Online game "The Finals"

Free multiplayer shooters with a first-person view there is a great number. But all of them are similar: we see the classic team desmatches, or capture points, or a variation of the "battle royal". And they are usually made somewhere in Asia - hence the oriental flavor and aggressive approach to monetization. To offer truly unique rules in the genre is difficult, although time and again in the arena are developers willing to take risks and surprise the public with an unusual view of virtual shootings. This creative excitement has emboldened the Swedes from Embark studio - their recently released action game, The Finals, stands out sharply against the background of similar works.

The first thing to know about The Finals is that it was made not by amateur enthusiasts, but by industry veterans who had a hand in the best Battlefield games, including Bad Company 2. But the worst releases constantly made the developers think that it was time to start their own project. It was after the failed release of Battlefield V in 2018 that Electronic Arts vice president Robert "Patrick" Soderlund quit and, taking most of the team with him, founded Embark. Of course, other members later joined the team, but its backbone was made up of experienced developers from DICE, who knew exactly what they were going to do and how they were going to do it.

If we reduce the essence of The Finals to a short formula, we get "maximum action and no violence". Such a principle seems strange for the genre, but don't jump to conclusions. The thing is that the action is set in the future, and all the characters fight in virtual reality. Since everything that happens is presented as a show, millions of spectators cheer for the participants of the matches, and every critical moment during the competition is commented by the announcer. Elimination of opponents is bloodless: if you shoot someone, he will simply turn into a pile of gold coins and a statuette, and in a few seconds he will return to the battlefield as if nothing had happened. Besides, killing is not the main goal here. It is much more important to accumulate more money by the end of the fight - it is for the number of collected coins people get the main bonuses.

To get acquainted with the game you don't need to create a separate account - the account you already have in Steam will be enough. Although you will still need to specify your date of birth. Then we get to the menu of character selection. There are three classes: light, medium and heavy. They differ not only in body size, but also in running speed, health points and equipment. The light hero, for example, carries a machine gun, a grenade launcher, a power dome and a sledgehammer that can be used to break anything. But the medium hero always has a medical gadget and defibrillator at hand to heal and instantly revive teammates, interacting with the already mentioned statuettes. And the light one acts as an agile damage dealer - he deals a lot of damage, and it's hard to catch him in the crosshairs, but if you do, he'll be unfortunate.

It is worth noting at once that at first only medium class is available. After the first match played, the heavy class opens, and after the second match - the light class. Having decided on the choice of hero, you go to the battlefield. So far in the game you can get to four maps: Monaco, Las Vegas, Seoul and Skyway Stadium. Perhaps in the future the developers will add more locations, but even the existing set will be enough for a beginner, especially since each location has random weather and time of day. All maps are spacious, full of buildings, corridors, stairs and height differences, so it's easy to get confused on them. But remember why the competition is set up - and go in the direction of the ATM marker, where you can pull money from. There's always a lot of excitement around the currency boxes.

The dynamism of the battles in the game is breathtaking. You have to constantly move and be on the alert, because there are no absolutely safe places on the map, and shooting is allowed even while climbing the cable on a special device (ziplane), when the character's hands, in theory, should be busy. Windows are broken, doors are broken out, so making your way through the building, if running across the roof is not an option, is a couple of trifles. Caught under fire and there's no cover nearby? A grenade that creates a slide of construction foam after triggering will help. Run out of grenades? No problem: there are cylinders with different contents scattered on the levels - you can pick them up and throw them to spray, for example, a cloud of poisonous gas or blow something up.

The only thing that confuses The Finals at first is the unusually high TTK (time to kill) indicator: to kill a heavy hero, you have to discharge a whole automatic horn into his head, and the other classes are not shabby either. Otherwise, there are no complaints to the technical part - it is obvious that the game was made by professionals with rich experience. The network code works perfectly, optimization is good, antichit is available, and it is a pleasure to use any weapon. The sound is worthy of special praise - it's as good as the best parts of Battlefield. You can always hear where the enemy is approaching from, where and from what he shoots, even the degree of destruction from the explosion can be assessed by ear.

The first thing you will be offered before a real fight is to go through a training session. It consists of two parts. The first shows you how to find and empty ATMs. And the second part is an interactive shooting gallery, where you have to shoot at dummies and learn the basics of parkour. Somewhere it's enough to pull yourself up on a ledge, in another place you need to use a cat hook, and most of the houses are equipped with a zipline - you approach the cable, press the Latin E and fly up. It's interesting that right during the training the players are shown the advantages of creative approach to combat. You can, for example, just shoot a hostile dummy firing at your conditional ally. Or you can press a lever and create an obstacle between two figures, and then pull out a gun.

As for the main modes, there are now three of them. The first one is called Quick Cash - in it, you have to take money boxes out of ATMs and deposit them. There are three teams of three people, because the operation of breaking into the ATM takes some time, and the fighters have to wait at this point on the spot, holding a circular defense. Singles in such a situation would have a hard time. Matches of the second kind, Bank It, are longer, and they involve four teams of three heroes. Here you do the same thing as in the previous case: you shoot at enemies, break terminals with currency and deposit it to your account. Only added loot from opponents - in place of the killed appears a large coin, which must be picked up. The more opponents the player eliminated, the more such coins he carries with him.

Finally, the last type of battle added to The Finals is Solo Bank It. As you can easily guess, it's every man for himself. There are twelve heroes on the battlefield, but they act alone, not as a team, which complicates the tasks facing each of them. And the healing skills of middle-class characters are absolutely pointless here. However, the mode is marked as experimental - it is quite possible that in the future it will be improved.

Tactics in the game have three basics. The first is the proper use of your hero's skills. If you choose a heavyweight, you can be sure that he will be able to handle anyone in close combat, and he will also be able to withstand a line from a machine gun. With a light class you have to be more careful and use parkour more often. Pay attention to the unique gadgets of each hero - they are added to the inventory for a reason, and you can change them to create your own build. The second principle is reflected in the verticality of the levels. You can climb any structure, even if at first glance it's hard to understand how to do it. If you can't see the ziplane, there must be a ladder inside. Or there is a roof transition from a neighboring building. Here everything is arranged in such a way that the participants of the match often look up or climb higher themselves.

Finally, the third basis is the destructibility of all objects. You can break not only windows and walls, but also floors, ceilings, stairs, pillars, towers and bridges. In general, everything. Somehow it reminds of the Levolution system from the Battlefield series. Where there used to be a free passage, nothing prevents you from creating an insurmountable obstacle or a hole several stories deep. In addition, this mechanic comes in handy for surprise attacks. If, for example, a team of opponents has started breaking into an ATM, you can guess the moment and collapse the floor under the terminal to quickly skim off all the cream and get away. There are a lot of options - the genre is usually stingy on such solutions. The only game that comes to mind is Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, but the destruction there is much less large-scale.

Of course, as in any other conditionally free-to-play shooter, The Finals has a progression, because players earn experience points and virtual currency. But the progression affects only the ability to customize heroes and pass to tournaments, but not the balance of shootouts. For a head start in battle it is much more important to customize the character's build - intelligently choose weapons and gadgets. As for cosmetics, it is optional. Want to distinguish yourself against the background of others to support the talented developers with a coin - please. And if you don't - no one forces you to.

The Finals is a very high quality shooter made by the real masters of the game industry, who got their hands on the Battlefield series. There are no complaints about its technical part, it is very pleasant to run and shoot, and the developers don't go into your pocket - there was no aggressive monetization, which the genre often sins. And although the action movie does not spoil a rich choice of maps and modes, it is worth making allowance for the recent release, because it was released only in December 2023. Give the Embark studio staff time - they won't fail. However, even in its current form, the game has everything it needs to become a big hit.

Zarium. February 2024