Most Disappointing Game of 2019
“Winner”: Anthem
Editor-in-Chief Ed McGlone: I’m a sucker for looter-shooters and while I’m still waiting for a Destiny-killer, I did have very high hopes for Anthem.
While everyone wants to get a piece of that looter-shooter pie these days, very few seem capable of actually carving out a spot for themselves, especially when games like Destiny are already anchored in with lots of content.
If someone was going to do it, and do it right, I and many other fans thought that BioWare could pull it off. They are one of the most respected development teams in video games, they have made extremely fun, creative, and beautiful games before, and they have the vision to create something that stands out from the crowd.
Anthem though just didn’t feel like a BioWare game at all. It lacked everything that you would expect from a BioWare title, and whiffed on the core things you need out of the gate for a successful looter-shooter.
The story was bland, there were very few memorable characters, the end game was repetitive and bare-bones, bugs ran rampant at launch, and questionable design choices sunk Anthem before it even had a chance to adequately address any of these issues.
Anthem is still reeling as we head into 2020, whether BioWare has it in them to revive the game Final Fantasy XIV-style remains to be seen. But there’s no doubt that Anthem had a very rough and disappointing 2019.
