Anthem Thoughts (post-public demo)

I think Anthem has totally won me over. I had a blast this past weekend. Most of the technical issues that hampered my experience during the VIP demo were gone, and I was able to play and explore as much as I wanted.

I also got to play with my oldest son for a while, which is always a great experience. It's fun, sitting in the same room and yelling at each other while we enjoy a co-op experience, whether it be The Elder Scrolls Online or Anthem.

The flying rocks, though I'm glad that I got a sexy new mouse at PAX South that lets me adjust my DPI with a few clicks. I had to turn my DPI down for the flying and the underwater stuff. Anyway, the flying is a visceral experience, though I do kinda wish it was infinite, rather than something that had to cool down every so often.

When you combine the flying and shooting, though, it really does feel kind of like Iron Man.

The combat feels like a heavily refined and cranked-up version of Mass Effect combat, which is pure joy for me. The shooting in this feels so good. It can be tough, too. You and your squad mates have to really give some thought to who targets who, and how everyone spreads out. I also found myself using terrain as cover a lot. It's a great mix of strategy and shooting them in the goddam face.

The little bit of the story that we got for the demo was also really cool. I really enjoyed it. I won't describe any of it here, in case you're trying to avoid spoilers.

The environments in which you use your javelin are fantastic. BioWare has done an amazing job of making the outer world feel alive. Plants and animals are everywhere, and the world is beautiful. They've also done a great job of infusing the verticality inherent to the game in the worlds. It feels liberating to be able to use 360 degrees of movement not only in traversal, but in combat, as well.

Fort Tarsis ... that environment needs a lot of work. At least in the demo, it's mostly pantomiming puppets, which really smashes the immersion into the game. It's people gesticulating at each other with no audio. I really hope that this gets addressed. I want to hear chatter and conversations. I want more people to be interactive. I want BioWare to bring their known strengths to bear in this area, and at least in the demo, they haven't.

Even the overall look of Fort Tarsis is kind of 'blah.' I really don't know what happened, but that's the one part of the game that needs a lot of attention.

Overall, though, I had a blast. This is going to be a fun game. I can't wait for February 22nd.

-Blaine