Anthem: 9 Things It Must Learn From Mass Effect Andromeda

4. Visually Surprising & Interesting Alien Worlds

Despite Andromeda pushing the 'soft reboot' button on Mass Effect and taking its characters across the cosmos to another galaxy, do you know what the most 'alien' thing included in the game was?

Floating rocks.

WOAH THERE, hold me back, Bioware. What's next? A creature with more than two legs?

Over to Anthem, and, well, the world design is still a bit of a mixed bag.

On the one hand we've got another "Post-apocalyptic setting overtaken by nature" setup a la Horizon Zero Dawn and NieR: Automata (the former including some of the most effective environmental storytelling in gaming), though on the other, the most identifiable detail is "endless waterfall that appears to go nowhere".

Y'know, like you've seen in every sci-fi book cover since the dawn of time? And what's that I see? Floating rocks again.

Bioware literally need to give us a series of worlds, aliens and cool pieces of tech that immediately feel unique and different. Anthem needs an identity, and it won't get it by aping the most played-out visuals the genre sees day in, day out.