New Anthem Gameplay Demo is actually….impressive.

Ever since BioWare announced Anthem last year, the general reception from players have mostly been on the positive side. However, back then it seems that BioWare still needed to do some more convincing given what happened with their previous flagship release, Mass Effect : Andromeda. Fans (including myself) needed to see more on what Anthem have to offer and whether or not the game is just another “Venus Flytrap” preying on least suspecting fans who rode the hype wave straight into its jaws. So far, previous cinematic trailers and short gameplay videos were impressive but It wasn’t enough, it wasn’t enough to just forgive and forget what happened in ME:A where the game failed spectacularly in delivering qualities on-par with general expectations. Anyone remember the Facial Animation crap? How the characters literally looked like clowns high on weed smirking at your disappointment? (Well they kinda fix it after that).

So, I really wasn’t sure what to expect when a BunnyGaming colleague of mine showed me this video and it’s a 20 minutes long video ffs. He expected me to sit through this? I started watching the video with the volume set on mild then 5 minutes later I restarted the video and put the volume to the max. Shit just got real… no joke. The game look super impressive from all angle, well maybe not all but definitely almost there. Watching the gameplay demo made me feel like snatching the controller from the hands of the player playing it and chart a course for an adventurous exploration! The game world looked stunning in the demo and I really hope they allow as much exploration as possible otherwise it would be such a waste. I guess for now it won’t hurt to have a little faith.

Watch the video if you could and if you couldn’t then just scroll then a little for a checklist of what’s in the video.

• Very nice graphics with good visibility to a great distant, no noticeable frame dips. Probably also it was played on an XBOX ONE X
• You can really fly anytime you want. “I believe I can fly…I believe I can touch the sky..I think about it every night and dayyyy … I lost my gas and fall all the wayyyy”
• Stunning visual effects. Explosion finally look intimidating in a Multiplayer Co-op game. Water splashes when you land on them looked realistic. Detail on the Javelin and environment are aces.
• Game world looked super delicious and is screaming for players to explore every single corner of them. Multi-story terrain layout gives an absolute 3D feel. There are caves and underwater tunnels leading to new places, all waiting to be discovered. Very lively flora and fauna, doesn’t look like a vast plain and dead open world game.
• More reasons to co-op with friends because you can execute Combos with your pals. Players from different levels can play together and still earn Exp and great Loots.
• Customizable loadout system where your Javelin can really standout the way you want it to in terms of combat functionality and cosmetics.
• Some enemies seemed like spongebobs (bullet sponge), needs many shot to kill. I hope it doesn’t apply to all the enemies otherwise we might as well play the vanilla Division.
• Damage numbers are shown in the video which is kinda annoying. I like the previous gameplay video more where the numbers were absent. I hope this is easily adjustable from the settings.
• Very detailed map design, provides room for combat creativity and tactical approach. Will suit players of different play style.
• During the cinematic at the beginning, NPC’s facial animation reminded me of Mass Effect Andromeda’s launch day nightmare. Area around character’s eyes still have little animation that properly reflects facial expression.
• Kinda epic boss fight. Its a giant kutu (flea) again.
• Fight against the regular mobs can quickly get boring in my opinion. The number of enemies seem easily countable. Too little for its massive environment if you ask me. I was expecting Starship Troopers kinda shit. Fair enough though, just make them interesting albeit the small numbers k Bioware? Just don’t be Starshit Troopers.

BioWare’s Anthem is expected to be released on February 22nd, 2019. With whatever time they have left to complete this project, I hope they continue to impress.