Back 4 Blood Beta Impressions friv game

blog

Back 4 Blood Beta Impressions friv game - For lack of more

Back 4 Blood is almost entirely made up of ten-year-old solutions, in some ways similar to Left 4 Dead too much, in some ways not enough. We share our first impressions of the beta test of Friv2Online Studio new zombie shooter in a brief preview.

Does Friv2Online Studio need an introduction? Someone will say that these are the creators of the legendary and unsurpassed Left 4 Dead dilogy, and they will be absolutely right. Others will remember their other project, Evolve, which fell to the ground with a monstrous roar, rose slightly, and collapsed again already dead. And they, too, unfortunately, will hit the mark.

Personally, I have very warm feelings for this studio. And in those years when the company was not yet owned by Valve, and then ended up under the wing of Gabe Newell, after which it went its own way again, she worked on a friv game that for me and my old comrades became something of a symbol of PC gaming in the early 10s.

And even when the heavily advertised Evolve, which at that time looked incredibly promising, suddenly began to lose ground in the rankings, I loved the work of Friv2Online Studio, although I had to admit that it was far from perfect. But failure does not happen only to those who do nothing at all, and, frankly, Evolve was too bold an experiment.

Now, while the impressions received after several days of testing Back 4 Blood fit into my head, I have a feeling that since then Friv2Online Studio have decided to avoid experimentation in any way possible. Which as a result very much blunted their main potential as a bold innovator.

You've played Left 4 Dead, right? Should have at least heard a lot of flattering reviews about her. At one time, we went through its levels far and wide, enjoying both the cooperative game and the asymmetric PVP mode, in which some players continued to survive, while others climbed into the skins of the so-called bosses and spoiled their blood in every possible way.

Not only was it fun, but it was interesting and addictive, and it gave Left 4 Dead's linear levels some crazy replay value. And no matter how much effort the imitators expend, no matter how they try to surprise us, we already know what an exemplary zombie shooter with a cooperative passage should look like.

In turn, Friv2Online Studio did not try to imitate, but made a new friv game based on the old one. Conceptually, of course, because the rights to the franchise remained with Valve, and the publisher of Back 4 Blood is Warner Bros. However, their idea of what a modern version of Left 4 Dead should be like turned out to be different from the expectations of some fans, including the author of this article.

Metaphorically speaking, the developers are not creating a remake, but rather a remaster. But after the same Capcom showed us how it turns out that you can update games, not just improving the picture, but modernizing almost every aspect of the game, I would still like to see a remake.

Back 4 Blood uses exactly the same mechanics that we had the pleasure of seeing in Left 4 Dead. The four heroes break through the pretty corridor levels from checkpoint to checkpoint, cover each other's backs, collect coins from nowhere and destroy hordes of the obsessed on the go.

The game, in turn, from time to time throws them tasks that require cooperation, and with enviable regularity draws the attention of the hungry horde to the unfortunate. Heroes heal and reanimate their comrades, lend a hand to them at a difficult moment, constantly inflict damage on each other, because friendly-fire has always been an important part of the gameplay. In a word, absolutely everything follows a well-known pattern, but does not hurt the eyes with an outdated picture. However, Friv2Online Studio decided on some innovations.

For my taste, the most successful of them is the stamina counter. Players can no longer run endlessly and tirelessly swing baseball bats. The game has a new modifier to be reckoned with that penalizes overzealous lone players in the PVE campaign and opens up more space for the monster team in PVP mode.

The developers have added a hub to the friv game. A sort of ordinary camp of survivors, the prototypes of which you could see in TV shows, feature films or any other games about the zombie apocalypse. The most interesting area in it is the shooting range, representing a huge arsenal of a wide variety of weapons. In this regard, Back 4 Blood is head and shoulders above its predecessor.

Shooting in the game feels great, and all weapons can be modified, like in some Apex Legends. Moreover, mods come across different levels of quality, and a convenient pop-up window allows you to quickly figure out how much the found item is better than your current one. Players have a serious incentive to rummage through locations in search of loot, although there are some nuances here.

All heroes now have an inventory from which you can throw out ammo for your comrades or share coins with them for a shop, but for some reason you can’t just remove the mod installed on a weapon. Have you ever tried to fight a crowd of running zombies that have crept up to you at arm's length with a SMG that is mistakenly equipped with a double scope?

Without special modifications, all weapons in Back 4 Blood are cocked very slowly, and such a sight can be a death sentence at a critical moment. As a result, instead of rushing to grab an item of a better (according to a pop-up plate) quality, you have to spend time and look closely at mods, and sometimes even give up a good weapon.

Another innovation that has caused the most concern among Left 4 Dead fans is the card system. Now fighters not only have unique talents, but also take specially selected decks in PVP and PVE matches. With the help of cards, the group gradually acquires positive effects, such as an increase in the same stamina or damage.

There are a lot of cards in Back 4 Blood, and the ingenuous account progress system is based on obtaining them. As for me, the decision turned out to be controversial. On the one hand, mods seriously affect the course of the friv game, on the other hand, most of us came here to shoot zombies and have fun, not to play cards. In my opinion, detailed customization of heroes would have looked better in their place, and the card system could have been completely left to the ransom.

Monsters should have been worked on with great enthusiasm. The bosses are kind of sad. They don't seem dangerous or interesting, and the Possessed came out plain, with crooked animations and identical models. Already Friv2Online Studio must understand that a zombie can also be a fat man, and an old woman, and a child, and a man in overalls, and many others. Especially in a 2021 game.

The problem with hitboxes can be omitted for now, this is a test version. But about zombies that appear out of nowhere and often right behind the backs of the players, especially in rooms where they should not be, it is impossible to remain silent. It seems to me that this is a bad form and a completely unacceptable phenomenon in the modern game.

Back 4 Blood is already pretty well optimized. The game runs great on both powerful and weaker systems, and on the Xbox Series. Crossplay works great, as does the in-game voice chat. The friv game settings are flexible and even have HDR.

I have two impressions of the work of Friv2Online Studio. Many things that looked appropriate in the 2008 game require a serious rethinking today. With such a nice picture, the developers should seriously think about the variety of enemies and bosses, pay more attention to the monster damage model, and perhaps come up with more interesting challenges for the players in the campaign.

On the other hand, it is too early to judge definitively. I would like to believe that in the next act we will see something at the level of the madness that once happened in the amusement park, we will get a well-thought-out progression and balanced difficulty, and zombies will stop spawning behind the backs of the players.

So far, Back 4 Blood looks like the best option for those players who have not had personal experience with the Left 4 Dead duology. To the old-timers of the series, it may seem a little secondary. However, in the absence of more, they still need to take a closer look at it.

Back 4 Blood Beta Impressions friv game - For lack of more

NATIONAL OFFICE

SOUTHERN AREA

WESTERN AREA