Anthem has the potential to be better than Destiny 2, but that will greatly depend on the story that BioWare is crafting for the upcoming futuristic shooter.
Anthem was a huge part of Electronic Arts' E3 2018 presence, alongside the inexplicably controversial Battlefield V. The Anthem release date was pushed back to Feb. 22, 2019 from fall 2018 because BioWare needed more time to finish the game.
'Anthem' Hands-On At E3 2018
BioWare offered a hands-on Anthem demonstration at E3 2018, with PC World's Hayden Dingman and PC Gamer's Tim Clark, Steven Messner, Phil Savage, Chris Livingston, among the lucky ones to try out the game.
Dingman said that Anthem "feels great to play," with smooth movements and snappy weapons. The game was described as "a joy to control," with players able to take advantage of extreme mobility.
The PC Gamer group echoed Dingman's experience with Anthem, with Livingston saying that flying in Anthem "feels great" and Savage added that flight in Anthem made him think that it would be a game that he will regularly play. Clark noted how the skills of the Javelin robosuits effectively created combos with one another, and Messner enjoyed the science fiction feel of technology in Anthem, compared to the magical feel of skills in Destiny 2.
The 'Anthem' Story: BioWare Needs To Make An Excellent One
Destiny 2, despite all its faults, is still a topnotch futuristic shooter experience. Judging from the reactions to the Anthem hands-on demo, BioWare's upcoming game will offer much of the same thing, which leads to the next question: How will Anthem stand out from all the other games such as Destiny, and Destiny 2 itself?
When Electronic Arts unveiled Anthem at E3 2017, one of the things that raised gamers' eyebrows was the decision to go with BioWare as the developer. BioWare is best known for RPG franchises such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect, and this will be the first time that the studio will handle a project like Anthem.
As Dingham puts it, while Anthem played well, it looked like it could have been created by any other studio. The assumption when BioWare was tapped as the developer of Anthem was that the studio will use its RPG experience to craft a thrilling and complex Anthem story, but that component was largely missing from the hands-on demo at E3 2018.
"Considering Anthem is coming in less than a year, it's still a bit disconcerting how hard it is to wrap our heads around what the game will be," Messner added.
If Anthem wants to live up to its name as the Destiny killer, BioWare will need to craft an excellent story for it that will keep players engaged. There is no sign of that yet in all Anthem trailers that have so far been released, which either means that the Anthem story is being kept under wraps or that Anthem will be just like Destiny 2, with a weak story.
