If you live in a town that doesn’t have billboards or an internet connection, you might not be aware that Anthem, Bioware’s new third-person shooter, came out last week. Wanting to forget the collapse of the republic and mankind’s impending demise from climate change, I spent several hours wreaking havoc on Anthem’s alien world which looks very reminiscent of James Cameron’s Pandora.
There’s a lot that is familiar about the game. It derives elements of Warframe, Destiny and Dragon Age, it just does them better, faster and with more explosions.
You are the pilot of a javelin, an armored suit with a jetpack, deadly gear and a wide variety of weapons. These javelins come in four classes – Ranger, Storm, Interceptor and Colossus (which correspond to Fighter, Wizard, Thief and Tank).
Most missions are cooperative, so you’ll generally approach each mission with three other strangers. Your team mates can revive you if you’re taken down by an elite scar or outlaw but if the whole team dies, you start the mission over, which acts as good incentive to help each other out.
In addition to guns, everyone gets two, there is also class specific gear, like homing missiles, lasers, railguns, flakcannons and acid bombs that do significant damage and set your character up to do a combination attack, which does more damage than either attack alone.
The story is corny and unengaging, but luckily you can skip through almost all the cutscenes at Fort Tarsis. Unfortunately, there are a couple cutscenes while in matchmaking you can’t skip through that are long enough for a bathroom break and fixing yourself a snack.
Fort Tarsis, your home base, is a couple courtyards, a basement and a bar you’ll run back and forth through to get missions from agents of the various factions. The jobs range from destroying enemy guard towers, blowing up enemy base camps, reinforcing allies under siege, rescuing downed pilots or killing monstrous titans that roam the planet.
Regardless of the mission, it all comes down to one thing – follow the green, yellow or pink dot on your HUD Display to the next location where you will destroy everything with a red health bar floating above it and then pickup the loot.
There are a wide variety of ways to unleash destruction on your foes – guns, poison, ice bombs, grenades, blades, lightning strikes etc, The weapons and upgrades don’t take much thought at first but as the game advances, you’ll spend a greater amount of time customizing and crafting components, offering lots of options in play style. Fluid movement makes this game a joy. While progress may be slow and bumbling in the beginning, the time you reach level 20, you and your fellow matchmakers will know how to clear a ruined fortress, valley or temple with startling speed.
Freeplay is surprisingly fun. Flying around the world is a delight with plenty of caves, lakes and mines to explore. A World Mission will pop up on the HUD every couple of minutes, marked by a pink icon, which gives a loot-filled treasure chest when completed. The Freeplay missions feel more challenging as you’re frequently doing them alone, with nobody to revive you.
The campaign felt short but new missions and locations open up after completing it and the game will expand in the coming months and years, like Destiny and Warframe. It lacks a PvP element but there are rumors it may be added in a later update.
As somebody who loves sci-fi shooters, Anthem is a must have game.
Wes Clark Jr. 