Live-action short makes Anthem look like a blockbuster film

The much anticipated looter-shooter Anthem is pulling out all the stops for the game’s impending debut.

Gamers have been waiting years for BioWare’s Anthem to release, and now the day is almost here. By now, nearly everyone in the gaming space knows what Anthem is but BioWare and Electronic Arts saved one last ace up its sleeve to generate interest in the eleventh hour.

A live-action short for Anthem, made by none other than Oscar-nominated District 9 director Neill Blomkamp, was released Thursday on the YouTube channel of Blomkamp’s studio. Titled “Conviction,” the three-minute long visual masterpiece is a prequel to Anthem, depicting events that took place decades before the any of us load up the game.

From the meticulously recreated details on each javelin to the sweeping shots of Anthem‘s landscape, the video looks indistinguishable from a movie trailer for a high-budget sci-fi film.

Blomkamp’s live-action short successfully builds excitement for the game, but it kind of makes us wish that Anthem was also a movie. Normally, this is a sentiment we’d never have because we all know how terrible the track record is for games turned into movies. But the situation here is different — the game hasn’t yet released, and the short tells a story not found in the game. Anthem is very much a blank slate and because the game world is a mystery there’s a lot more room for a director like Blomkamp to assert his own creative vision within it.

If anything, the live-action short is a great visualization of games as an entertainment medium. Just like novels, TV shows and movies, games are a way of telling a story. Everyone in the gaming industry already knows this, but it’s a crucial point those who don’t understand games are missing. Video games have the ability to weave a narrative, develop a character and build a new world unlike any other medium. While they are less accessible than movies, the original content they put forth is just as powerful. Guaranteed that if someone watched Blomkamp’s short without any knowledge of Anthem, he or she would have thought a new action movie was heading to theaters this summer.

The live-action short has elevated Anthem to another level. The only thing left to see is whether the game lives up to the hype. If not, perhaps it actually might be best to make it into a movie.