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Garena Free Fire Review: Catching Fire

95K View2022-05-20

In the United States, there are two games that are basically synonymous with the genre of battle royale: PUBG and Fortnite. Avid online shooter fans might argue over which game has the better approach or who perfected this almost instantly popular new style first, but both have remained absolute juggernauts for years now, both on consoles and PC and in mobile form. But step outside of North America and there’s a third battle royale in the mix that has spent five years growing, built up a dedicated player base, and actually reportedly pulls in bigger numbers than either Fortnite or PUBG: That game is Garena Free Fire.

Stepping into Garena Free Fire in 2022 can be an overwhelming experience, but it’s also one that makes it immediately clear why it's been such a success. If you’re familiar with PUBG or with the concept of the battle royale game at all, then the core gameplay won’t need much introduction, but let’s run through the basics just in case.

You start each map in a plane flying high over an isolated island. At some point during the journey, you pick a spot and leap from the plane. You parachute to the island below, locate scattered bits of shelter or vehicles, and immediately begin scavenging for supplies. Lucky for you, the island is full of guns, ammo, body armor, and all sorts of other deadly goodies. It’s also full of forty-nine other players, each of whom is also arming up and looking to hunt down and outlast everyone else. And just in case you think you can get away with hiding out and running down the clock, the map’s safe zone is constantly shrinking, being replaced by a field that drains your health, so you and all the other bloodthirsty players will slowly be pushed into a smaller and smaller field of play, until everyone is dead. Well, almost everyone. This is battle royale, and the rules are that there can only be one winner.

There’s a very simple reason that the battle royale genre has gone from non-existent to one of the most popular, most played genres in gaming: It’s just really damn fun. The formula carries a high degree of built-in drama and tension, from the early moments of trying to figure out the ideal place to jump; to the mid-game of trying to watch all your sides at once and listen for tiny, far-off sounds that might give away an opponent’s location on the still-mostly-open map; to the end game of desperately trying to outplay the remaining survivors on whatever tiny patch of ground you’ve been afforded to fight on. There’s always something to do, always ways to play better, and the stakes are constantly ratcheted up as each match progresses.

It’s safe to say that Garena Free Fire, at least in its current form, captures that battle royale magic beautifully. From my first match, I was pulled in by the game’s buttery smooth gameplay and fast, precise shooting. I’ve loved shooters from my teenage years, but I’ve generally found that mobile platforms struggle to get the feel of a shooter right. Garena pulls it off, however. There’s just the right amount of auto-snap to targets, and a perfect degree of feedback when you hit enemies.

Free Fire also implements some clever mechanical tweaks that showcase one of its major strengths as a phone game: It was designed for mobile devices, not ported over from a PC/console release. The best of these tiny changes—and one that has been borrowed by numerous other mobile battle royale games now—is the option to auto-loot guns, ammo, and gear upgrades just by running over them. Controllers aren’t supported in Garena Free Fire, so you’ll always be using your touchscreen to play. I was worried about just how cramped my hands would get after intense games, but small, smart decisions like the auto-loot function really help clear up some of the awkward stiltedness of trying to control a fast-paced game like this via touchscreen.

Though I found myself mostly in favor of the way that Garena Free Fire embraces mobile as its only platform, there are some drawbacks. Most notably, it follows the heavy monetization formula of free-to-play phone games to a T. That’s not to say that you need to spend money to compete in Garena; there are some very clear boosts you can get by opening your wallet, but I wouldn’t necessarily leap to calling the game pay-to-win. It’s more that if there’s a place where you could spend money, the game will remind you about it, loudly, over and over again, pushing you in that direction.

All the tricks are here: loot boxes, wheel spins, battle passes, gacha-esque character (and pet) unlocks, dozens of different currencies with different uses, spending tickets to enter events for a chance to win another different kind of ticket that can only be used in a specific limited time store. There were moments where exploring Garena Free Fire’s convoluted menu system felt more like walking through a gaudy casino full of carnival barkers. “New weapon skin, right this way! Only nine gems!” “Daily quests! Get your daily quests here!” “World Series match starting! Come place your bets now!”

Oh yeah, you can literally bet on Garena Free Fire esports matches from within the game. Given, you’re doing so with an in-game currency, but it still feels pretty grimy.

All of these presentation annoyances faded blessedly into the background whenever I got into a match, though. As a game that’s been running since 2017, it feels like there’s so much to do in Garena Free Fire in terms of actual game modes. There are multiple battle royale maps, including several that rotate availability throughout the day. There’s squad play for when you feel like teaming up with buddies. There’s the more action-packed 1v1 deathmatch mode called Lone Wolf, and of course there’s ranked play for the more seriously skilled players.

Garena even features a Creative Mode, where players can design and show off their own maps and challenges. Somewhat similar to Fortnite Creative, the maps in this mode can be anything from new player-versus-player game types to vehicle races to platforming challenges. The user-created content is often not super polished, but it provided a great break when I needed a breather from the battle royale intensity.

It’s also worth noting that there are actually two different versions of Garena Free Fire available on both iOS and Android devices. I played Garena Free Fire Max (available on TapTap right here), a version of the app that takes up more space on devices in exchange for improved visuals and settings tweaked for more powerful hardware. If you’re playing on an older phone, you may want to go with the original version of Garena Free Fire (also available on TapTap right here). The good news is that both versions give you access to the same exact content on the same servers, and so on. You won’t be shut out of anything for not having a phone that plays nicely with Free Fire Max, and many players report that the lighter version of the game runs shockingly well, even on lower power devices.

In the week-plus that I’ve spent with Garena Free Fire, I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what the game has to offer, which I suppose makes sense for a title that’s been around so long. However, even in this limited time, I can already see why it’s become such a hit in regions such as Asia and Latin America. Garena Free Fire had an eye-popping peak of 150 million daily active players in the second quarter of 2021. Now I’m not saying that Fortnite (with reportedly 24 million daily active players) or PUBG (with reportedly 40 million daily active players) have anything to be ashamed of. But perhaps it’s time for more American gamers to finally give Garena Free Fire its due.

SCORE: 4 STARS OUT OF 5

PLAY IF YOU LIKE:

• Fortnite or PUBG. Seriously. They’re great games, I get it, but give Garena a chance! You might be surprised!

• Call of Duty: Mobile and Call of Duty: Warzone. Garena Free Fire’s aesthetic falls just a little bit on the goofier side than Call of Duty, but it still has a serious military thing going on. If Call of Duty is your preferred brand of shooter action, this shouldn’t feel out of step.

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