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on: May 14, 2017, 05:09:07 AM
I've had the chance to play a little over the course of the day; here are some initial impressions and feedback. Hope it's helpful!
Generally, I think the UI could use some small tweaks. I only found out that solo mode was available due to a post here. It wasn't immediately obvious to me that I had to click on the matchmaking "button" in the top right hand corner to switch between the two. Even matchmaking for multiplayer took me a moment to see it was working, since you click the match on the lower left-hand side, and after the initial message disappears, the only indication that it's still looking is the "scan" effect over the thumbnail, and over the matchmaking button on the top right-hand side. When it comes to UI, I think "dumbing it down," in order to eliminate any possibility of confusion, is a good design philosophy.
Gameplay is generally satisfying. I'm content with the speed the characters move, the controls are intuitive, and the maps provide a good arena for combat. The shooting seems spot on to me.
The cover system is excellent, I really compliment the team on that. I expected it would be clunky, but it's buttery smooth. Nicely done!
Based on what I'm seeing, the CQC system is basically rock/paper/scissors. That's plenty of depth for the game, but I think that an expanded tutorial or written explanation of it would be helpful. I've been trying to effectively put the system to use, but my results haven't be consistent. How close to you have to be for the input to be effective? How precise is the timing needed for a parry or block?
As far as I've seen, the special moves aren't really gone into that much. The tutorial only covers one character, so that doesn't help with the others.
I was concerned about the asymmetric aspect of the game. While I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would, I'm still not sure about it. The match I played as the Antagonist, the team mopped the floor with me the whole game. I wasn't effective at all. In the final level I got lucky. They temporarily ran out of respawns, and after the bots killed two of them, I got the other two and won. They were completely superior the entire game, but I exploited an advantage and won.
On one hand, that's the whole point of an asymmetric multiplayer game. On the other, I wonder how long people are going to want to invest the time on the first part of the level (something like 15 or 20 minutes) if the final, deciding part, is going to be a complete wildcard.
Overall, I like the game so far. I like the design and the characters. With a few simple improvements to clarify the gameplay, I think it has the potential to appeal to a lot of people.
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