Recent reviews by Plut0

The Finals will always hold a spot in my heart as a unique FPS shooter with its intense gameplay, ear candy soundtracks, amazing graphical detail, and the ever changing arenas thanks to the wonderful destruction. It has been my go-to game for about 2 years and I've been a player since the launch of Season 1. Whenever other well known FPS titles were letting me down or the fatigue of the same title was getting to me, The Finals was there and it always felt like a breath of fresh air.

So why the negative review 9 seasons later?

Simply put: I don't feel like this game is in a spot where I feel like I could continue to play it and retain interest.

While I do appreciate the fact that Embark still takes the time to update The Finals with new maps and such, I feel like they are ignoring the underlying issues this game has (whether it's intentional or not) and these issues have been present for quite time now.

It's no surprise that matchmaking has been a constant talking point regarding The Finals. The matchmaking hasn't been great and it shows where higher level players and lower level players are constantly paired up or against each other which leads to unfun/unfair games. I'm sure some people would just conclude with "get gud" regarding this issue, but it doesn't feel fair for not just seasoned players, but to the people who are trying the game out for the very first time. The tutorial, even after its update, still fails to properly introduce the new players to the unique gameplay ahead and it just leads these players into jumping immediately into a game with a confused mindset. Because of this, new players tend to drop this game after a few hours or a few matches. This has been a big reason for me to drastically reduce my time spent playing this game.

Another issue that has bothered me regarding The Finals is how they want to branch into the e-sports scene. It feels like an obvious decision considering the highly competitive nature of the game and its whole thing of "reaching the Finals", but this decision could've at least waited another 2-3 seasons. As it stands, there are still issues like matchmaking and bugs since season 1 that have to be addressed and worked on. Despite this, there has been a lack of communication from the studio regarding the issues at hand and they instead go full force into e-sports. Because of this, the game has fallen to "play the meta or lose" mentality which causes matches to feel incredibly stale which in turn prevents new players from truly playing how they want to play WHICH in turn prevents new players from coming back. The balance between casual play and competitive was immediately thrown out the window once the first tournament was made, let alone introduced.

There's still other issues at hand like cheating in ranked games and smurfing, but I'm sure they have been talked about plenty of times from comp players but simply put: there needs to be a better system in place to punish cheaters and ways to prevent smurfing from happening in the first place.

But this isn't to say that game is dying or on the road to failure. This game really does have potential to be a top tier title amongst the giants of the FPS genre and it truly is one of the most unique games in the market right now. I truly love this game a lot, but it is being held back by lack of communication, lack of new player retention, and overall just bad decision making.

Unless something changes, it unfortunately will remain a niche title in the saturated FPS market.

Funny hotdog game.

Funny LEGO people. Star Wars. What's not to like?

I would appreciate it if every server didn't kick me or temp ban when trying to play, but other than that it's a really fun game with a entertaining audience/community.