Games
Anthem's producers give us the inside look at the different Javelin options, and reveal some top tips to get the most out of them.
One of the most exciting aspects of Anthem is the Javelin exosuits. While outside of your Javelin you're just a seemingly normal person, once you climb into that suit you become a near unstoppable force, able to take on anything the world has to throw at you. It's the Javelins that allow you to fly through the world, launch devastating melee attacks, or rain down a shower of rockets onto unsuspecting foes. Without a Javelin your quest to save the world would be near impossible.
There are four Javelins available in Anthem: Ranger, Colossus, Storm and Interceptor, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses. While each was designed with certain playstyles in mind, the massive amounts of customisation means that you can pretty much play any Javelin in any style you want. There are hundreds of options when it comes to choosing how to kit out your Javelin, and in the beginning that can be very daunting. That's why we got Anthem’s developers to walk us through how they like to use each Javelin.
"First you've got the Ranger, which is kind of your middle of the road, jack of all trades," says Thomas Singleton, producer on Anthem. "It's got good offence and good defence. Then you've got your Storm. The backstory behind the Storm is it was actually created by The Dominion themselves, so it came from the evil dark nemesis and your enemy. However, its technology is amazing, and it allows you to hover a lot longer. It's more of your ranged attack. It uses the power of the Anthem: lightning, fire, win.
"Then you've got your Interceptor. It's kind of the space ninja. It's all about it's blades, quick attacks, in and out. It doesn't have super strong defence, so you don't want to stay engaged for too long, because you'll take a bit of a beating. Then you've got your Colossus. It's the big guy. It's essentially our tank class. You typically, when in battle, want to have the Colossus up front in order to take most of the impact."
While each Javelin comes with its own set of strengths and weaknesses, there are a few things that every Javelin can do. They all give you the power of flight, they all offer increased armour and protection, and they all give you some advanced movement options. So, generally speaking, when using any of the Javelins, what are the things you should always be looking to do with them?
"Dodge, dodge, dodge,” says Ben Irving, lead producer on Anthem. "The game really incentivises movement. If you try to play like a cover shooter and hide angles, it's just not very effective. If you fly and dodge, jump, shoot, and dodge, the game is created in a way that this is the most rewarding and viable play style. If you're always pushing forward, enemies drop health and ammo. So push forward, dodge, dodge, dodge, defeat an enemy, pick up health, replenish your ammo and you can keep pushing forward. It really encourages that kind of super heroic play style."
Of course, general advice is great, but if you're yet to make a choice of which Javelin you'll be taking with you for most of your Anthem journey, then you're going to want some more specifics about what each one has to offer. You often hear that different classes in games are very different, but when it comes to Anthem that really is the case. Going from the Colossus to the Interceptor really does change the experience of Anthem, so learning how to get started with each one is key.
"The Ranger for me, again, is a Jack of all trades," says Singleton. "It's got an amazing ultimate. I usually try to store my ultimate for the Big Baddies. So, don't misuse it, and don't use it too early. Because the Ranger's got good defence, you can take a lot of shots, and a lot of heat. I use the Ranger a lot with the dodge button. So dodging, getting out of the way of attacks, strafing a lot, but staying relatively close and mid-range."
The Ranger is a great place to get started in Anthem, as it introduces you to all styles of play, However, chances are that sooner or later you're going to want to start to specialise, and move onto one of the other three Javelins. This is where things start to get a little more interesting. You can, of course, play to the obvious strengths of each Javelin, but if you choose, you can almost go in the opposite direction and turn an Interceptor into a tank. It might not work out too well, but you can do it. However, chances are if you want to be a tank, the Colossus is probably the best bet.
"In non-shooter games, I play tanks most of the time, so I like to treat the Colossus as a tank, even though that's not really exactly how it works," says Irving. "I like close quarter combat with the Colossus, so my favourite build for that is to use Shock Coil, which you can activate and it pulses electricity around you. You can then keep your shield up, so you block damage while pulsing electricity. Then, I take the flame thrower as my other ability. So you can kind of absorb some bullets, wear them down a bit, and then finish them off with a flamethrower."
Out of all the Javelins, the Storm is perhaps the most interesting one. It doesn't feel like the others in any way, and really does make you think about how you play it. With more of a focus on abilities and staying out of the fight than the others, you really have to change your style when playing as the Storm. Fortunately, once you figure out how to do that, it works brilliantly.
"When playing as the Storm remember that, if you're not in a state of hovering, you don't have any shields," says Singleton. "If you're on the ground, you don't want to be there very long. You definitely want to use the power of the Storm, the mysteries behind the world of Anthem, and the technology that was built by The Dominion, and stay in that hover state to attack from range."
Finally, there's the Interceptor. This is the light and agile option that's really fun to play as. You have more movement options, rapid speed, and a surprisingly diverse range of abilities, and being able to jump in and out as quick as possible really is very satisfying. However, it also makes it quite difficult to play, because you're pretty weak in terms of armour, and need to be aware of that.
"The Interceptor I play close quarter as well," says Irving. "Mainly because of the fast paced nature of the Interceptor. You can triple dash in, really quickly. The Interceptor has strong melee. It's the only melee that has no cool down, so you can really weave that between all of your attacks and abilities. Then, I like to focus on the asset abilities. So, asset in Anthem will debuff armour, and cause enemies to take bonus damage. So you can throw a poison bomb or a venom spray, get the debuff going, and then use a shotgun or melee to do extra damage, and finish an enemy off."
Of course, there are so many different customisation options when it comes to each Javelin, and how it plays, that you can almost guarantee you'll find some weird combination that works for you when Anthem launches later this month. The best option will be to experiment with everything until you find something that works. Just be sure that if you do play with others, make sure you have a decent variety of play styles, because we can tell you from experience that having four melee focused Interceptors doesn't work well against some enemies.
Anthem launches for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on February 22.
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