EA/BioWare
- The first huge new blockbuster game of 2019 is nearly here: "Anthem" arrives on February 22 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
- A lengthy demo for "Anthem" was available over the past weekend, and I spent much of that time flying around its lush, alien world.
- Having spent much of the last 72 hours with "Anthem," I found a lot to love - and a few concerns.
There's a lot riding on "Anthem," the huge upcoming game from EA's legendary BioWare studio.
For starters, it's the first major new franchise from BioWare in years, and it's an online-only, multiplayer-focused shooter - a major departure from a studio known for single-player role-playing franchises like "Mass Effect" and "Dragon Age." Second of all, BioWare's last game was a massive flop that damaged one of the studio's core franchises.
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Ubisoft
"The Division 2" is scheduled to launch on March 15, just a few weeks after "Anthem." The two games share a genre: Persistent-world, online-only shooters.
It's with all this background that I tentatively approached the first public demo of "Anthem," which was available through various means this past weekend.
Great news: Based on that demo, "Anthem" is a promising, fun, gorgeous game.
It's got all the open-world exploration of the "Destiny" franchise, but with a heavy sprinkling of BioWare's signature style. From the time I spent with "Anthem," it felt like a fascinating new twist on the burgeoning genre of online-only, persistent world games.
These are highs and lows of my 72 hours with "Anthem":
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