In the futuristic world of Modern Combat Versus, the Octo and Korp corporations have hired mercenary mercenaries to decimate the most powerful faction. How? Giving bullets to bullets, of course. This is where the Agents, the 12 characters that make up the Gameloft FPS roster, come into play, each featuring unique weapons and abilities.
In turn, Agents are divided into four classes, Attacker, Defender, Assassin and Specialist, each of which offers more or less useful benefits based on their style of play.
By defending the role of Defender, for example, the player will have a very strong character, an attribute that is particularly useful for dealing with the high firepower of the Attacker; the Assassin can inflict the greatest amount of damage – at the expense of limited health – while the Specialist can adapt to any situation thanks to a truly unique arsenal.
The game formula does not differ much from that of the most popular hero shooter, such as Overwatch and Battleborn , but still manages to preserve its identity by offering an extremely versatile gunplay.
Starting the game we will face the inevitable tutorial. It is on this occasion that I knew one of the main strengths of this pocket shooter: the touch controls.
The control system is essential and intuitive, and will serve no more than two taps to move, aim, and fire. This is made possible by an unprecedented feature that allows us to automatically shoot the enemies shot in the viewfinder without any additional taps – alternatively you can still use the manual setting. This is a great solution for casual players seeking immediate action, but I would not even advise against such veterans.
The commands take on a traditional pattern: while the left side of the display is driven by the movement of the character, on the right side we can direct the shotgun shots. Essential is also the graphical interface, which merely adds a weapon recharge command and one to activate the ability, with an attached energy bar.
After passing the short training we will be ready to dive into the classified games. At launch, Modern Combat Versus will include five maps – Apex, Blackrock, Port, Sandstorm, Slums – and a single game mode, Zone Control.
The goal is simple: two teams of four players will battle an area of interest, win the team that will be able to control the area as long as possible. Each map offers a couple of spots where Agents can perform in “wall run” acrobatics, a mechanics that will allow us to quickly reach certain areas, as well as offer us the chance to surprise the unlucky in turn.
The result is remarkably convincing: the arenas offer the right balance between wide spaces and asphyxiating corridors, providing players with the most diverse approaches to fighting – close encounters for berserker aspirants and target shooters for snipers.
The solitary wolves will have a difficult life in Modern Combat Versus, here is a passionate advice: team games. Individual play appears to be heavily penalized and, at least as far as Zone Control is concerned, the only way to win is to collaborate with your team. If not? Prepare to finish ko within a few seconds. I speak for experience.
Up to now, however, Versus does not propose anything particularly innovative in the face of modern shooters, so it will be up to the agents the arduous task of making things a little more interesting in the eyes of the aficionado.
Mercenaries also level up
Character skills range from radar detecting nearby enemies – the Increased Reality of Lock – to the mine that releases a potent poisonous gas – the Cult Venom Gadget. Each Agent has its own ace in the sleeve, but everything has a price, alas, and in this case we find the so-called Core Charges: to activate the Lock radar we will have to consume five charges, while the Venom Gadget will only require four.
This system aims to take advantage of the most powerful match players, enabling it to reuse its agent’s ability by earning new Core Charges for each killed or assisted effort(however, it will not be possible to accumulate more than 10 charges at a time).
