Battle Royale
Starting from the lobby we are catapulted into the game map divided into zones, completely covered with snow and glaciers.
We immediately notice how one of the status indicators refers just to our body temperature, making it necessary sometimes to heat up next to a fire, as our orange suit does not look right for temperatures below zero.
Fire, however, also means smoke, and therefore the risk of being localized and pursued by opponents, being a real royal battle where the last one to survive can save himself.
Within a few seconds, it becomes clear how the first few minutes of each game must be spent to collect as many resources as possible : with the vastness of the entire map still available and the same level of equipment with the other players, casting too early can result in the pursuit only in a waste of time, while investing in the first steps in improving weapons and equipment could weigh the balance needle in our favor when the zones begin to close and all players are pushed to the same area.
The powers seen in the gameplay trailer of the Xbox Conference are nothing more than advanced technology tools released from time to time in one area or another, available in one piece at a time and can provide a considerable benefit. Being able to come first in these cases means relying on protective force fields, optical cameras, explosive arrows, and many other decisive tools for survival.
By collecting normal resources, however, you can craft some enhancements to equipment or other tools, attack or defense. Illuminated “mushrooms” scattered around wherever they allow to be blown away to another area, while investigating the resources just recovered allows to track down an opponent’s track while he is unaware of our presence, so follow him and strike him surprise.
I kill you but not too much
Once face to face, the fight has seemed a bit chaotic, especially since every shot is found to be thrown away and the opponent can easily escape, forcing us to run behind him or to start over again.
The ax in our possession is an effective short-range weapon, but the arena forces it to have a quick and precise aim to be useful to hit the opponents. Killing opponents did not seem easy , and within a reduced time session we saw more eliminations due to the environment (a zone that closes or colds) than a player. The show’s director (just like in Hunger Games) can in turn drift into drones against some players, or even launch an airborne bombing on a particular area, suggesting that perhaps the winning tactic of this Darwin project is simply to stay alive without worrying about eliminating the opponents , so sooner or later they think about the AI.
It’s not a totally wrong idea, but within a video game that seems to squeeze the eSports eye wonders whether it’s a winning (av) choice. The few minutes at our disposal, also influenced by bugs, can not be enough to test if the dynamics can work in the long run, but the potential is there and you see that Microsoft does not want to give up an exclusive title that can lead on Xbox an experience sought out by a growing audience of video game players.
