Genre
Shooter
Publisher
Embark Studios
Publisher in Russia
Blah
Developer
Embark Studios
Minimum Requirements
Processor Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5 GHz / AMD Ryzen R5 1600 3.2 GHz, 12 GB RAM, video card with DirectX 12 support and 4 or 8 GB memory, for example NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti / AMD Radeon RX 580, 17 GB on the drive
Recommended Requirements
Processor Intel Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz / AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz, 16 GB RAM, graphics card with DirectX 12 support and 8 GB memory, such as NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 / AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
release date
December 8, 2023
Localization
No
Age limit
From 12 years old
Platforms
PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Played on Xbox Series S
It’s only been a few weeks since I published my preview of THE FINALS, and now the release version is already available on PC and consoles. The release of this multiplayer shooter was a great end to a crazy year for video games – it’s fresh, fun and entertaining entertainment, proving that the genre can still surprise. Especially when specialists take on the work – former DICE employees who previously worked on the Battlefield series worked on THE FINALS.
⇡#Everything for the sake of money
The shooter, as is now fashionable, is a team shooter – squads of three people fight each other for tens of thousands of virtual dollars. In the basic Quick Cash mode, they find a cash drawer, take it to a special receiver and wait for the amount to be credited to their account. Sort of like Capture the Flag with additional rules. And the Bank It mode is more like a team deathmatch or even “Kill Confirmed” from Call of Duty – you also carry money to the receivers, but you earn it not by searching for boxes (although they do too), but by eliminating opponents from which after death coins fall out.
For the Christmas holidays, one of the maps was covered with snow and hung with decorations—not something you see in all online shooters.
In both modes, THE FINALS is seriously engaging. First of all, it’s about high dynamics: everyone runs fast, trampolines are placed everywhere, ziplines are stretched between buildings, you can enter any building, and break any window. When you’re not defending cash drawers, you’re constantly on the move: either shooting at someone, or trying to escape, running in zigzags through gateways and corridors and dodging snipers.
When the defense begins, things don’t get any calmer. Transferring money is a rather long process, and if nothing happens in the first ten seconds, then very soon all the teams will appear nearby and try to intercept the transfer. Here THE FINALS begins to play with completely different colors, since not everyone carefully climbs through windows and climbs stairs – many players blow everything up, taking advantage of the peculiarities of the local destruction system. At any moment, the ceiling can collapse on your head while you are sitting in the corner with a shotgun and aiming at the door, and sometimes the floor disappears from under your feet – along with the receiver.
Fire, explosions and poisonous gas near the receiver are completely normal when the timer runs out
The defenders have a lot of options: protective turrets, mines with poisonous gas, blinding grenades, all sorts of traps that disable gadgets, and darts that track targets. One of the most useful things is a grenade, which after an explosion leaves behind a pile of dried construction foam. When you build a defense, the game is reminiscent of Rainbow Six Siege – using all available items (and you can only carry so much), you protect every corner. Attackers also have almost all of these things, and a lot depends on the preparedness of the teams – it happens that the defense cannot be penetrated at all, and in some matches the attackers literally blow away everything that their opponents have placed around the receiver in a couple of seconds.
⇡#Everything is different
Therefore, the matches are different from each other – different squads have their own approach to each situation. Someone tries to do everything as quickly as possible, carries money to the receiver, lays out mines and sits in the corners. And someone at the very last moment decides to break in, destroys the building and intercepts the money that the other team had been defending for more than a minute. There are also “advanced” tactics – for example, you can destroy ziplines and ladders to make it more difficult to reach you. Or place trampolines around the receiver, which takes up a lot of time for opponents trying to gain access to it.
Experienced players climb higher to catch opponents trying to intercept passes.
Map modifications also help – there are only four locations, but the conditions change in every match. Either the receivers are located only on platforms suspended in the air, then gravity becomes low, then part of the arena rises, then everyone starts doing more damage. There are even meteor showers and lasers that set fire to participants who have been at one point for a long time. Experienced players will find how to use such modifications for their own purposes, and there are a lot of surprises in store for new users.
The most interesting thing for me is to play not in the usual “casual” modes, but in the tournament ones. Before the start of the match, a full-fledged tournament bracket is drawn up: four squads get into one match, and four more into another, and these matches are played in parallel. The top two teams from each group are then selected and the four squads battle it out on a common map. And then the top two squads advance to the finals and go head-to-head – as six players go head-to-head in a final showdown where each death can give their opponents a significant advantage, it’s a thrill every time. But it’s even cooler to win – you have to perform well in three matches in a row, without pausing. The main thing is that no one “flies out” – he, of course, will receive a fine, but the mood of the rest will still deteriorate.
In such a situation there is little that can be done
In ranked games, it becomes noticeable that the balance in THE FINALS is not perfect. In particular, the above defense gadgets sometimes seem very powerful. Poison mines, for example, cannot be turned off in any way – even if you shoot at them, the cloud of gas will prevent you from getting to the receiver. And turrets placed in hard-to-reach places are not easy to destroy. On the other hand, many problems are solved by destroying buildings, and it’s not for nothing that the transfer of money takes so long – attackers shouldn’t rush from the very first minutes; they can methodically eliminate enemy units, of which there are not as many as it seems. Participants are resurrected slowly, and if a team is completely destroyed, the timers of its members are restarted – all of them together will appear somewhere only after fifteen seconds.
A little more problems are associated with the balance of classes, of which there are three. Light are nimble scouts with high speed and low health. Heavy – tough fighters, capable of breaking through walls and firing machine guns. And Medium is something in between, reminiscent of characters from Call of Duty with normal health, normal speed and all sorts of machine guns and shotguns. The former are excellent at transferring money, using a grappling hook to quickly move, while the heavy ones can withstand many hits and either protect the receiver or roar into the rooms where the transfer is taking place. Compared to them, “mediums” are nothing impressive; even their ability to heal allies is not always useful. Yes, their defibrillators, which instantly revive allies, sometimes save them in difficult situations, but the other classes still look stronger.
This zipline may disappear by the end of the match.
Well, it should be noted that you get much more pleasure from THE FINALS if you play with people you know, and not with “randoms”. This is true for any multiplayer shooter, especially battle royales, and teamwork is important here due to limited resurrections. In “casual” modes you don’t have to think about this – you press the button 15 seconds after death and appear on the map. In tournaments, there are only a couple of self-resurrections – it is assumed that squad members will raise each other. For this purpose, they came up with a funny “trick” – a dead player leaves behind a figurine of a soldier, which can be grabbed and moved to a safe place to return a comrade to duty. Obviously, “randoms” rarely do this, but they often die.
⇡#No “extortion”
THE FINALS is not a battle royale, so there is a progression system. By participating in matches, players earn currency, which is spent on purchasing new guns and consumables. I wouldn’t call the process slow, you don’t have to grind, but each class has its own types of weapons, abilities, and so on, so you won’t unlock everything right away. “Mediums” get access to a grenade launcher and a police shield, and can also replace the “healer” with a turret. “Heavys” unlock a flamethrower and an automatic shotgun, and among their gadgets there is a dome shield, like Gibraltar from Apex Legends, that protects from incoming damage. Plus, equipment is upgraded in matches, which is reflected in new colorings for it.
Everything will be fine, everything will be fine…
Everything that somehow affects the gameplay is available for free – monetization here is tied to “cosmetics”. Compared to the beta version, it is much more difficult to open costumes without investing real money – the prices are high. But there is a battle pass, where they added appearances and skins for guns. There is very little free stuff, mostly junk like emotes and sprays that you will never use. But the paid version of the pass not only gives “cosmetics”, but also returns the amount spent on it, so avid players can buy it once and not spend any more money.
Those who do not want to donate will also be able to gain access to a paid battle pass over time. It costs 1,150 multibucks (the paid currency here), and you get 375 multibucks in the free version of the pass each season. Plus, for registration when entering the game they give 150 multibucks. It turns out that by the end of the third season it will be possible to accumulate the required amount. True, the seasons last as much as three months, but still. The costumes in the pass, by the way, are quite funny – they completely change the appearance of the character, they are not just funny hats.
You can easily earn experience through daily and weekly tasks.
***
THE FINALS is a great attempt by Embark Studios to break into the multiplayer shooter market, which seems oversaturated due to Call of Duty and numerous battle royales. Stable network code, dynamic gameplay, a normal battle pass (and not like in Overwatch 2) – all this will allow the game to stay afloat for a long time, and the destructibility of locations will attract those who miss this mechanic, but do not want to touch the latest Battlefield. It’s always difficult to predict in advance what awaits the shooter in the future, and the developers do not plan to publish roadmaps – they are afraid that they will not be able to fulfill all the promises on time. But for now, there is no reason to doubt that THE FINALS definitely has a future.
Advantages:
- fun dynamic gameplay;
- excellent location design allows you to look for different paths to victory;
- map modifications add a lot of variety to matches;
- destructibility generates many funny situations;
- enjoyable shooting;
- bright visual style.
Flaws:
- not all gadgets and classes are well balanced;
- you can’t often cook porridge with “randoms”;
- It’s hard to predict how long the game will survive in the crowded multiplayer shooter market.
Graphics
The graphics are stylized, but do not look parodic or cartoonish. Closer to Apex Legends than Fortnite. The scale of the maps and how stable everything works even during explosions and destruction are impressive.
Sound
For the sake of the music in the main menu, I want to leave the game on, even when I don’t plan to start the battle. In matches, there is no fault with the sound – the commentators were especially successful in reporting on the successes and failures of the units.
Single player game
It’s not supported – you can’t sit on the training ground forever.
Estimated completion time
It all depends on how much you like the game and how long it will last before the servers close.
Group game
There are two regular modes, and there are tournaments. Moreover, at first only introductory tournaments are available – to access ranked battles you need to complete more than 50 matches.
General impression
A bright, fun and spectacular multiplayer shooter that has every chance to compete with the mastodons of the industry.
More about the rating system
Rating: 8.0/10
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