Everyone loves BioWare for Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age: Origins and the Mass Effect trilogy. However, the latest projects of the developers can only be called failures. Anthem had hopes of finally realizing its enormous potential, but BioWare recently announced that a reboot was no longer in the works. And this is not the first time this has happened to Canadians. Read more about this and other developer failures in this material.
Anthem's trailers and marketing materials looked amazing. Who among us hasn't dreamed of trying on a javelin and going on an exciting flight, showering enemies with missiles? Only at the release it turned out that our dreams were in vain.
No, many aspects of the game are done perfectly: the graphics are good, the world looks nice, you can meet interesting, well-designed NPCs in the city, and it's very pleasant to fly, although not for long, because the engine constantly overheats (I wish I knew why). However, the cons still outweigh the pros.
At release, Anthem with its bugs not only caused minor inconvenience, but could even break the console. After a while, the technical problems were resolved, but the in-game ones remained in place. Going through Anthem is like chewing gum that has long since lost its taste. The combat gets tiring after just a couple of hours, the tasks are monotonous and monotonous, and even the main plot is not complete without grinding.
Let's add to this a dead world, a banal story, poor customization and many other shortcomings. As a result, Anthem turned out to be a failure, although it could have become a real hit.
Let's be honest: if the title of this game had not included the words Mass Effect, then Andromeda would have avoided defeat. It wouldn't have become a hit, of course, but it could well be considered a worthy, albeit lacking stars, RPG — like some Greedfall. However, this is still Mass Effect, and the continuation of such a cult series has no right to be mediocre.
The game had many advantages: good combat, cheerful rides on the Nomad, good personal tasks for party members... But the project turned out to have much more problems.
Facial animation at the start became a meme and almost a standard of bad execution. Many players, having encountered something similar in another game, have repeatedly said: «It's bad, like in Andromeda.» However, if it was still possible to survive, then it was a completely insipid plot, the main villains of which are no match for the Reapers, dull heroes whom Shepard would not have allowed anywhere near the Normandy, and most importantly, gamers could not forgive tons of grinding. After all, in fact, every task boiled down to meaningless «bring and give» running around.
An undemanding player might even enjoy Andromeda. But is this what we expected from the Mass Effect sequel? Definitely not!
If the fans' opinion about Dragon Age: Inquisition is rather negative, then the critics seem to like it. After all, we are talking about the best game of 2014 according to The Game Awards. However, not every ordinary gamer is able to understand the deep considerations that motivated experts to award «Inquisition» with such a high-profile title... Too many aspects of the game were executed disgustingly, and the monotonous gameplay completely replaced sleeping pills.
Of course, BioWare is still BioWare here: the universe is perfectly written, the party members are perfectly designed, communicating with them and completing personal quests is a real pleasure, and some tasks, like the Empress's Ball in the Winter Palace, even deserve a place in the top of the best missions in RPG history .
But all these advantages are just the tip of the iceberg. Everything else is tons of the same type of grind. It's scary to say, but Dragon Age: Inquisition doesn't have a single truly interesting side quest. Even stories that start out excitingly end up slipping into banality, and the leader of a powerful organization is once again required to kill ten boars, collect five blades of grass and bring a dozen pieces of iron.
The main mechanics, combat, cannot be called interesting either. Most encounters, even on the highest difficulty level, only require clicking with the timely use of perks. The plot doesn't help the game either. Is it possible to imagine a less intelligible antagonist than Corypheus? But the backstory of the villain is very intriguing! It's just that in the chronicle and on the screen it's like two different characters.
Dragon Age: Inquisition can hardly be called even just good, and even before the game of the year it is like the moon. It was probably after this release that BioWare finally stepped on a slippery slope and realized that dull monotony can be generously sprinkled with hackwork, and the game will still be eaten.
Dragon Age: Origins is rightly considered one of the best RPGs of all time: an epic story, betrayal, powerful evil, magnificent lore, amazing companions — they expected the same from Dragon Age 2. The final result cannot be called a complete failure, but quite a bit of a stub.
After the large-scale first part, the sequel offered a very local story, which, although interesting, was too modest and short. At the moment when the adventures of the Defender of Kirkwall end, gamers are probably left with only one question: «I mean, is it all over?»
Of course, not only BioWare, but also the «evil corporation» EA is to blame for the intimacy. Initially, «Inquisition» was supposed to be a sequel, but the publisher solved its financial problems and gave the developers an unfamiliar Frostbite engine and sixteen months (!) to create the game. It's not easy to make a sequel worthy of the original in such a time, and therefore BioWare postponed the story of the Inquisitor and told us about the local conflict between magicians and templars. But a huge army of fans expected much more.
Mass Effect is an outstanding space opera, and its remaster is definitely one of the most anticipated releases of the year. But it's unlikely that anyone will be able to correct the sins of the original Mass Effect 3.
Few would dare call the third part a failure; after all, the completion of the trilogy gave fans too many unforgettable emotions. Just look at the final battle for Earth, which became the peak of the entire trilogy. But the ending, unfortunately, disappointed too many.
It is difficult to estimate the degree of indignation of fans when hundreds of decisions made during the playthrough came down to an ambiguous final video, consisting of several dozen «multi-colored» frames. There are, in fact, three endings in total (one more was added in the DLC), but none of them satisfied the players.
As a result, gamers even created a large-scale petition to change the ending, but no fundamental changes followed. Of course, Mass Effect 3 turned out great, but such a great story should not have ended like that.
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As you can see, BioWare has not been on top for a long time, but you can't give up on the studio — and you don't want to at all. The developers have two chances ahead to return to the big leagues. Gamers are looking forward to the continuation of Mass Effect and Dragon Age, but they will not forgive the studio's new failure. Get it together, BioWare, we're counting on you!
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