Anthem Marks New Territory for Bioware, And Even After Playing It We Aren’t Entirely Sure What to Expect
Earlier last year, I wrote that I was skeptical of Bioware tackling a small-squad online shooter MMO (a bunch of words that basically mean “a game like Destiny”) because it isn’t playing to their strengths as a studio. After getting some hands-on time with the game at a press event at Electronic Arts’ offices in San Francisco, I’m somehow both reassured and more worried about the fate of the game.
Anthem is certainly doing some interesting things with the type of game that it is. It’s got a gorgeously designed world, lush in greens and blues and exquisitely high-detail natural environments. Flying around enemies or from waypoint-to-waypoint feels just as fun the 50th time as it does the first time, swooping around the battlefield or around the map with a quick learning curve. It’s the flight mechanic that seems to be at the core of Anthem’s design mentality, and the game’s success will likely live and die by how the rest of the game is modeled around it.
Javelins, Anthem’s name for the superhuman exosuits piloted by Freelancers, come in four classes, and while each controls similarly (including having a double jump, flying and hovering modes) each is specialized toward a different type of combat. The Colossus is the largest, bulkiest and most armored Javelin; the Storm is built around ranged elemental attacks and lacks the armor of its other Javelin brethren; the Ranger is the most solid all-around Javelin but lacks specialization toward any specific type of play; and the Interceptor is the lightest and fastest Javelin with a penchant for high-speed gravity-defying melee attacks.
When Anthem shines, it is in its team combat, where you can feel both tactically engaged in teamwork and communication while simultaneously working on a moment-to-moment level to dispatch enemies and position yourself within the battlefield—including vertically, thanks to Javelin’s hover and flight abilities. Playing as a Storm Javelin and being able to perch myself high above the arena while slinging fireballs or lightning strikes down at enemies was just as satisfying as being a Colossus and shield-slamming enemies in-between firing off volleys of mortars.
Each Javelin includes two weapon slots, two ability slots, a number of Component slots (usually stat bonuses or trade-offs), as well as extensive visual customization options. While some of these slots are locked to certain player levels, Javelins feel able to be re-specialized toward different roles relatively easily, if you can get used to the often-confusing UI.
All of the above are the notes that I genuinely enjoyed while playing the early version of the game, and all of which make the moments where Anthem’s combat stumbles feel all the more disappointing. While aerial maneuverability was a joy, a number of missions I played threw the player’s team into tight, small environments that robbed the Javelins of some of their most enjoyable abilities. It wasn’t all the missions, and many liberally used “large underground caves” as settings to allow for aerial movement in confined areas, but more than a couple questlines involved piloting the slow-turning Javelins in smaller arenas.
