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Friends Vs Friends isn't what you expect it to be

847 View2023-06-02

Friends vs Friends

7.3

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Friends vs Friends (Reviewed)

Developer: Brainwash Gang

Publisher: Raw Fury

Released: May 30th, 2023

Price: $10 USD

Friends vs Friends is a first-person arena shooter that uses card decks to assist you in leveling the playing field with your opponents. It appears in the trailers to be a fast-paced and exciting game that you can play with your buddies while listening to some banger music, however, this is not the full reality of this game.

Presentation

Good but needing polish

The game has a very stylish cell shaded graphic style coupled with fast paced action in real time. Outside of the beautiful aesthetic aspect, there are a lot of things that are lacking and a high lack of replay-ability in it's current state.

The music. It's fantastic and I can't stop humming it, however there is no music in the real game, only in the hub location while waiting for a match, and it's simply the same song over and over again until it gets to the point of boredom.

A lot, if not everything, in the game is locked behind level progression; while this isn't a big deal, you play games to unlock rewards and make things more fun later on. However, as you will soon discover. This is a significant impediment.

Problems

Misleading Promotional Videos

This is one of those games that does everything possible to entice you, starting with a fantastic promo video. However, when it comes down to it, it's just imagery overlaying the gameplay while rocking some amazing music. It's marketing, it's not actually the game. The actual game is just a void in multiple ways.

There are as of now only Bots and PvP, with the promise of future updates introducing new characters and game modes in their roadmap for the future.

No Music

The theme music is good. I mean, really, really good. While playing matches, however, there is no actual music in the game outside of the opening OST and the music that plays near the dinner. There's nothing except quiet, shooting, and jumping / boots thumping throughout the map. It's not thrilling in any way.

Most games don't necessarily require music, but it feels like a waste of talent given how expertly the opening OST and vocals were done. It's almost criminal that there is no music in the maps, I would have enjoyed it immensely.

The Bots

Before engaging in a match with other people, you should definitely try out the practice mode against Bots to acquire a feel for the game. I don't recommend actually playing against them because the AI is utter garbage as shown above.

They require an update to feel fun to play against because all they do currently is run in the same generic pattern regardless of which side of the map you spawn on. Because there is no countdown, if you die, you will have to wait a long time before proceeding to the second round with your bot buddy in 2v2.

Skill Level (Progression)

Here's the major problem with this game. The game does not have player level restrictions and instead throws everyone in a game together. It's less about skill and more about the fact that they have a level 15 player and you're a level 1. They have many cards that are all maxed out and access to powerful weapons which are also maxed out, doing way more damage than you could ever possibly do.

This creates a significant gap in ability to combat someone with multiple high-end cards, such as a Grenade Launcher or an SMG with max Poison Bullets and a probable max Poison de-buff. Making it nearly impossible to fight them while running about with a pistol that has about 6 rounds and does almost no damage.

There should be a limitation of all skill levels from competing against newcomers. A level 1 should only be able to play with levels 1-4, a level 5 with levels 5-9, and so on. It's just creating an artificial difficulty gap because you don't have the levels or booster packs unlocked to get these weapons and de-buffs.

There is a "level match-making" but it doesn't seem to do it's job 90% of the time, this could be due to the fact that not many people are playing the game though.

Being obliterated by that one player who has everything unlocked isn't pleasant. It's frustrating and unjust since even after playing for an hour, four hours, or eight hours, you won't have any significant rewards or unlocks for your progression.

Leveling

Because of the large -75% EXP gain from fighting bots, if you want to level up quickly and obtain better (cards) and characters, you must fight human players. To be more explicit, you must win against them to get a lot of EXP or you will gain roughly the same amount you would have pushing around the bots.

But therein lays the problem. Most people you will fight will be playing together as real friends, not as random players, with a decently set up deck that often complements each other, whereas you and your partner will have either the same deck or slightly different decks if either of you modified them which isn't important in the early stages of the game when you don't have much access.

Gameplay

Discoveries

Playing against other players may reveal revealed weaponry that they may have used in that battle, revealing what you may be able to unlock later in the game after purchasing multiple booster packs and unlocking it with RNG variables.

Quick

Board the bus and embark with yourself and a random or a buddy. You can also play solo, which I think to be more reliable. Each game will take anywhere from 1-4 minutes if either of you is quick, and can sometimes go for 6 minutes. So you can definitely get some time in and then go do other things without having to worry about playing a full 30 minute session which you may not have time for.

A bit irritating

Personally, I'd like to level up on the bots, but it would take forever. I'm sick of getting bullied by better-developed decks from higher-leveled individuals. So it has been, and it has gotten to the point where I no longer want to bother playing.

Settings

Because the sensitivity and visuals are all slow, I recommend altering the game's default settings to your preferences, once you do the game becomes a lot more responsive to your input allowing you to hit your targets more effectively.

It's a bit weird to see the game doesn't have a FPS value of 60, but rather 55. It didn't really effect much, but just a weird thing to witness.

Deck Building

Overpriced & Messy

I'm not sure what they were thinking when they decided that this game's progression had to be so tedious. To get new cards, you must first unlock booster packs. Each standard booster pack costs 250 coins. That equates to about 5 games won, whereas the (rare) booster pack costs 500 coins, which is about 10 games won. That's not much of a reward for all of your hard work.

There are no microtransactions in this game, but if there were, they would be useful. You'd be far more motivated to buy the packs to unlock the content because it takes far too long to do it naturally, and you'd almost never be able to win when the game matches you with others who have everything unlocked.

Playable Characters

Restricted

I wouldn't mind this feature as much if it weren't for the aggravating fact that if you are a higher leveled player. By default, you can select a better starting character with an SMG rather than a paltry peashooter. You don't start unlocking characters until you're level 3, 6, 8 and onwards. It's a terrible system, they should all be playable.

This is what I mean when I say I'm outclassed by someone who simply has a superior loadout. There is no alternative to playing exceptionally well, which is not particularly satisfying.

Conclusion

A visually appealing game ruined by poor progression

I understood what the game was trying to be, but I couldn't enjoy it because of all of the problems it had. It's best played with friends by your side. Preferably over voice chats while giggling and having a good time.

When you play alone, or even with a total stranger, the relationship between the players is broken, making it a more irritating experience as people do the most bizarre things. I can see the foundation for something fast-paced and exciting for folks who want to play things together and adore cute looking creatures, but if you're a lone player with few pals to play games with then it's a hard pass.

I can't imagine myself or anybody else continuing to play this game with its laboriously laid out reward system and growth. It just doesn't make sense since it has so few things to really motivate you to continue pushing forward.

This concludes my views of this game; while my opinions may be met with criticism, that is what distinguishes gamers; you don't have to like the same things as others, nor do you have to agree with them.

If you want to catch me on one of my streams or locate me on social media, you may do so at the following locations, I'm always playing something new.

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- Pawkt

Mentioned games

Friends vs Friends

7.3

Editors' Choice

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A frantic, fun gameplay with a touch of card strategy | Full Review - Friends vs Friends

Friends vs Friends is a deck/FPS game hybrid developed by Brainwash Gang and recently released for PC. It features an arena based shooter feel and deck building game mechanics that promises a frantic, fun gameplay with a touch of card strategy. 🟩Pros +A unique blend of FPS and deck-building +Fun FPS combat +Superb art style and presentation +Includes boosters packs but actually not pay to win 🟥Cons

lyndonguitar4K2023-06-06