Standing out in the current FPS landscape is no easy task. Of course, it’s possible to fill the game with catchphrases or general curiosities, but given how fierce the competition is, there are few players these days who wouldn’t notice that. When Battlefield veteran Patrick Söderlund and a group of old colleagues founded Stockholm-based studio Embark, the idea was to prioritize a story-driven PVE game with epic monster battles and crazy design. Back to the 70s. Since then, Arc Raiders has evolved from an exciting concept into one of Gamereactor’s most anticipated major games, but before we have the chance to familiarize ourselves with this world, Embark has now taken the opportunity to release The Finals, which in many ways combines the things that made it Battlefield is one of the most popular game series in the world.
The approach is simple, at least on paper. Three teams of three players each take part in a kind of virtual super final where the aim is to find, steal and accumulate money. The matches are based on the idea of Capture the Flag, where you have to locate a specific object, grab it and move it to a specific position and then defend and attack each other. The finals are all about virtual money in the form of shiny gold coins, and each team’s goal is to grab the most loot possible and stuff it into an ATM. The team with the most money at the end of the game wins.
One of the big topics of discussion during the beta testing of this title, as well as the release of the final game, is the real-time mass destruction it enables. Embark has returned to the idea of being able to destroy everything you see on the map, which was a key aspect of many Battlefield games. If an opposing team is in a building, depending on time, materials, and priority, it is entirely possible to break through walls or blow up the entire building. Since the games are fast, the pace is good and you have to be aware of everything that is happening. The finale is high-flying and explosive like nothing else in the genre, and it took me several afternoons to get comfortable with the game’s mechanics. The ability to use horizontal (and vertical) ziplines, use the protective foam that is a big part of almost every game, use the soft healing whip, explosives, and everything else doesn’t come naturally to me, but rather a necessity really worn. However, I don’t want this to sound negative. On the other hand. Of course, I appreciate that Embark has done its best to offer something unique here, and while you can see similarities to Battlefield, Overwatch, Fortnite and Apex Legends, among others, The Finals is very original.
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There are three different character classes: “Light”, “Medium” and “Heavy”. Depending on how you want to create your play style, choose the character that suits you best. I played as Heavy primarily because I’m not a movement player and I lack the reflexes of the more youthful and lively part of the ever-growing Embarks crowd. During the beta phase, more than 7.5 million players tried The Finals and, as far as I could see at the time, the vast majority were satisfied and impressed, which now that the final product has been released, it has never made it difficult or taken a while It took a long time to find a game to get into. On the contrary, it’s lightning fast and I had very few server issues during my afternoons playing The Finals.
I’ve played a lot of the beta version (both closed and open) and while I prefer the “Heavy” class, you can see that the developers have slowed down the pace a bit since The Finals now has a full version. which I think is a shame. . The finals seemed a bit faster and more responsive in the beta, whereas now it seems slow to me. Fortnite has been heading down the same path when it comes to “movement” lately, while Call of Duty: Warzone has gone in the opposite direction. I think the idea of overall movement and pacing being slower is to better accommodate new players and not create “skill gaps” like it did in Warzone (1) but would in the case of The Finals I probably say the opposite. So I sincerely hope that Embark picks up the pace a bit to make it more like the beta. I also hope they add a pure battle royale mode with room for, say, 50 or more players. Item-based multiplayer with Cashout or the more traditional Capture the Flag modes can be fun, but in the end I prefer single-track deathmatches that are mostly about killing and don’t let you get killed.
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If there’s one thing Embark really needs to be praised for, it’s the way the destruction works, giving battles a wonderful dynamic that not even Warzone, PUBG, Fortnite or Apex Legends can match. Considering that Bad Company, for example, is now 15 years old and featured real-time environmental destruction back in 2008, it honestly seems pretty strange to me that it’s not an obvious part of games like Call of Duty: Warzone. PUBG or Battlefield 2042. Especially after getting acquainted with The Finals and realizing how extremely satisfying it is to blow up the entire west wing of the building where the opposing team collects a lot of money, it’s like that Completely exposing your teammates and letting the sniper shoot decimate them into virtual confetti. I’ve seen games where entire skyscrapers are destroyed, even if the game is one of the most beautiful in the genre.
Using Unreal Engine 5, Embark has given The Finals an aesthetic that is largely directly reminiscent of Mirror’s Edge. Of course, that has a lot to do with Embark’s art team, which includes Dice veterans Robert Sammelin and the multi-talented Andrew Svanberg Hamilton, who did an excellent job on the design. The finale really comes into its own without being too extravagant, and the Scandinavian style sits like a beautiful blanket over the entire production. The sound is good too. Very good. Former Dice sound director Andreas Almström now leads Embark’s sound team, and it shows here. “The Finals” has the detailed, expansive and bombastic sound that Battlefield used to have but is missing today. It also runs very well whether I’m playing it on my Omen 45L or my PlayStation 5, and in the end it’s easy to like The Finals. For a completely free game, it’s absolutely perfect.