Video Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDxQX-aUNEQ&t=339s
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Graphics - 7/10
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The graphics work just fine. Yes, If totally honest I wouldn't say they are amazing but with the well detailed maps that are tailor made for close quarter combat they look cool enough. Of course the graphics are not on the level of say Battlefield 1, but that's ok. The game looks just fine….I have noticed some odd the texturing on the characters ….especially the faces, they all kinda look like zombies. As I say , For the most part the graphics fit the game perfectly.
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Gameplay - 9/10
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One of the things I love about this game is how all of the bullsh*t is stripped out in comparison to other titles in the genre. We have no ridiculas jet packs, rainbow camouflage guns, players bouncing off walls, futuristic guns, ammunition. kill streaks & loot crates……This is when I personally stopped playing the genre! For me Battalion 44 takes away all of this and what you are left with is 5 on 5 run and gun battles, 1 gun (well 2 with your pistol) 1 grenade and 1 smoke bomb and that is it. You can either play arcade which is a mix of your classics like, team deathmatch, capture the flag or search and destroy which you can also play in an unranked mode. The ranked mode is due to go live in around a week. The gameplay is smooth, fast & fluid & fun. I have found myself though muting the chat...as with many games, NOT just this one, the community is highly toxic, mainly of course keyboard warriors who have just died and all of a sudden have turned into the best player on the team whilst they proceed to tell you what you should do. All in all the gameplay is fantastic.
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Value: 10/10
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When you consider games like COD WW2 can cost you around £50 on the Xbox one, this seems ridiculous in comparison to the nice low price of Battalion 44 at just £11.39 & Currently with a 10% discount. Yes of course WW2 is a complete game, and of course Battalion 44 is in early access with a fraction of the content….but as I mentioned earlier, this isn't about masses of content, this is about stripping a game down and giving people what they want. Battalion 44 delivers on the price hands down!
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Audio: 7/10
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If it is either gunshot or footstep sounds, surly it is hard to get this wrong ? All the various ballistic sounds are there for each famous gun in the game which seem to be captured well enough. The menu soundtrack is nothing to write home about, but then again who cares right ?
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Content - 7/10
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You buy this game for one reason and one reason only. To load up into a server alongside randoms against randoms. It is as simple as that. Nobody cares for anything else. B44 is a multiplayer pvp match up that you can either play arcade, unranked or coming soon for the try hards a ranking gamemode. After taking a look at the B44 website http://battaliongame.com/ I was impressed with there own Roadmap splitting this into Q1,2,3,4 highlighting plans for the year ahead. Most notably mentioned is all future DLC is free which is fantastic. Yes you can buy some cosmetic items from crates in the menu which I am never a fan of, but the option is there for those that choose to do so. With also many esports & pro tournaments in the pipeline we have plenty to look forward to.
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Potential: 8/10
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The potential for this game is promising to say the least. Yes they have some bugs and other issues that i will come to shortly but once the game is fully optimised I can see the community growing very well.
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Replayability: 9/10
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B44 is one of those games that is going to keep you coming back for more and more…...Even once you have tired of it, or gotten into playing something else for a while. It will be one of those titles you can just pick up and play. Whether you plough hours into it each week or just have a blast for an hour here and their this is most definitely one you will have in your collection that will never gather dust.
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Social: 9/10
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The whole game is about teaming up with others, multiplayer match ups is the core of B44. With a rank gameplay mode on the way and pro tournaments lined up for later in the year the whole game revolves around a social environment. To note, I haven't looked into this to much with all the current server issues but I am sure you are able to play your own clan matches or arrange against other teams on your own dedicated servers. B44 revolves around playing with other people….I'm just glad I can mute some of them.
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Technical 4/10
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Ok ok so all has been going so well up until this point right ? Look, this game is in early access yes? We all know when you buy an Early access title then you have to expect bugs, glitches, unoptimised gameplay…& for the most part, I believe many do. The glaring issue that B44 has right now is the servers. On the day of release the whole servers crashed and burnt. They simply wasn't expecting the sheer volume of players to purchase the game. Now of course this is great for the developers in terms of revenue. Long term, it is great for the community of the game. But for me, to not have bases covered here I thought was a little slack. Since then, it seems now they have too many servers, and sometimes you can be running around the map in like a warm up session for 5 mins. Then another issue is if a player leaves your team the server doesn't seem to replace them? For me these are schoolboy errors from the developers but I know patches have been released over the weekend to address these issues.
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Developers 9/10
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On the day of release I sat in the discord channel and watched a sheer volume of crying kids flame and abuse the developers because the servers crashed. I suspect many of these people haven't purchased a game on launch before ? Because as you know early access or not, many games have teething problems on release. But I know these guys worked there arses off until gone midnight trying desperatly to get the servers up and running for the community. Rushing through a patch as quickly as they could. They also had the studio lead guy Joe Brammer posting a video blog on twitter to apologize to all. I respect this...clearly not hiding and more than happy to reassure you all they are working to resolve the issue. I logged off that evening around 12.30am and the patch still hadn't been released so it was clear these guys were still hard at it. The next day, I logged into steam with a new patch. Yes, as I mentioned the servers aren't perfect but it is clear they work hard to resolve issues…..they are constantly in communication with the community via their own social media and discord channel. Of course only time will tell long term how enthusiastic and responsive they are, but right now for me they can't be faulted.
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Final Score 80/100
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so what do we think overall? Well….Forget the rocky launch, forget B44 is still in early access, forget it has glaring bugs and issues...as for the most part this game is exactly what the FPS genre needed. The game plays very well and is going to give us many hours of gameplay that will keep you coming back for more and more. Whether you are a casual, die hard or try hard competitive gamer you have it all right here. Stripping away all the nonsense and giving us a simple yet effective WW2 1st person shooter. B44 is going to be around for a long time So we are awarding this a solid 80/100 Nice work guys!