Even though our author Robert couldn’t spend much time in the demo of Anthem, he was surprised at how challenging and dynamic the combat becomes when playing alone. After all, Anthem should be much easier with flying, right?
My first experiences with Anthem were a test of patience: Throughout the entire VIP demo period, I was particularly haunted by the loading screen bug. To even play, I had to constantly restart the game, wait for the loading screen bug, restart the game again, and then, with a bit of luck, join the previous expedition.
This led to me handling most of the available demo content alone, which was a truly tough challenge. Honestly, I didn’t expect that.
After all, flying should make the game quite easy, as you can shoot enemies from a safe distance in the air.
Why this didn’t work in reality is due to some clever tricks from the developer.
Note: Since the bugs and stumbling blocks in the demo hit me hard, I was only able to play the Ranger Javelin. The stronghold was unplayable for me. I mainly played on the “Normal” difficulty.
Flying in Anthem is fun – but not invulnerable
This is how the Javelins differ in their flying behavior: Once you master the flight controls, you can perform various tactical maneuvers, such as dodging or hovering in the air. Depending on the Javelin, the maneuvers you can execute vary.
The Colossus is significantly more cumbersome than the Interceptor, but it can take more damage.
But even when you’re in the air, you can be shot at by enemies. Various means are employed in this:
- Flying enemies take aim at you directly from the air
- Homing laser towers hit you if you don’t dodge at the right moment
- Enemies send out small homing drones that can detonate both on the ground and in the air
- Enemies force you into areas where flying is significantly more challenging
Especially exciting was the fight against three Titans (the second available story mission), which cleverly coordinated their attacks, resulting in the need to be on the ground or in the air depending on the situation if you didn’t want to go down.
Needless to say, the fight turned out to be a really tough challenge for me. However, that’s exactly what I enjoyed. It is simply not possible to just hide and whittle down the enemies with the Icebreaker. The triumph when the third Titan was down was all the more satisfying.
Why not just shoot the enemies from a safe distance? I perceived the movements and actions of the enemies as very dynamic. So, while you can create distance between yourself and the enemies, you won’t be able to do much more.
This is also due to the weapons, which didn’t turn out to be particularly accurate at a distance. With a rifle or a rapid-fire pistol, you can’t achieve much at greater distances.
You are therefore forced to participate more or less in the fight. Weapons like shotguns reward a more aggressive playstyle, as they are absolutely deadly at close range. A great relief was the realization that you are not greeted with stomping attacks when you get too close to a big enemy.
Endless waves of enemies in Anthem? During one of my rare excursions into free play, I was able to complete a world event (similar to public events in Destiny), where I first had to take out three turrets and then an enemy storm.
A pretty tough task, as I was bombarded with countless small enemies. My usual approach (taking out small enemies, then working on the boss) didn’t work here, as the enemies seemed to appear infinitely.
It will be interesting to see what impact this enemy behavior will have in the final game.
Anthem could be much more tactical than we realize now
Even though we haven’t seen everything yet, the first look gives a taste of the many customization options and tactical tricks. For example,
- the Javelins have various coordinated abilities that allow for combos,
- the abilities can be modified. For example, the homing missile of the Ranger can quickly become a poison arrow. This allows for different play styles
- a wide selection of weapons provides further tactical options (melee / ranged)
Particularly the three highest difficulty levels will likely require a lot from many pilots and will demand very good preparation and coordination. Those who perfectly coordinate the Javelins and their abilities will likely have a significant advantage in the hardest content of the game.
Will solo players face problems? I am certainly not a benchmark for all the other pilots out there, but especially at the higher difficulty levels, Anthem will likely be damn difficult for solo players.
BioWare made it clear from the outset that players with squads will have more fun and more tactical options. However, solo players should also get their money’s worth. I am very curious to see how difficult the final game will actually be for solo players, hopefully without annoying loading screen bugs then.
What did you think of the Anthem demo? Did you find it hard? Or too easy?
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