Anthem Hands-On Beta Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

2. Basic Premise Has Been Done To Death

Things like Matthias' split personality and the design of the world itself are neat, but the core of what's going on? It's the Bioware template of "ancient alien race left behind tech we're now struggling to understand", YET AGAIN.

We had this in Knights of the Old Republic to some degree with the Star Map, and it was a major part of Mass Effect with the Reapers and Protheans forever being referred to. Then even after Bioware tried to soft-reboot Mass Effect with Andromeda we had the Kett and the Remnants, and now with Anthem, we've got the Shapers - an ancient species apparently in control of manufacturing reality itself.

In the beta and play sessions available, cutscenes depict plucky youngster pilots going up against gravel-throated enemy forces, where the only exchange boils down to "We got this!", versus "You'll never stop me/The world will burn" from some nondescript black-armoured warrior-chap.

See?

We've seen all this stuff before, and if it's all Bioware have, the entirety of our time spent from beginning to end is going to be a disappointment.