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The most promising, refreshing, upcoming shooter that I’ve played all year | Review - THE FINALS

25K View2023-10-28

THE FINALS

9.3

Fast-pacedBattle RoyaleActionShooterEditors' Choice

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✨Overview

THE FINALS is a free-to-play team-based competitive FPS, featuring class-based abilities, realistic visuals, and a destructible environment. Developed by Embark Studios, founded by former DICE developers, the game is currently in an open beta test on Steam that started last October 26 and will run up to November 5, available for PC (Steam), Xbox Series X/S, and PS5.

📖Premise

THE FINALS' premise is reminiscent of dystopian-themed entertainment like "The Hunger Games" and battle royale video games like Apex Legends. The matches are set within a televised game show, where players act as participants, vying for victory in a flashy, high-octane spectacle. The game's user interface and menu design reflect the reality TV show premise beautifully, complete with in-game commentary and the distant sounds of an enthusiastic audience. The presentation is top-notch and fully immerses you in this dystopian battle arena.

🎨Graphics and Art Style

The visuals in THE FINALS are simply stunning, with lifelike lighting that adds depth and realism and vibrant level design and environments. The character designs are sleek and complement the game's futuristic premise. The art style strikes a perfect balance between realism and entertainment, which is quite a feat considering the game's arcade-like elements.

🎮Gameplay Overview

THE FINALS is an FPS game at its core that provides a unique blend of realism and arcade shooting elements. The movement feels weighty and grounded, while the guns maintain a realistic feel. It's not a game where you'll be bunny hopping around like in some other shooters, This feeling of weight in the movement adds a level of strategy and tension to the gameplay that's often missing in other arena shooters. Despite all this, there is a high level of vertically in this game with the inclusion of jump pads, ziplines, and zero fall damage. Buildings also have multiple floors and rooftops, all accessible by the players.

The game's three available classes (Light, Medium, and Heavy) each come with distinct abilities and gadgets. The Light class can dash, cloak, and dash again for a nimble and stealthy approach. The Medium class offers the ability to deploy healing and activate recon vision, while the Heavy class is all about charging attacks and ground slams. These class distinctions create a dynamic team-based experience, encouraging players to work together strategically to succeed. You start with a basic loadout and can customize it as you progress and unlock more by playing more matches or availing the paid Battle Pass.

🔫Combat

The combat in THE FINALS is an explosive, high-octane experience. The Time to Kill (TTK) is notably high compared to games like Call of Duty or Valorant. It doesn't take just a split second to eliminate an opponent. This aspect makes the game feel more akin to Apex Legends, where TTK is higher and you’ll probably unload a magazine or two to kill just one player. However, the gameplay is still engaging and feels fast-paced. The game is firmly rooted in the shooter genre, but it offers a fresh take by merging elements of realism and arcade-style action.

Regarding the abilities, the flashy visuals are not over-the-top and don't create visual clutter like games such as Overwatch or Valorant, Although the destruction on the other hand is simply superb. I have never seen a game like this since Battlefield introduced total destruction in their games and then subsequently toned down that feature in recent years. In this game, looks like its going all out with the destruction. Walls, Floors, Pillars have been destroyed. Entire roofs have collapse all over our objectives.

As a solo player during my open beta experience so far, this game is difficult, as the game is highly teamwork dependent with its objective-based matches, multi-team setup, and high TTK. You'd never know what teammates you're gonna get and the small 3-man setup amplifies this. It's going to be hard to carry two randoms in this game so I'd recommend playing this with friends, no matter what role you choose to play.

💥Destructible Environments

The game takes a page from the early days of Battlefield, where destruction was a game-changer. In THE FINALS, destruction is not just cosmetic; it's strategic. You can use it to your advantage in numerous ways, from blowing up the floor above an opponent to creating cover from the rubble. What's truly impressive is that the destruction is physics-based, so you must target critical points for efficient destruction. This is the most satisfying and comprehensive destruction system I've seen in years, and it adds a layer of depth and strategy to the gameplay that is unparalleled.

📜The open beta includes three game modes to play in
Quick Cash: This is a quick and casual 3v3v3 mode, perfect for players looking for fast-paced action. It's an ideal choice if you want a shorter, more intense gaming experience.

Bank it: Bank it is a new mode, a more fast-paced version of Quick Cash. In this mode, four teams of three battle for coins, making it combat-focused and casual-friendly.

Tournament Mode: In this mode, two simultaneous groups of four teams compete, with the top two teams eventually battling in the titular THE FINALS. This mode offers a competitive and exhilarating experience.

Previous betas have featured additional modes like Cashout, a longer version of Quick Cash, focused on collecting cash boxes from vaults and defending points for victory. The open beta features three maps, Skyway Stadium, Monaco, and Seoul.

📊Technical Performance

The open beta also run smoothly on my i7-8700k RTX 3080 PC. I set everything to “Epic” and even turned on Ray Tracing. I haven’t noticed any technical bugs or issues aside from the usual server and connection problems. It takes a lot of time to find matches during the beta even going as long as 20 to 30 minutes to find one. I also wasn’t able to open the game on Steam normally and had to resort to a workaround to be able to run it.

⚖️Conclusion

THE FINALS is perhaps the most promising, refreshing, upcoming shooter that I’ve played all year. Its stunning graphics, competitive multi-team fights, engaging mechanics, and the exceptional destructible physics system set it apart in a saturated market full of game cancellations, delays, and discontinuations… and it’s completely free-to-play.

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THE FINALS

9.3

Fast-pacedBattle RoyaleActionShooterEditors' Choice

Get