I'm a huge Bioware shill. The Mass Effect series is in the top 5 of my most favorite franchises ever. When Andromeda was available for pre-order, I got on it right away. Turns out, Andromeda wasn't what it should have been. Sucks that I got the digital deluxe version, too. I got burned bad.
Andromeda in and of itself isn't a terrible game. I don't think it deserves all the hate it gets, but that doesn't mean it's a good game, no, not by any means. So, why would I pre-order and support and get excited over Anthem, a game that reportedly took resources away from Andromeda - the Mass Effect killer, so to speak? And on top of that, I haven't liked any looter shooter game I've played before. The Division, Destiny and Destiny 2 all left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Well, that's because it's still Bioware and I want to support the studio. That and I've always wanted to feel like Iron Man. (Who hasn't?) If anything, I feel like Anthem could be Mass Effect's savior, not its killer. If Anthem does well, EA wouldn't kill off Bioware and we could still get another Andromeda game that fleshes out the lore. That'd be sweet.
But the future notwithstanding, how is Anthem as a game?
Did you like Mass Effect 3 or Mass Effect Andromeda's multiplayer? Then you're going to love Anthem. Anthem's main gameplay loop and main drawl is all about the loot progression. The only game that I enjoyed that had loot based progression as its main payoff was Marvel Heroes Omega - got over 1300 hours in that game. If Bioware's Anthem does half of that for me, then it'd be worth it.
The combat is hella fun. It feels just as good as Mass Effect Andromeda, the best in the series when it comes to combat. Movement is super fun! Flight, once you fix your settings and get the hang of it, feels weighty and punchy with a real sense of velocity. The overheating system keeps everything balanced out so you just can't keep flying around all over the place. You have to be mindful of when you boost out and aware of places where you can cool your Javelin down.
Fort Tarsis, the part of the game where the story is delivered to you, is in the first person POV. There was no sprinting in the demo, which made going from one story point to another feel really tedious. Thankfully, there will be sprinting in the full game. I love how the first person view helps me project myself into my Javelin. Doesn't matter who my avatar is - I feel like I'm the guy in the Javelin. I really dug that part. With the extremely deep customization options, you can't help but feel ownership over your Javelin.
With friends, that's when Anthem is best. I gave my three VIP codes to a few friends and we loved our time with it. It "clicked" for us.
There were a bunch of logging in issues and infinite loading screens, which really hurt the experience. I hope that it all gets addressed by the time the public demo goes live. If those issues get resolved, the experience should be golden.
Are you guys playing the open demo? You can download the demo now. I'll see you guys in game. Add me up on Origin - TheB1m!