For Honor: Second Impressions

[Mathew Steel 151]

Between the first and second For Honor betas, I managed to put in just over 30 hours into the game. This review will be based off the second beta. I should add there will be another beta on the 9th of February (this month) for those of you who are still contemplating purchasing the game.

 

 

The Concept

For Honor is a close combat, middle-aged themed game. ?The fighting has a fairly complex system to it. There are three different positions to attack from, left, right, and above. This is done by moving the analogue stick in one of these directions, and then striking your enemy. The same applies for blocking. Each type of player has its own attacks and blocks. Some have shields, some have two handed weapons, some have two, single-handed weapons. Of course, these different outfits sacrifice either speed, attack or defence, in turn of one of the previous. There are moves than cannot be blocked, and the defender must dodge in the correct direction in order to avoid damage. There is also a stamina system in the game. Certain attacks, dodges and blocks use different amounts of stamina. Stamina is replenished over time by not using these moves.?

 

There are several different game modes in the game. Dominion being the most popular. For those of you who have played Battlefield or Call of Duty, this will be very similar to Conquest (Battlefield) of Domination (CoD). There are three areas, A, B and C. A and C on either end of the map, and B in the middle. However, the B area is not captured by the players, but instead by AI grunts. These grunts are small ground soldiers, who by themselves cannot kill enough soldiers to advance up the area. Without real player interaction, the grunts would be at a stalemate in the middle of B. Real players must kill enemy grunts in order for their team's grunts to advance and capture the point. Those grunts will then maintain control of B, until enemy player interaction is made. Be wary, the grunts deal little damage, but if you spend too much time teasing them, in a large group, they will definitely kill you, especially if you are on low health.

 

The other gamemodes being various player limits of duels. 1v1, 2v2, and 4v4 (as of the beta). Players are put into 1v1 situations, until all enemy players are killed. Be aware, there are some players who will run straight into someone else's duel, in order to have a numbers advantage and quickly kill off one of the enemy players. This is uncommon, as many of the players in the game are ex-Chivalry players, who tend to have some "honour" when it comes to duels.

 

There are other confirmed gamemodes, however, I don't feel I'm in the position to comment on those.

 

 

Environmental Factors

Whilst the way to win your fights is usually through pure combat. There are certain map factors than players can use in order to kill their opponents quicker. Some maps have springs, shooting out powerful bursts of water up. Pushing your opponents into these springs, either through a shove, or tackle, can deal considerable damage.

 

As well as this, enemies can be pushed off cliffs in order to send them into a no-revive state. Or, pushed off a ledge or a ladder, in order to put the enemy into a down-but-not-out state. As the name suggests, enemies in the DBNO state can be revived by allies.

 

 

Factions

Now is a good time to explain the different classes and factions. At the start of the game, players will choose a faction. This can be changed at any time. The only difference in which faction you choose, is your emblem shape, and your influence on the Territory Conquer Game. The Territory Conquer Game is a worldwide, live game that is affected each time a player finishes a game. Every match completed, players are granted the option to "deploy assets", this is simply choosing a title area on the map, for your faction to attack/defend, depending on whether they are in their own territory, or the enemies. This is updated every 12 hours. From my experience, Vikings tend to have the most gained territory. This isn't down to number of players in that faction. In fact, Vikings seemed to be the least popular faction, however, they were the most active in this territory game.

 

Your chosen faction has no effect on which characters you may play as. Just because you chose the Viking faction, does not mean you are exempt from playing a Knight or a Samurai. However, your deployable assets will be helping the Viking faction.

 

 

Classes

In the finished game, each faction will have 4 classes. These classes are not exact across all factions. Each class has its own advantages and disadvantages. I like to describe the class system as a game of rock, paper, scissors, and malleable stone. What I mean by this, is that some classes specialise in attack, or defence. However, there are some that are all-rounders. They don't specialise in attack or defence, but instead have a balance. Certain classes counter others. For example, a heavy against a speed, tends to create unpredictable results and is mainly down to player skill, not class ability. Whereas a heavy against a balanced class, tends to lead to the balanced class having an advantage.?

 

I don't wish to go in-depth into every class, as these classes are subject to change. What I will say is that player skill is a huge factor in this game. If you can learn the movesets of a certain class to perfection, 9/10, you will win a duel against the class that would counter you. However, there are many extremely skilled players in this game. So make sure you practice :D

 

 

Summary

For Honor is a great game for those of you who enjoy games such as Chivalry. The skill and patience one puts into this game, will result in great fun. If you learn the game, and it does take some getting used to, you'll succeed. Of course, it's not everyone's cup of tea. Those of you who are skeptical, I urge you to sign up for the upcoming beta.

 

In terms of optimisation, with all settings maxed, my game did not go below 60 FPS at 1080p. I'm currently using a GTX 1070 and an i7, so my results aren't really applicable to all PCs. However, Watchdogs 2 is truly trash in terms of optimisation, even on this setup.

 

I will say, this game is INSANELY better with a controller. If you have one, I strongly recommend using it over your mouse and keyboard.

 

I'm sure there are things I missed, so if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask :)?

 

 

EDIT: Please no hate for the American spelling of "For Honor". It's the way the title of the game is spelt, and so I stuck to that.

Edited February 1, 2017 by Mathew Steel