I spent 72 hours with the first huge game of 2019 - here's what 'Anthem' is like

First and foremost: What is "Anthem"?

You know "Iron Man"? The guy in the robot suit that flies through the air? Robert Downey Jr. plays him?

"Anthem" is basically an "Iron Man" game, albeit one that's entirely removed from the world of Marvel. You control a human being inside of a robot suit — a "javelin" in the parlance of "Anthem" — and you do a lot of shooting.

Sometimes you're shooting humanoid enemies, sometimes it's types of animals, and sometimes it's a massive giant that shoots exploding, heat-seeking fire bombs.

All of which is to say this: "Anthem" is a third-person shooter that's set in an online-only, multiplayer-focused open-world. It's a lot like "Destiny," but with jet packs.

What I liked: 1. Flying!

The hook of "Anthem" — what primarily separates it from other games of its genre — is that you can fly through the air. To that end, it's more than just a novelty: It's a core component of movement and combat.

The primary mode of transportation in "Anthem" is your jet pack, whether you're on your way to a far flung part of the game's massive world or simply trying to get away from a bunch of especially vicious enemies. Depending on the moment, you're more or less able to take to the air whenever you want.

By a few hours in, I was masterfully flying through tiny crevasses and catapulting myself to tiny little spots perched high above the ground.

There's a sense of weight to the javelin, which is different for each of the different robot suits you can wear, that feels unwieldy at first. That sense of weight quickly turned into a foundation for me. Instead of feeling slugging, it feels logical after a bit of use.

A massive metal robot suit would be a touch heavy, don't you think?

2. The world of "Anthem."

It was tremendously frustrating to explore Fort Tarsis, the single-player portion of "Anthem." Not because anything was wrong with it, but because it was intentionally limited for the demo.

Of the dozens of interactive characters I saw in Fort Tarsis, only a small handful were allowed to speak with me — many more issued a prompt telling me that they weren't available in the demo.

And that is unfortunate, because Fort Tarsis is one of the most promising aspects of "Anthem." It's a bit like the Citadel from the "Mass Effect" series, offering a means of progressing the game's story and characters without having to shoot a bunch of bad guys first.

The idea with Fort Tarsis is simple: You can upgrade your javelin, or make cosmetic changes to it, but you can also meet the many characters that make up its society. Through these interactions, you'll learn more about the planet they live on, and what life is like in the world of "Anthem."

Frankly speaking, this is the part of "Anthem" I'm most looking forward to playing.

3. The vibe.

Fort Tarsis and the world beyond its walls has a very distinct BioWare vibe to it — a sort of nerdy irreverence that's characteristic of BioWare games.

Unlike the deadly (self-) serious "Destiny" franchise, there's a playful silliness to "Anthem."

The gentleman above, for instance, was originally just one man. After a mission to recover an object for him, he attempted to activate it by brute force — which resulted in his consciousness being split into three people.

The object, it turns out, is one of many objects left behind by the original creators of life. On the alien planet "Anthem" is set on, those creators had to leave in a hurry, so they left behind a lot of tools that are used to create life.

In this very small way, "Anthem" pokes fun at the silliness of its own premise by using it to create a sitcom-like scenario. It's one of many such instances I encountered during the demo where the game winks and nods at players.

4. Combat is surprisingly great.

For a studio known primarily for its storytelling prowess, BioWare created a surprisingly great combat system for "Anthem." It actually feels akin to the combat in the "Mass Effect" series, albeit with more freedom of movement and variation based on class.

The long and short is this: Each of the game's javelins (robot suits) has two gun slots, and two special powers. Those special powers are often tied to timers, so you can only use them every so often. On top of all that, there's an "ultimate" ability that charges up over time.

Using those various elements in concert means you can do a lot of continuous damage to enemies. And, given that you've always got a jet pack, you can get away pretty quickly.

It was a real joy going from the initial javelin — which is a kind of middle-of-the-road soldier with a grenade and a rocket as special powers ("Ranger") — to a much faster, melee-focused javelin as the demo progressed ("Interceptor").

5. Flirting. Yes, that kind of flirting!

It may sound ridiculous — and, honestly, it is kind of ridiculous — but developing romantic relationships with characters is a staple of BioWare games. A major part of my memory of "Mass Effect" is directly associated with Liara T'Soni, and actually caring what happens to her character.

To that end, BioWare clearly has some form of flirting in "Anthem" that may or may not lead to a deeper romantic relationship.

In my time with the demo, I was able to successfully woo Zoe — one of the engineers who maintains and upgrades the javelin robot suits — and keep "Lucky Jak" at bay. The simple act of enabling this level of interaction is tremendously heartening for BioWare fans. Choosing one of two canned responses to give, which impacts your relationship, is less exciting than the more complex conversation options in other BioWare games, but it's a smart, necessary nod to what so many people love about BioWare's games.

Flirting and making friends is silly fun, no doubt, but it gives you something to hold onto — however shallow.

What I didn't like: 1. Loading. So. Much. Loading.

The "Anthem" demo is just that — a demo — so it's hard to know how much this will change over time. I should also note that I played the demo on an Xbox One X; if you played on PC, you might have had a much faster load time.

All that said: Holy cow there are some pretty bad load times in "Anthem."

Starting the game from zero takes at least a minute, and that's just loading into Fort Tarsis. If you want to get into a mission, you have to (slowly) walk through Fort Tarsis to where you can get into your javelin. When you do get there, another load awaits.

Worse than any of this: Load times between areas within the open-world section of "Anthem."

Doing something as simple as entering a cave can result in a sudden, jolting jump to a load screen (like the one above). These are sometimes brief, but they're always unfortunate and sudden.

2. Shooting.

Of note, earlier in this piece I complimented the combat in "Anthem." That stands!

But the shooting itself is just okay at best. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but it doesn't feel great. Some weapons do feel better than others, but there's a lack of oomph to shooting in "Anthem" — something that's particularly problematic in a game that's so heavily focused on shooting.

A major part of what makes the "Destiny" franchise so appealing to people, that keeps them coming back, is the top-level shooting. The basic act of shooting enemies in "Destiny" feels good in a way that's hard to put into words.

In "Anthem," it feels more like you're shooting bullets into objects rather than beings. In short, it can feel more like an MMO — along the lines of "World of Warcraft" — than a shooter.

3. The world feels somewhat empty.

What I love about Fort Tarsis can't be said for the world beyond its walls.

We're talking about a completely blank slate here: This isn't Earth, and there's no reason to assume the world of "Anthem" has anything to do with our own. There are human beings, but there are also fantastical creatures that look more like dragons than anything else.

With that blank slate, BioWare has left the open-world seen in the demo relatively blank. Much of the gorgeous, massive open-world is filled with nothing other than pretty vistas to look at. There were no merchants to be found or cities to be explored, no enemy forts to pillage or characters to meet. It feels like a big empty playground aside from the occasional small herd of animal or flock of airborne creature.

As with all the criticisms here, it's entirely possible that these things are only absent from the demo. The full game that arrives on February 22 may have a rich, vibrant open world that's teeming with life.

The one I explored in the demo of "Anthem" was, like "Destiny," little more than a very pretty thing to look at on the way to somewhere else.

4. Not being able to pause: It's bad.

Listen, I know this is a standard in online, open-world games like "Destiny" and "The Division." I understand that there's a tradeoff for enabling persistent worlds like the one in "Anthem." I get it.

That said: Not being able to pause a game is bad.

It was bad in "World of Warcraft," and it's bad in "Anthem." If you're outside of Fort Tarsis, you're officially online and therefore unable to walk away. This isn't such a big deal if you're not in the middle of a mission, but it's a frustrating hindrance regardless.

Maybe they could build in pausable areas to the world. Maybe that's asking too much!

What if you're a parent? Or the oven timer on your brisket goes off? Or the phone rings and you have to take it? Or, ya know, any of another trillion things that might make you want to pause the game you're playing. Life happens!

It stinks not being able to pause "Anthem." Period.

One final note: There were some major issues with the "Anthem" demo up front, which impacted a lot of players. They were addressed relatively quickly, but it's not a great sign.

Connection issues and glitches plagued the game's first demo weekend.

I've seen a ton of it myself on Xbox One, which was seemingly hit hardest. It's been rough!

The game's head of live service, Chad Robertson, even called the service "rocky" in a piece on BioWare's blog.

Beyond the standard connection issues lots of players were having, I encountered several instances of the game dropping connection mid-mission. There was even one instance where I took down several large, difficult monsters with a group of people — and "Anthem" booted me as the mission ended. I lost that progress and had to re-do the entire mission.

All that aside, these are addressable issues that happen with many online games. The vast majority of the time that I spent with "Anthem," I had zero connection issues. I was able to seamlessly match up with other players to take down missions. I'm hopeful that this was little more than some early turbulence.

"Anthem" arrives on February 22 for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. There's another upcoming demo this weekend, so you can try it out yourself! Here's a look at what's in the demo, in video form: