Let’s go with the truth ahead. As usual. If I have learned anything during all these years that I have been writing in LifeExtra is that sharing a game and team with Rubén is synonymous with laughter, chaos and destruction. I was counting on it when we jumped into the embers of The FINALS, a team shooter that comes from the hand of Embark Studios. How can I refuse one? madness So?
However, when in the middle of a screen completely covered in thick fog our enemies began to demolish the building we were in, the laughs are over.
We had seen ourselves in worse, of course, but unlike other competitive FPS, THE FINALS It doesn’t feel at all like a war or a great test of survival, but rather like a contest. It is an intrinsic part of his nature.
In fact, in THE FINALS when you kill (or are killed) you don’t leave an inert body on the ground and the collected weapons, but rather an exhibition figure, with its base and everything, and a handful of coins. Literally. To be more precise, you become all the game coins you just lost.
Which derives in the nature of the game. What does it contribute and difference THE FINALS of all the team shooters before and those that will come after?
The shooter in which each game is a contest
a great show. Lots of money at stake and an exceptional springboard to fame, popularity and sponsorship. The first rule is to find the largest number of safes scattered around the stage and do everything possible to claim what is inside. The second is that if, in addition, we strike down any other contestant from a rival team, we will add a pinch of what it has obtained to our money counter.
From there, in The FINALS there are no more rules. Whoever has the most money before the horn sounds wins,
On paper, the cover letter of THE FINALS It is not very different from that of the successful Apex Legends that refuses to give up its position as one of the most played titles on Steam. In the game, the sensations could not be more different.
First of all, because there is no concept of champions (or heroes) but you yourself create your character at the level of presentation and weapons. Of course, technically there are three classes. You can create a character to your liking, to your likeness or whatever you like, but for all purposes there is a distinction between those who are light, those who are heavy and those who are of intermediate size.
Some are elusive and others difficult to knock down. Because, as told by Embark Studios before starting to shoot, THE FINALS is not a “Hero Shooter”, but a “Hero Builder“. One in which, by the way, player participation is proactively sought.
Once our profiles were created, in the version to which we had access, a series of very specific content was put before us: two scenarios based on Monaco and Seoultwo game experiences (Quick Match and Tournament), a training mode and, of course, the in-game store where we could see the huge amount of cosmetic elements at our disposal. Nothing that would guarantee us an advantage.
With these premises established, Embark made it clear to us that it was a development version of the game, with which by beta they did not refer to one of those server tests that today have almost replaced the traditional demos, but to a project under construction. The paradoxical thing about the matter is that, precisely, what most caught our attention is the importance of destruction in each game.
In The FINALS, chaos and destruction take precedence over the shootings themselves
given in THE FINALS It is designed for each player to design and character their own champion in a competitive environment, the aspect that defines its identity as a shooter goes through the mapping. Not only in terms of design, aesthetics and the very ability to be used at our convenience, but how by breaking them or adapting to their circumstances we give rhythm to the game itself. When there is rhythm
The first thing to keep in mind is that in THE FINALS almost anything that is built or built can be either scaled or demolished. Getting to the roofs or the highest areas is achieved using elevators (the kind that appear when you press a button), ropes, springboards, zip lines and, of course, something as simple as entering practically any building and going up the stairs. until you reach the roof. But the truly distinctive thing about the game, of course, is to turn everything into ruins.
We can destroy walls, roofs or facades with artillery or bombing. Usually to break through, chase our rivals or leave them exposed. In Seoul, for example, boxes have been hung from cranes in which there are explosive drums that ask to destroy anything that is under their shadow. And we can’t forget the classic and always effective bazookas that save paperwork and subtleties.
As we mentioned at the beginning, throughout the testing phase we had access to two mappings, but the truth is that memorizing them was almost impossible: as in games of a sports nature, during game loads the lighting and weather conditions that we will have ahead of us, which affects visibility and, by extension, the game strategy. Because in The Finals, there is.
To win the game or go to the next round, the requirement is to amass the greatest amount of money, which involves getting some kind of golden boxes and spending time until they open. Something that would not be exciting if it were not for the fact that we will become the target of everyone who walks around without qualms about destroying the ground that sustains us and getting hold of the loot and coins that we have earned.
One more detail: during the time it takes to open each box, it emits a little music, so you have to try to block any entrance and be attentive to what is moving.
And yet, under those layers of spectacle and greed, two weaknesses: the gunplay of the version that we were able to test THE FINALS It has given us quite a few bad times and the times from elimination to return to the game take forever.
What The FINALS must polish for the final version
It is unfair to draw definitive conclusions about a version in development, no matter how playable it is from start to finish. And it is that, despite the fact that in order to play THE FINALS we had to have the most recent drivers for our graphics cards, each of us experienced different performance, building interiors were deserted or with generic boxes. We want to understand that this will change little by little in the face of the final version.
However, there are very specific elements that have priority for what will be the final version.
As we already mentioned, the premise to win the games is not based on the eliminations, but on finish the game with the most money in possession based on opening boxes or destroying other players. The first problem we encountered appears in the mechanics of reappearance (either spawn) in which, unless a rescue opportunity is given, we spend 20 seconds looking at the screen without doing anything.
Those 20 seconds not only take you as a player out of the rhythm of the game or the plan you were trying to carry out with your team, which you can already forget about, but they end up determining the winner in one way or another. An element that, based on adjusting the times or rethinking the way of offering reappearance, can be circumvented.
However, The biggest weakness of The FINALS is the gunplay itself. If we choose the weapons of the light class we will have a pistol with a silencer that barely tickles, to the point that we can empty the magazine directly into the back of our target at less than two meters and when he turns around we will be struck down with two bullets. It is not an exaggeration.
These kinds of problems affect the vast majority of firearms we’ve tested so far. THE FINALS, so that in the end the big winners are those who have weapons capable of making direct shots to the head. If we add to this that, as part of the nature of the game, demolition, moving constantly in vertical environments and the use of cables have a special weight, we find that we have barely been able to take advantage of short-range weapons in our games.
And we are not going to deny it, despite the fact that internalizing and functioning on the field of play is crucial, running into a huge fog that covers the entire stage limits you when it comes to taking initiatives, so that you completely play the game. defensive. Something that, whether you like it or not, collides head-on with the character of a show born from a contest on which it rests THE FINALS.
The real test by fire begins now
THE FINALS It has clear ideas and above all, it seeks not to go unnoticed with its own ideas, but before aspiring to be the next competitive shooter that transcends into a phenomenon, it will have to polish many key aspects. Because there’s little point in giving out lots of mobility tools or resources if you’re going to spend a significant part of the game waiting to get back in the game or make up for everything you lost during the respawn.
In any case, Embark Studios’ plan is to polish what is shown between now and its final release based on the opinion of the players.
In the absence of a final departure date, THE FINALS will offer from March 7, 2023 a phase of Playtest on PC (access can be requested from Steam) from which it hopes to draw conclusions, correct what does not quite work and, for all intents and purposes, make its own show on shooter form offers more than just entertainment: the excitement that separates great FPS from the rest.
In which of the two piles will he find himself? THE FINALS? As always, that will depend on the facilities that are offered when it comes to creating a community that really has a good time playing. Because, let’s not forget, what distinguishes Embark’s game today is its philosophy of being a contest. And contests should not only be interesting: they also have to be entertaining.
- Platforms: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S
- Multiplayer: Yes (competitive by teams)
- Developer: Embark Studios
- Company: Embark Studios
- Release: Beta available from March 7