Building on the success of its first modern conversion, Windjammers is now available in a second series, which is in increasing demand. The development has had to cope with a delay that only heightened expectations. How can you revisit a great classic without denaturing it? Dotemu has to answer this question with a preamble to this playable Bta.
Repulsed to redesign its netcode and deliver an effective online experience, Windjammer 2 come back to the board to catch up. In fact, it was better to take the time to fix the many lag issues that made it unplayable.
dare Windjammers 2 stands above everything Versus frisbee battle (don’t search, I just registered the VFF mark). While the local games that I was able to run with the developers at Gamescom were satisfactory, this was not the case with Netcode, which quickly revealed weaknesses.
Table tennis
The arrival of Ping measurement (to summarize the responsiveness of the response of your connection) shows the concern for the severity on this side. I was entitled to the fifty partial disputes on PC, PS4 and PS5 on the occasion of this Bta a single rollback. So we can say thatOnce the game starts, it’s fine. Fortunately, because it’s quick and you have to be extremely concentrated to anticipate the flight paths of the Frisbee.
In contrast Matchmaking has yet to move forward. It happens pretty regularly that it grinds for a while without anything happening. A restart of the game is then necessary in order to be able to find an opponent again. This is absolutely necessary as only the online mode is suggested in this BTA. Note that this problem only occurred on the Playstation version and not on the PC (the connection between the two is very similar).
We can bet that the goal of this bta is precisely to test this code to make sure it is perfect for the official release of the final version.
Wider, longer, deeper
That is particularly interesting about this Btait is now possible to fully appreciate the depth of gameplay Windjammer 2 can suggest. Four characters (G Scott, L Biaggi, S Miller, S Delys) and four dishes (Beach, roof terrace, ring, stadium) can be measured.
In addition to the traditional balance between speed (movement) and power (throwing frisbee) each participant has their own specific attacks and even modifications to the marking zones. So a character can have his weakest zone in the middle (where 5 points are accumulated) while his opponent has mainly protected the sides for the same reasons. These changes can affect the decision you make for your athlete. Some are useful for attacking hard on the sides and others for preferring the center.
Everything now influenced by the terrain which not only bring a cosmetic change into the action. on the beach, on the roof of a building, a ring or a stadium, the length / width ratio is changed and disturbing elements can be found in the middle. This, in turn, can influence the choice of your competitor. Narrow and slightly longer floor? Why not prioritize power at the expense of travel … Everyone will no doubt give their answer.
Maximum tension
The ingredients are more subtle, more numerous, so the dish is full of flavor. Windjammer 2 is one of those games where the tension increases with every changewhere joy follows nervousness, where concentration must be kept to a maximum. The games are limited in time (a classic in versus) and it rarely happens that the stopwatch runs out. Fortunately, because if that’s the case, then we’ll get out.
Conversely, a lack of attention, of rhythm, leads directly to defeat. The matches are played in 15 points and it is therefore sufficient to tap three times in the maximum points zone to achieve the victory. With a very wide range of strokes, the ability to make feints, set deadlines, return the frisbee directly without holding it for a second, jumping to the spike (or not), at the moment the games are connected, but at all not how. Windjammer 2 a bright future in esports could even be promised if the sauce is right.
If this Bta serves as a debugger for the netcode, it is also a starter that stimulates appetite and increases impatience. However, you can quickly form your own opinion by downloading this beta by August 22nd. If that’s the case, Don’t hesitate to use your internet browser over the PlayStation network. The game is not yet easy to find in the store directly on consoles …
WE ARE WAITING FOR … FEET IN THE SAND
Postponing a game’s release is not a trivial decision. But it would be even worse to bring out a bad game or to flank strong criticism of one of the supposedly strong arguments (the versus). We can praise the effort made here and, given his tactical strengths, bet on games that are repulsive and full of emotions. Windjammers was already a very fun game, this second opus promises to expand on all of its principles. See you on PC, PS4 / PS5, Switch, and Stadia before the end of this year.
