Games
Anthem's Javelins are just the latest in a long lineage of robot avatars. We take a look at how the mechs in BioWare’s epic measure up.
On February 22, 2019, BioWare, the developers behind Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, will release Anthem, an action RPG multiplayer. You play as a human 'Freelancer' on a post-apocalyptic planet, who dons a robot exoskeleton suit called a Javelin, outfitted with special powers.
There are four types of Javelin. The first is the default Ranger, the all-round, all-purpose option. There's the Colossus, the 'tank' that's heavy on offence and defence. There's the Storm, the long-range support caster. And the Interceptor is the stick-and-move melee option that's quick, nimble and exceptional in close quarters.
The reference point most writers use when discussing these suits is Marvel's Iron Man. Like Tony Stark, a player can own more than one customised suit and swap them out for each other depending upon the circumstance one faces.
But in addition to its American comic inspirations, Anthem also descends from an established mech trend in video games, which itself grew out of an anime trend in Japan.
The Japanese TV franchise Gundam, which debuted in 1979, featured massive, animated mecha and was key in shaping the genre. Some of the first mecha video games were derived from this property; Kidou Senshi Gundam Part 1: Gundam Daishi ni Tatsu, a cross between a visual novel and a shooter, was released in 1983. The first Nintendo adaptation, Mobile Suit Z Gundam: Hot Scramble, was released in 1985.
One academic theory suggests that these massive mechas were allusions to World War II and the city-destroying, mass-destructive capabilities of technology.
Thus, it's fitting that Hideo Kojima's critically acclaimed Metal Gear franchise tackled these themes head-on. Released on the MSX2 home computer and ported to the NES in 1987, the original Metal Gear stars Solid Snake, a FOXHOUND Operative on a mission to destroy Metal Gear, a walking tank capable of launching nuclear weapons. In the Metal Gear franchise, the mechas are invariably enemies – mechanical behemoths that the weak humans must use their cunning to destroy against all odds.
But technological limitations at the time prevented these mechas from being fully, visually realised. That changed with the release of Metal Gear Solid in 1998; now, Solid Snake battled the Metal Gear Rex (designed by artist Yoji Shinkawa) in a face-to-face confrontation. Subsequent games feature similarly scaled mech battles, and the same sort of post-World War II, Cold War paranoia and intrigue.
In these games, the mechas are the enemy – cold, impersonal monoliths. How do developers make player-controlled mechas accessible to a Western audience? Kojima actually attempted this with his franchise Zone of the Enders, released in 2001. The Super Robot Wars franchise, featuring "good guy" mechas, has also been chugging along since 2001. But, with the exception of a few games, this franchise is exclusive to Japan.
One notable 'overseas' success was the 1996 arcade Virtual-On: Cyber Troopers. It featured two side-by-side immersive arcade cabinets, which placed you in the role of a mecha pilot, squaring off against another mecha pilot in one-on-one competition; you controlled your mecha by moving a set of twin joysticks. Virtual-On was a glorified beat 'em up fighting game and hit that sweet spot of accessibility; it would later be ported to the Sega Saturn. The most recent iteration of the franchise, Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Marz, was released on the Playstation 2 in 2003.
A few long-standing mecha franchises have transitioned smoothly from the '90s, to the '00s, to the modern era, and have enjoyed success in the West. BattleTech originally started as a tabletop board game, but has gone on to inspire multiple, successful games. The most recent and notable of these are BattleTech, a turn-based strategy game released in April 2018, and MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, to be released in September 2019. The latter MechWarrior franchise has been going strong since 1989, when the first game was released for MS-DOS.
The '10s have brought more attempts at establishing a mecha franchise. Hawken, a free-to-play first person shooter, was released in 2012. Critically acclaimed, the game featured three different classes of mecha, which could be upgraded and customised. The final PC servers shut down in 2018. The original Titanfall, released in 2014, was a widely successful multiplayer shooter, featuring massive mechas and pilots who could jump in and out of those mechas to attack weak points and gain strategic position. A sequel, Titanfall 2, was also critically acclaimed, but had weaker sales than anticipated – the reality of competing in a crowded marketplace.
Which brings us back to Anthem. Whether its suits are 'true' mechas is largely a matter of personal interpretation and semantics; the game carries all the conceits of this rich, multi-decade genre. The biggest question comes down to viability; can Anthem offer something distinctive beyond what's currently out there? Can there be more customisation, more distinctiveness between the Javelins? Will there be a compelling storyline that makes us see these clinical machines as something a bit warmer and more sentient? And from what we’ve seen so far, it’s looking good on all these fronts.
BioWare seem prepared to support Anthem in the long-term; they project at least a decade of dedicated support. The "always online" nature of the game will allow for immediate responsiveness to player needs. And if you preorder the game, you can play the demo on January 25; it'll be available to the general public as a free beta on February 1, so it’s almost time to suit up with Anthem.
Anthem hits PS4, Xbox One and PC on February 22.
