The multiplayer FPS space has largely been dominated by battle royales and tactical shooters lately. When The Finals was first announced, I had not seen any marketing for the game and jumped into it blind. The premise of the game felt like just another objective-based shooter but as I spent some time with the title, I was thoroughly impressed by the title. The moment-to-moment combat and destructibility of almost everything on the map make the game deceptively strategic. Embark Studios has a winner on their hands and it might be one of the most innovative shooters released in the past few years.
Fun in Simplicity and Chaos
At its core, The Finals is a simple objective-based shooter. There are three major game modes - Bank It (3v3v3v3), Quick Cash (3v3v3), and Power Shift (5v5). Quick Cash is the best way to learn the game while Bank It is the more “competitive” mode that is used in Ranked Tournaments.
In the 3-player modes, your job is to secure cash boxes and deposit them in vaults. The 5v5 game mode is essentially a Payload mode that involves defending and moving with the team objective. Matchmaking is quick and so far I have no complaints about the team balancing in most of my games. But just like any other multiplayer game, your experience will vary depending on whether you are solo or with a group of friends in a coordinated setting. The game modes are very easy to understand and it’s the gadgets and destruction that make the game as fun as it is.
There are “events” that spawn once a match, which add to the chaos. From reduced gravity to alien invasions, they can lead to some really fun moments. Each map also has different modifiers, like time of day, weather effects, and more, which can affect map design, visibility, objective locations, and more.
Gadgets and Destruction Are The Two Pillars of Fun in The Finals
The destruction is what leads to fun playmaking possibilities in The Finals. No place on the map is safe and good opponents will capitalize on the destruction aspects of the game to their advantage. Enemies can blow up any part of the map and displace you or the objective.
Gadgets add even more to the playmaking potential of the game. After the launch of Season 2, all three classes have access to powerful gadgets and abilities that can make game-winning plays. Gadgets and abilities can give you access to grappling hooks, zip lines, shields, mines, grenades, and a whole lot more. My favorite thing to use in Season 2 is the Dematerializer, which can completely walls and help you pull off cheeky plays. Heavy got access to a Gravity Lift that can make enemies hover in the air for easy pickings.
My only concern is that while the game is simple to get into, especially if you have played other objective-based shooters, it can get daunting when we have a critical mass of gadgets and abilities.
The Finals’ Progression System is a Smooth Ride So Far
The Finals’ progression is tied to its item unlocks. There are three classes - Light, Medium, and Heavy. You get a starter set of abilities, weapons, and gadgets and can unlock more as you progress through the game.
The first currency you are introduced to is VRs. You get up to 200 VRs per match depending on your team’s performance, playtime, and other factors. It took me 62 hours of playtime to unlock every item for all three classes in the game in Season 1. Around six new items were introduced in Season 2 and I was able to get them in a couple of days.
Most of the unlocks are simple weapons and grenades while other unlocks like gadgets can open up new playstyles. Once you unlock everything, VRs stop serving a purpose outside of rerolling your quests.
There is plenty of variety when it comes to gear and you are not limited to guns alone. Light characters have access to a dagger, a sword, and throwing knives. Heavy characters can wield a sledgehammer and a flamethrower. Medium characters have access to a Riot Shield.
Monetization Feels Fair For All Players
The Finals has the generic battle pass-based monetization you would find in most other F2P shooters today. But what has impressed me so far is the quality of the cosmetics and how much free currency (Multibucks) you get as a player. Just like a lot of other titles in the FPS space, you only need to buy the battle pass once and you get more than enough back to buy the next battle pass without paying anything extra. Players can also earn some free currency every season.
Before Season 2, it would take players around three seasons of playtime to get a premium battle pass for free. With the release of Season 2, the progression has been sped up considerably and you can get even more free Multibucks by completing challenges. There are new Challenge Contracts (quests) that grant players a host of free cosmetics and Multibucks. You should be able to start buying the battle pass from your second season provided you complete all your challenges and the battle pass.
There are frequent limited-time events (LTMs) with free items that can get you entire cosmetic sets via limited-time modes. The events are hit or miss due to balancing challenges but my overall impressions of the LTMs are largely positive.
Should You Play The Finals?
The best time to play The Finals is right now. We just entered a new season and the game is still relatively new. I can’t say for certain how popular the game will be down the line but it has a healthy playerbase right now and it’s a good time to hop in for a few matches. There is innovation in the game to get a recommendation from us and if you are someone who played Battlefield Bad Company 2 back in the day like I did, The Finals will definitely be up your alley.
