Anthem’s story ‘anchors the content,’ but it’s still a BioWare experience

When I walked out of “the box” that housed the Anthem demo in the back of the EA Play event last Sunday before the Electronic Entertainment Expo, I couldn’t get over how much fun it was to finally play BioWare’s upcoming cooperative action adventure. I also realized that I still have no idea if this game is going to work as the ongoing live-service game that EA wants.

It’s fun to play. It took me only a couple of minutes to get the hang of flying around like Iron Man and toggling between flying and hovering to fight off roaming bands of creatures. I can’t decide which game had better traversal at E3 between Anthem and Spider-Man, and that should give you an idea of how I feel about EA’s next big release. But these live-service games that you’re supposed to play as a hobby require a lot more than fun gameplay — just ask Destiny 2. Anthem needs a mission and progression structure to go along with its excellent locomotion, and those are elements that are difficult to assess in the first month after a game’s release; let alone in an E3 demo. On top of that, BioWare is bringing along expectations of its own when it comes to narrative and characters.