You can also check out our Anthem tips in the video below:

1. Be careful about salvaging your gear

When you finish an expedition you’ll see a list of all the things guns, gear and loot you’ve collected. Be careful here because the options are to ‘Salvage’ and ‘Quit’ and in Anthem-land salvage ‘Salvage’ means ‘break into tiny bits for crafting materials’ not save or rescue like it does everywhere else. So just make sure you don’t actually breakdown any higher level gear as it can make quite a quick difference to your abilities. However, do mince up anything you’re not going to use for the crafting materials. 

2. Try different Javelins and gear because they’re probably not what you’re expecting

They’re not quite what you’d expect. In the demo at least the Storm was super powerful for example, and the Colossus isn’t quite the tank you’d hope. That may change in the full game when you level up and get more gear but for now don’t expect the archetypes presented to play out quite as you might expect. It’s the same for guns. Something like a grenade launcher is usually more of speciality weapon in most games while in Anthem it’s a viable main option. Marksman rifles are also basically single shot assault rifles here and a pretty good all round choice if you don’t mind getting all squeezy-squeezy on the trigger. 

3. Try for a good mix of Javelins and gear on your team

It’s standard practice to not all be the same in a co-op game. You want a good mix of classes, guns and gear so you can mix up the range, area of damage and so on when you hit action. As we mentioned experiment with everything and try to identify any gaps or overlaps in your offensive and defensive capabilities. There’s no point in everyone taking in the biggest booms they can carry and no one bringing a shield. 

4. Get to the expedition screen to join any friends 

Anthem is a co-op game but in Fort Tarsis you walk alone. It’s only when you leave this single player game you’ll meet up with people. You can invite people to you game at any time but you won’t see them until you enter the expedition screen where there names should appear on the right. Once you all ready up the game will hopefully load and you’ll be in the open world together

5. If the game doesn’t load, don’t panic – your party will survive

One thing to look out for – since it was prevalent in the demo – is the infinite loading bug. The game would frequently get to about 95% on the loading bar and then hang. Don’t panic too much though. While it is a pain to have to quit the game, if you were playing with other people you’ll be asked if you want to return the expedition you were previously in. So, conversely, while if your game hangs you’ll have restart it, everyone else should stay in the game to let other people join them. 

6. Ammo can run out quickly so choose two good guns

From what we played in the demo, the max amount of ammo you can carry is pretty low. That will change as you level up in the main game, make sure you conserve ammo and use the best weapons early on. There will be more ammo around but enemy attacks can be pretty savage, with some tough to kill, high damage things to deal with – which means having a pile of ammo in open ground isn’t a great help. So always make sure you have two games that will work as a main. A sniper rifle is great for high damage precision but if it ends up being all you have ammo for when you’re in the thick of action things will get interesting (bad). 

7. Don’t forget consumables, and free roam to get crafting ingredients

Consumables were barely mentioned in the demo but are basically single shot buffs you can craft for a boost as long as you’re on an expedition. They cover things like armour, shield and damage boost and need to be crafted from resources you collect in the world. The best way to do that is head out in free roam and look out for anything that looks… a bit collectable. You can’t miss the piles of rocks and odd looking plants that are obviously meant picked up. 

8. You can quit an expedition at any time from the map screen

While the preset missions end once you’ve completed them, you can also jump out at anytime by heading to the map screen and holding down Square/B to quit out. Handy if you want to check what loot you got from a world event, or you’ve just had enough and want to get out. 

9. How to solve the light puzzle in the Manifold Chamber

This is a puzzle you’ll come across in one of the story missions in the game and it offers no hints or description of what you’re actually supposed to do. There are three platforms each with a coloured portal on them and you need to configure each one to open the door. The solution can be via different colored lights under the platforms with each one displaying the correct light for the portal above. But if you want to save time standing at the entrance is combination is left portal = Red. Far right Portal = Orange. Near Right Portal = purple 

10. Customise your Javelin in the Forge 

While you can customise your Javlin when you get it in to go on an an expedition there’s also the Forge which you can access via a small terminal in Fort Tarsis right next to your Javelin. From here you can equip new weapons, armour and a new lick of paint and generally set thing up just how you like without having to go anywhere. It’s marked on the map but can be quite hard to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for. 

11. You can’t launch a squad expedition until your entire team is ready

When you’ve got all your buddies together to take on a mission, you’ll have to press square on PS4 and X on Xbox to let everyone know you’re ready to voyage into the wider world. The mission won’t launch unless everyone in your squad has hit that button, so remember to badger that one friend who always forgets to do it and leaves you all chatting in the lobby for way longer than necessary. 

12. Freeplay isn’t as open world as you think

Once you’ve worked your way through the story missions, you might want to delve into the game’s less structured Freeplay sessions. They’ll pop up on your expedition maps with an icon that looks a bit like a Star Wars’ AT-AT, and you just need to select one to dive right in. They play out a bit like dropping onto a planet in Destiny, and it’s up to you to find thing to do while you’re down there. World Events will randomly spawn, there are enemies and giant beasties to tackle, but they’re also strangely less open world than you’d expect. There’s an invisible boundary around each are that will stop you from just zooming around in your Javelin wherever you want. Unlike other games were your gameplay area is as far as the eye can see, you’re going to be hitting walls more than you’d like, and suddenly find yourself being transported back to the “mission area” via (another) loading screen. 

13. Fly close to rivers and waterfalls to cool down your Javelin

It doesn’t take long for your Javelin to overheat when you’re soaring through the sky, but if you skim the tops of rivers and plummet down alongside waterfalls you’ll go into cooldown mode. This means your flying meter will pause where it is and turn blue, letting you glide around without any limit – as long as you remain near water. The buff lasts a couple of seconds when you pull away from the river/waterfall/lake, so it’s worth doing if you’ve got a lot of ground to cover. 

Anthem microtransactions (opens in new tab) | Anthem ember locations (opens in new tab) | Anthem story explained (opens in new tab) | Anthem treasure chests (opens in new tab) | Anthem Hidden Places (opens in new tab) | Best Anthem Javelins (opens in new tab)| Anthem Tomb challenges (opens in new tab) | How to level up fast in Anthem (opens in new tab) | How to get Anthem multi-kills (opens in new tab) | Anthem problems (opens in new tab)

The post Anthem tips: 13 things you need to know before diving into the public demo appeared first on Game News.

ON THE RADAR: ANTHEM

Be sure to check out our GamesRadar’s On The Radar: Anthem (opens in new tab) hub to find all of our in-depth and exclusive coverage of BioWare’s latest.

I’m not saying this will happen, of course; I’m just saying this is what we’ve all seen before. It’s the template that’s been set thus far. It’s what experience has taught us. Thanks to games like Destiny (opens in new tab) and The Division (opens in new tab), we’ve learned the hard way that games as a service (GaaS) tend to have a rocky debut… so forgive us if we temper our Anthem-flavoured expectations a little. Everything Bungie learned from the missteps of the inaugural Destiny didn’t translate entirely to its highly-anticipated sequel; whereas with The Division, Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft Reflections simply took too long to course-correct the issues that plagued its own shared-world shooter experience. But if Bungie didn’t learn from its own mistakes, can any other studio expect to do so? What then can BioWare take away from Destiny and The Division’s bungled launches?

A balancing act

The key to most of the issues, I propose, lies in simplicity; either too much of it or too little. Take looting and loadouts, for starters. Destiny remained accessible despite its overcomplicated story and systems because no-one delivers meaty, satisfying gunplay quite like Bungie, and – to a greater or lesser extent – we’ve come to accept that MMOs are traditionally over-egged in the lore and loot stakes. The Division, however, fared less well; its complex loadout options and nebulous story gave players little to hold on to once they’d completed the campaign. Of course, there’s a little more to it than this – a player base rarely falls away because of one isolated mistake – but it begs the question nonetheless; if The Division’s dizzying RPG stats and loadouts hadn’t have been so complicated, could it have better retained those early adopters?

The same goes for the story and it’s here, interestingly, that Destiny and The Division lie at either end of this spectrum. Even now, several hundred in-game hours later, I’m still not really sure what Destiny is about. I ascertained the major story beats – I think? – but while subsequent expansions tried to pack flesh onto the skeletal foundations set up by Destiny’s vanilla release, it was too little too late. Players shouldn’t have to wade through Grimoire cards on a website to ascertain who’s done what and why. A story should unfold organically with gameplay, in a way that feels authentic to the player. DLC and expansions should only serve to expand on a story, not prop it up, and choosing to deliver much of this essential exposition via loading screens – a time where, let’s face it, many of us are engaging in party chat, or going to the bathroom, or just scrolling absently through Instagram – was a misfire. 

Be sure to watch the video above for GamesRardar’s hands-on impressions of Anthem.

But while Bungie’s story suffered at the hands of over complexity, The Division was too light touch, unfathomably so given the many other post-apocalyptic shooters all muscling for space at the same table. I understood how to play, and what to do, but beyond the polished cinematic trailers and occasional cut-scene, it was never clear why we were tasked to do so. Worst still, it’s incredibly difficult to become invested in a supporting cast if I know, or care, so little about my own character’s role in this world, too. 

Some of us are still not quite sure why there’s a character level and a power level in Destiny, either. We also don’t really understand why Bungie rebadged the ‘light’ level as ‘power’ later on, as though, somehow, that rebranding would inexplicably make it easier to understand. It’s another unnecessary complication, one that not only disadvantages players new to the game but also those returning to it, too. Reacclimatising to a game’s reward and progression system – not to mention mods, god rolls, infusion, and the rest of it – is hard enough, and when that game’s changed so drastically in a matter of months that nothing is as it once was, it can be impossibly so. Tweaks, revisions, and changes need to aid the player, not confuse them. Substantive changes – such as reducing Destiny’s Crucible’s team-count down from six players to four in order to stabilise servers – may seem dandy-o on face value, but to some, it’s disrupting an entire clan’s dynamics. 

It’s all about the endgame

But the most egregious mistake made by both Destiny and The Division is an astonishing lack of endgame content. In Destiny, there was little to spend our glimmer or motes of light on, whereas in The Division, it was possible for even casual players to platinum the entire game within just a few weeks. Incredibly, Destiny 2 doesn’t even let players sequentially replay the story missions, either, removing any opportunity for players to willingly explore beyond the hidden paths, and/or better understand the story. It’s as though the team has intentionally revoked all ways a player might generate replay value.

Teamwork needs to be rewarded, but not at the expense of the solo players. Exploration, too, should be encouraged by hidden loot and secrets, and weekly challenges and missions – such as Destiny’s Nightfall strikes – should never be a perk only afforded to those who’ve stumped up for expansions and DLC. Shoot ‘n’ looters only work when the shooting feels meaty and balanced and the looting gives adequate rewards, and for that to work effectively, you need content that feels meaningful and sustained. We accept RNG odds (even if it’s easy to become disenfranchised by it – Cryptarch, I’m looking at you). We’re not against a little grinding or rinse ‘n’ repeat challenges, either, but to tempt us back into recycling missions and well-trodden environments, there needs to be a suitable pay-off… and another fecking Edge Transit simply isn’t it. 

Anthem story and lore explained

Lead BioWare writers Cathleen Rootsaert and Jay Watamaniuk sit down with GamesRadar to discuss the Anthem story (opens in new tab), lore, characters, and factions

BioWare has kept the story and endgame elements of Anthem a closely guarded secret thus far. While GamesRadar has had the opportunity to run a deep dive on the former and get hands-on with the latter (opens in new tab), there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Ultimately, BioWare is a studio of storytellers and so the hope is that this sensibility translates to the studio’s first major attempt at the GaaS model; As for the endgame, it’ll no doubt take a few weeks for the community to get a proper read on how much work this area of the game will need and just how much the world-shifting Cataclysm events will really change the state of play.

As for console exclusivity? It only hurts the players. We can make our peace with a console-exclusive vanity item or two, but having whole segments of content walled off because you can’t afford two consoles and have somehow ended up with the “wrong” one is shortsighted and wholly anti-consumer. It’ll be interesting to see how EA’s hardware partnerships will affect the fortunes of Anthem players but, given how the release schedule took a complex graph to explain, the publisher isn’t off to a great start. 

In both Massive and Bungie’s cases, however, there was one thing the studios did right; they listened. When fans complained of a dearth of sandbox play and repetitious busywork, both companies worked to right the wrongs of their original releases. Of course, we can only hope that, in Anthem’s case, it won’t even come to that but, if it does, that BioWare is ready and willing to respond.

The post What Anthem can learn from Destiny and The Division appeared first on Game News.

In an effort to incentivise social play, Anthem will feature something called an Alliance System, which is designed to reward you and up to five of your friends for simply playing the game – regardless of whether you’re playing the game together or not. “The Alliance system is a way for you and your friends to be rewarded for playing the game,” says Anthem’s lead producer, Ben Irving. “Anytime you complete an expedition you earn experience [and] that experience also goes into the Alliance system.”

ON THE RADAR: ANTHEM

Over the next two weeks, GamesRadar is delivering all of the information that you could ever need to know about Anthem. The On The Radar: Anthem (opens in new tab) hub is where you will find all of our in-depth and exclusive coverage of BioWare’s latest.

What he’s saying is that every time you complete any type of core activity in Anthem – a Story Mission, Contract, Stronghold, or any one of the litany of objectives you can find in Freeplay – you should expect to earn a little Alliance XP for your efforts. You’ll see this reflected at the end screen of a mission before you are booted back to Fort Tarsis, and can be later be tracked through the menus too. 

The Alliance System is basically a social club for freelancers, complete with various reward tiers that reset week to week. In Anthem, you will have the opportunity to form alliances with your friends which essentially creates two pools of potential XP gain – a personal pool and a social one too. As you earn Alliance XP by playing the game you will begin to move through Alliance Tiers, which will steadily earn you Coin as you do, although you can also earn a bonus Coin payout at the end of the week  – this comes from a shared social bucket that is filled by the five buddies on your friends list that have played Anthem the most during any given week. 

Coin, in case you haven’t been paying attention, is Anthem’s currency that can be used to purchase cosmetic elements such as armour pieces, shaders, emotes and more visual identifiers for each of the game’s Javelins. BioWare’s plan here is to ensure that players are constantly being rewarded for just playing the game, with enough Coin coming your way that you never feel pressured into opening up your digital wallet and paying for Shards – Anthem’s premium currency, also used to purchase cosmetics – unless you really, really want to. 

Earn rewards even if your friends are offline

It’s an interesting idea, particularly as you don’t need to be actively playing, or even be online at the same time, as your friends for it to work – for you to be earning Coin. This will, naturally, be artificially limited to stop players from abusing this system; BioWare doesn’t want it so players with a fuller friends list than others will automatically earn more rewards than others. As Chris Schmidt, Anthem’s senior systems designer later clarified (opens in new tab), “We only count the top five friends each week. There is no benefit to piling up your friend list other than having lots of people to play with.”

Schmidt goes on to clarify how exactly the system will pay out. “You are earning progress through the Alliance system as you play, and building a bigger and bigger bucket as you progress through the different tiers of the system. As your friends play, they are filling that bucket with their own XP (plus a large bonus for being your friend) [and] at the end of the week, we tally the top five contributors to your Alliance and you are awarded [Coin] based on how much they filled the bucket you created.”

For those of you concerned that you don’t have any friends interested in playing on your platform of choice, you will be happy to learn that you can still earn Alliance XP – and the bonus Coin that comes as a result of it each week – but the rewards will just come to you a little slower. “We also reward you for playing with ‘randoms’,” confirms Schmidt, with Irving reaffirming: “The experience from the other people in your group also goes into the Alliance System.”

What this all means is that no matter who you are playing Anthem with, you will never be held at arm’s length from its rewards. If you can get together with friends to explore the world of Anthem, you’ll of course find your pockets lined with an extra helping of Coin week to week, but those of you that are either determined to go at it alone or content with playing with random players should also be happy to learn that you’ll still be earning resources that you can put into making your Javelin look awesome. 

Guilds are coming later

The studio has been suspiciously quiet on the Guild and Clan front, which has led many players to wonder whether Anthem would incentivise broader social play at all. Thankfully, the studio has finally revealed one of the ways it will reward Freelancers for playing together, both directly and indirectly, by way of its Alliance System.   

First things first, Anthem’s lead producer has some news that’s sure to make MMO fans shed a little tear. “Guilds will not be available at launch,” Irving confirmed (opens in new tab). “We understand Guilds play a critical role in helping players form organized groups with people of similar interests and play styles. Our goal is to release guilds as soon after launch as we can. Details on timing will come as soon as we have our plan locked in.”

Given the studio’s history with the MMO genre, with Star Wars: The Old Republic, this is admittedly a little disappointing. Guilds and Looking For Group systems can help to ensure that all players are able to see the very best content a game has to offer; ask any OG Destiny players that missed out on Raids how it feels when such a system isn’t in place – it isn’t a good time. Thankfully, BioWare believes it has found a good solution for pulling groups of friends and like-minded players together in the meantime, at least until it can put a suitable Guild system in place following release. 

BioWare has provided no ETA on when the Alliance system will be expanded to include Guilds, but given how quickly the studio implemented Launch Bay (opens in new tab), a 16-player social space that arrived only after fans requested it, there’s a good chance this feature will appear sooner rather than later – particularly once players start hitting against the end game (opens in new tab) and start investigating the world-shifting cataclysms.  

Anthem is the new action-RPG from Mass Effect and Dragon Age developer BioWare. Click here (opens in new tab) to read our in-depth breakdown of the upcoming release with game director Jon Warner. 

The post Anthem’s Alliance System will let you earn extra Coin, even if you’re offline appeared first on Game News.