The game was suppose to be a faithful recreation of the older games and its inspiration, the game was carrying some Pay to Win concepts and the game being mainly multiplayer, I avoided the game just because of those two reasons. Sh*tty way to avoid a game, but I didn't wanna waste sixty bucks on a game I would have to pay more for extra content. That's the case for most games, but who wants to pay $15 on a map or character. It was free last weekend and I had myself a little treat. I played about a day and 15 hours worth of the game and my opinions were slightly changed. Hello and welcome to this possibly short thought blog.
The first thing you are put through in the game is a "Situation." A Situation is basically a practice mode, making the player go through certain scenarios that are all equally tough. The only bad part is that you're alone. These seem like it would be fun if you could bring one person. No, not four or three, one. That would be enough for you to get the hang of the team oriented part of the game. The first time I played, I was confused as to what I was doing and how to do anything. It's a basic shooter, but it still has some unique qualities that others don't have as a mechanic. One of them being leaning. Yes, the one thing that doesn't seem like it would be useful is one of the must use abilities in the game. If you wanna peak over a wall or doorway, you can't normally peak through! Your entire body will be exposed! You have to lean by pressing either Joysticks to make yourself less visible to the enemy in the game. I think it's funny how they don't teach you this, expecting you to know this prier from playing it. I mean, if you line behind a shield guy, you have to lean to avoid shooting him. That's another thing, you have to be careful where you aim or else you shoot teammates and bring down their health. This ain't no CoD, bruh! This is Rainbow Six!
You have 100 health in total and it can mean a lot in the game. One shot always means death to you, you can't recover health and you can't gain it back. This basically Counter Strike in a house. Dumb analogy, but you get the picture. This makes the game more tense for each match you play, making sure you stay alive to have fun. You can have some armor to make yourself more of a bullet sponge, but you would have to get the Specialist that carries that ability or hope someone else has it.
Speaking of which, this is where the Pay to Win buys in. The game carries a lot of specialist for you to buy and too many to know which does what. They all basically have similar abilities, but they're unique to their loadouts. Each Specialist has a different load out that conspires to their character, carrying shotguns, assault rifles, LMG's, SMG's, anything that can shoot. They all have different secondary loadouts as well, the Grenades or Flashbangs. Claymores or Smoke Bombs. Breach or... Claymores? I can't remember what's past the Breach... Dammit... Well, it's all stuff that can help you defensively or offensively. That also applies to the Specialists as well. Each specialist has different, unique abilities that can turn the tide of battle. I've only been able to get my hands on Thermite, so this is most of the reason why I'm not doing a review on it. His ability is a special Breach that can do more than take down a wall. If a player stands next to it, wherever the fuse circles, that person will die or be injured. It has a lot of range as well, having some moments go across the room. Maybe that was a glitch, but who knows, I met it at least twice through my time playing, so I can't be sure. He carries a Fully Automatic weapon that is capable of switch firing modes, an auto-shotgun that can break down walls, and two pistols that don't really matter which you chose. I really like this loadout for him, I just adore is auto-shotgun. It just makes people jump when you shoot through walls or doors.
There is the Recruit, which is a simplified version of each class in the game giving you access to only the weapons and secondary abilities. You can't have a unique ability as the Recruit, tempting the player to buy the Specialists, but I played about have my time as him and I had as much fun as people with a Specialist. I really suggest to play as the Recruit before buying any new Specialists since he helps you get use to the game's mechanics and weapons, basically giving you an idea of how to use certain characters. I really do suggest this, as a player who was new for about an hour, it really helps to play Recruit for a while. A lot of people will drag you down because it's a noob character, but who cares. You are new and need to learn the ropes of the game.
Besides all of that, let's talk about gameplay. As I said before, the game is like Counter Strike in a house, so that means you have to be good to enjoy it. I've played without a mic in the game and I new what I was doing with the team, but the one thing that sucks is how much of a vulnerable person you are. A few shots and dead, now watch your teammates to show you how it's done. And that's what's kind of disconcerting about the game, a lot of new players will meet those who have better experience that you and will destroy your fun in the match. You would really have to work to be the third one to die or more. That's one of the reasons why I'm not going to get it, it gets very boring when you're the first to die and wants too much of your attention that can just make you angry when that one Ash gets you with a single headshot. It's very smooth to play and it could be very fun, but it's too hard for me to enjoy it. Not Dark Souls hard, more like Hacker kind of hard. God, I can't word this right. Well, I suggest the game if you are familiar with Counter Strike or are good with Shooters in general.
Now to the modes! There is three that I got my hands one: Situations, Terrorist Hunt and Multiplayer. Situations is a single player mode that allows you to get the hang of the game's core mechanics. It's a challenge to actually play this mode on Hard, being alone and with no extra help. I mean, they did a good job with the amped difficulty in this game, having AI jump out at you instead of walk into a place and stand there for a few seconds and decide to shoot you later. Trust me, try it and tell me how many times you died before you completed a situation mission. Terrorist Hunt is a Player Vs. CPU battle, having the player choose a difficulty from Causal, Hard and Realistic. I really suggest Causal. I know most of you will go to Hard, but Causal is a good start for newer players. As I may have said before, the AI in this game is just fantastic, predicting where you are and have alternate ways of attacking you. Trust me, everytime I had a different reaction to each mission I did. There would be these guys jumping into windows and kill half the team and the next mission would have them flank you as you enter. The mission basically in this mode is to get to the objective or hostage. It sounds easy, but like I said, the AI makes it tough. The only problem I have about this mode is the Spawn Location. No, not where they spawn you, they let you choose. I have a problem about where the team picks. I always have that one team that wants to go in the front door where everyone is instead of going through the back where they're most likely not going to be there. God, you don't know how many times I had to bother my teammates about how much easier it would be to do that.
The other mode is Multiplayer, having both sides (Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists) are actual players. This mode is going to be the most played and the main focus in the game. The most fun you will have is in this mode. It's basically Terrorist Hunt, but without the AI and the mission is mostly just kill every Specialist you can find. I wish they put more to the game besides these three modes, since the game can get boring with just these three to play with. It is fun, but it gets old quick. I mean, would you want to play Deathmatch most of the time? I think they should have done another mode where you'd have to defuse a bomb before everyone does it first, like a Bomb Race! Everyone is an enemy and you would have to be the first the complete the mission. That would actually be fun. Of course there would be respawns and items to protect the player during his defusal. I know this would go off the tracks of the game's purpose, but that would actually be fun to play, an actual challenge to fight each other until one has the upper hand.
All together this is a game that is for those experienced with shooters and games in general, but I think a few new people can play this game if they get the chance. You just have to play a bit to get good. It's not my style in games, but I can see me playing it later in life. The game is a cash-grab at best, but you can easily ignore it and if I were to rate it off my experience, maybe an 8 or 7. I don't know, this is mainly a first impressions thought, so you can completely ignore that. Anyways, I hope you liked this read and 'til next time...
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