Price: £ 49.99
Developer: Roca turtle study
Editor: Warner Bros
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One
Initially, I was horrified by the confusing Masting Back4 Blood on the front or me. It is a game full of so many bells and whistles that would not look out of place in the Rio Carnival. Everything was felt as a massive exaggeration of the simple and elegant multiplayer fun of Left4dead, and I worried that developer Turtle Rock had completely spoiled him.
But the more I played with back4blood, the more I warmed me with the design decisions that Turtle Rock has taken. I do not think it is a brilliant game, but it is a successor good enough for Left4Dead to keep me committed, although also different enough so that it does not feel like a simple distance.
The premise, at least, is essential the same. Back4blood sees that up to 4 players assume the role of ‘cleaners’ who work together to make their way through a city invaded with ‘mounted’ (Turtle Rock could also have them ‘I cannot believe that it is not zombie’). As the players fight from a safe house to the next, the game is supervised by an invisible intellectual author of AI, who tries to hinder the player’s progress, generating non -zombies hordes, as well as’ special ‘that attacks the players’ skills.
But where Left4dead was the platonic ideal of a cooperative shooter, a fiercely reduced experience that allows its environmental systems and design to speak, Back4blood largely grants the realities of the modern multiplayer games. It has a complicated booty system that combines a dazzling variety of weapons with all kinds or attachments. It has twice as much characters like Left4dead, all of which can be customized with a wide range of skins. At the top of all this is a game of card construction cards involved that sees that cleaners and assembly become more powerful and specialized as the game progresses.
All this is presented at the same time, and is wintering to the point of being unpleasant. A new player could turn 4 in about five minutes to the left. You choose a gun, shoot those infected and work together to avoid being separated by the special infected. However, despite playing Left4dead and his sequel for hundreds of hours, I spent my first hours with back4blood bumning as an old man confused. What are corruption cards? What are supply lines? How does all this work?
What does not help issues is that Back4blood also becomes a bit bland. Left4dead was an extremely characteristic game. His heavy images of movie grain, Grindhouse -style movies and a highly distinctive soundtrack gave him an APPAL Atant that lacks back4blood. The first levels of the campaign are murky and indistinct. Back4blood initially feels much less interesting. The cleaners do not have the sense of the sense of camaraderie as the survivors of Left4dead, while the special lots are indistinct fierce spots.
The first two hours are not all bad. All weapons feel excellent. I usually like heavy guns, the eagle of the desert and the magnum, which have a wild kick and are excellent to collect in rapid succession. The semi -automatic rifles are also satisfactory, the fascination of Althegh Back4blood with the weapons of Call of Duty style feeling feels a bit strange in a game where most of the fight takes place at a short distance. I also like that the different types of weapons have their own group of ammunition, and that players can release ammunition that are not using so that other players pick it up. It encourages you to cooperate with your team and think tactically about your weapons choices.
In fact, this is where Back4blood becomes interesting, slowly revealing Itelf to be a more reflective game that Left4dead. The 4 “acts” of Back4blood are much longer issues than the 4deads deads, increasingly difficult as you advance in them. Both the mutat regular and the mountain mount over time, more and more strong, faster, more aggressive and even developing new skills. Meanwhile, the levels in themselves can be affected by random events, such as the thick fog that darkens its lines of vision or flocks of birds that can trigger hordes if they are startled.
To combat the growing challenge of Blood4, you must grow your own deck, whether buying them with resource points from the “supply lines” menu or making a duration of opportunistic purchases in campaign performance. There is a wide variety of cards, which can be combined to create specific compilations. For example, you could combine cards that give you a heavy -me -me -me -me -off attack when you kill an enemy with a melee weapon, essentially spinning your character to the tank of your group. Or could concentrate on protecting their group with letters that give the players a health bonus when a party member is knocked down. You also draw letters in the request that you build your deck, in which you should think when you want a certain capacity to be available.
It has been starting time, but the mallet construction system works. And it is not the only way back. While the first missions are not inspired, the subsequent chapters become more and more varied, both visually and in terms of objective. Each act is divided into multiple chapters, each of which has its own unique final. A particularly memorable chapter implies crossing a bridge that has been beaten by a ferry, which has been framed in the shattered concrete. After crossing to the other side, the ferry must fly to fly it, thus avoiding the river crossing. Another more spooky prominent point implies looking in the area surrounding a police station for the body parts of one of its upper officers, so that you can use the Manual Fingerprint scanner to unlock security.
Back4blood undoubtedly improves as it progresses, its design undeniably gradually convulsed falls into its place. However, there are some problems that do not solve themselves. While the game is designed for 4 players, I found it better with 2. With 4 players, the experience is very confused and intense, with the game launching a silly number of special specialties. He played alone, in comparison, the game is too easy. Back4blood bots are considerably more capable than AI’s idiots of Left4deads, casually cleaning the floor with the mounted.
My other problem is that acts are too long. This does not mean that the game is too long, more than the rhythm would benefit from having a greater amount of shorter acts. As is, each act takes good 5-6 hours to complete, which is too long for the work of an event. I understand why Turtle Rock has approached the design in this way, since it gives the card system a better opportunity to alter the experience about time. But it also makes each act feel like a little work.
Even so, Back4blood is far from the disaster that feared it. The central combat is satisfactory and fun, and the way in which the experience evolves as you play is really impressive. I simply like the card system, and I found myself quite interested in experimenting with new compilations of mallets and seeing how they affected the game. Back4blood may not overcome Left4dead, but it is nevertheless a worthy successor.
