Anthem finally at the gates. Well so it was. I discover the name of the "Iron-man suits", so we called them among colleagues: Javelin, o Javelin, if you have thought about the English version of the game. Given the new video, the gameplay system that seemed in-depth, layered and four playable characters, four different situations, a positioning that made the difference on the battlefield and then the most interesting part for myself: the level up system and the loot, epic, mythical and legendary items. The password was Build: how to create the perfect Javelin? Which armor will I prefer? In conclusion, Anthem had bewitched me and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.
In the months following the Los Angeles event, “tape” information arrived in the editorial office: with every news, the worm of malice began to rise: that little voice that I bet on it, you also have in your head that malevolent whispers "when something is too good, it probably isn't" and here began the ordeal of spasmodic and frightened waiting, aware of the fact that the house of cards that I had built in my head was about to collapse. Time passes, the beta of the title arrives: net of dancer connections, I am able to play the title thoroughly, having fun with the Ranger / Guardian for the early stages of the game. The point is that when I took the Storm, something happened, hard to explain, I felt like that character, that gameplay, that mobility and that sci-fi shooter way of life, was written especially for me!
Flying the Storm was spectacular, the combat system then! What can I say, I felt like Thor who threw lightning bolts from the sky, while my companions engaged in the fight on the ground. When the title came out, everything was ready: I had already recruited a team to rely on, Alessio Fornari would have been my trusted bulwark behind which to take shelter, the Colossus for excellence, Simone Lelli would have done what he does best, that is to hit the enemy like a shadow, thanks to his Interceptor and to the fourth member, the server or some support friend who might be able to connect on the fly would have thought of it. To my amazement, that fourth place was never empty: I played with lots of players, some were randomly picked up on the game, many others were friends of friends, people I hadn't heard from for a while. once again the video-play world was showing me that a passion shortens distances and unites people. Over the course of the sixty days after day one, there was not a single day without us logging into the server Anthem, we enjoyed exchanging tips, build videos and videos from detractors and various YouTuber that for politics they must necessarily download shit on a title, and then make a second video in which they apologize to the public.
Anthem was giving us evenings of pure fun, carefree moments and moments a little more serious when facing difficult missions at a high level. There were also dead moments made of pure repetitive farming, which however, if you think about it, if faced alone they are a against, when you are in contact with three or four friends on the headphones, its weight is totally different. The frustration reached its peak when I realized that to have a character completely covered in legendary pieces, you needed a decent dose of "factor C" (Luck if you prefer) or an undying patience that would have led me to spend I don't know how many hours to find even a single upgrade. My character equipped with some legendary pieces and the rest epic, he still managed to allow me to tackle the highest level of difficulty of the game, of course, net of having friends with the same level and a decent dose of skill in holding the pad in hand.
Anthem at the moment it stagnates, it is devoid of contents that push me to take that pad back in my hand to dedicate hours to it. Yet, I can tell you this: the hours he gave me, the laughter made with friends, the gnawing for the defeats and the exaltations for the collective victories, well those moments are among the most sincere and beautiful I have ever experienced while playing. . I'm thirty-one, I've been playing video games since I was five, I rarely remember the feelings that Anthem gave me while playing cooperatively with other players. There are those who call the game a failure, who criticizes it a lot for and there are those who defend it without a real basis of experience, but I can tell you this: the money I dedicated to the game, buying it of course, was well spent compared to the number of hours I could enjoy myself in the company of friends in a virtual world; some of the more complex game actions will remain in the annals and we will talk about it again, I'm sure. The story isn't over after all, EA e BioWare they can still make a difference, listen to the community and bring a solid title back to life, with dynamic and innovative gameplay: I'm just waiting for that and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
