Radical Heights (PC) Historical Review

Radical Heights is a Battle Royale game by Boss Key Productions, that I unfortunately can not review since it is no longer playable and I didn't previously had the chance to participate. Nonetheless I would like to share some information about the history of the game, since I feel it is important to remember videogames of the past. (One of the downsides of 'Online only' games is that in contrast to offline mode included games, they can factually die and no longer be experienceable...) Boss Key Productions was a game developer and publisher, that employed a lot of former Epic Games staff members and is most known for its games Lawbreakers, Radical Heights and their extroverted CEO Cliff Bleszinski. The studio had to close down in May 2018 after reaching bankruptcy because of disappointing player numbers in their games.

Radical Heights released in April 2018 as a F2P game in Early Access and was supposed to achieve a full release in 2019. Since Boss Key Studios went down only 1 month after the game's release it never got to the full release. The standout features of Radical Heights were its over the top 80s theme and the game show elements. The gameshow concept reminded me of games like The Culling or Darwin Project.  

The biggest problem of the game was probably its 'Extreme Early Access' status. Radical Heighs had only been 5 months in development when it got released to Steam. Even though you could see the potential of the game, it had many lacking or hideous textures and far too many Glitches at the release. Some areas and buildings were already in a good shape, but there was also a big amount of empty grey buildings with barely any textures inside (Water areas for example also look very hideous). The early Death of the game is even more tragic, if you consider, that the development team was about to exchange all of this empty buildings and replace them with unique ones that fit the theme of the game. There were also a good amount of new gameplay features planned, that got stretched after the announcement of the cancellation. Apart from visual shortcomings, there were also some minor sound glitches like footstep sounds appearing multiple seconds after movement, but they were at least not that frequent. Some players also complained about the FPS not being high enough (40-50 instead of 60+), but I don't really see a big issue there.

The Visuals of Radical Heights were rather simplistic. The game had a cartoonish visual style and the textures generally looked rather basic and dated. That being said, the presentation still fits well with the 80s and gameshow theme and I wouldn't call the visuals hideous or distracting. Radical Heights didn't look like a clone game (even though some people still accused it of that), but had its own catchy style. 

The Soundtrack of the game is pretty good. There is no music during the match, but the main menu, skydive and winning songs fit the game perfectly and the general sounds during the gameplay seem to be competent enough.

The gameplay of Radical Heights mostly conformed with the standards in the genre. The biggest difference was probably the money aspect and the ability to purchase weapons instead of just finding them (More to that later on). Apart from this Radical Heights was a third person shooter with rather basic gunplay. The shooting felt alright, but also didn't particularly impress. The weapon selection was rather small, but featured different iterations of popular weapons like Assault Rifles, Snipers, SMGs, Shotguns and Pistols, which also had colours indicating their effectiveness (From grey to gold). Some of them even allowed aiming down sight in first person perspective. Rocket Launchers were also part of the armory and pretty powerful, but very hard to find. They were able to quickly shoot 4 smaller rockets in a row, which is probably why the developers made them so rare. Overall the armory was limited, but functioned well, which is certainly preferable to an unbalanced surplus supply.

Shot enemies dropped money and some weapons and items. The shooting animation was actually pretty hilarious. Dollar notes were flying off the dead character, looking pretty funny and adding to Radical Heights less serious gameshow vibe.  

Objects like consoles, cassette players or tube TVs gave players cash and other items (holsters and backpacks) allowed players to expend their equipped weapon and item slots to three positions each.  Some of the coolest items in the game were trampolines, decoy grenades and confetti bombs, but there were also offensive classics like good old standard grenades and remote explosives. Healing items like med packs or burgers were part of the itempool same as phones, with which players could order a supply drop. Apart from items players could also collect gear during a match like body armour and helmets, to protect themselves. Overall the items were nothing to fancy, but also didn't really leave anything major to be desired.

Two pretty stylish peculiarities were the abilities to kicking in doors, destroying them in the process and the games iconic role jumps. Players didn't only perform a roll after jumping into the match, but they also could jump through windows or use the roll as a way of movement.  

Radical Heights only featured one type of vehicle in the form of mountain bikes within the game. They could potentially be used to leave a grid quickly or to traverse across the map, but where in reality mostly used to perform stunts and goof around. They fit in my opinion well into the less serious tone of the game.

There were also a couple of different gameshow events, which rewarded the players with either a lot of Cash or some items/weapons. BMX races granted the players, who first rode from the start to the finish line with golden body armours and helmets. Cash Zones were areas, where money was literally raining from the sky. Another event were the wheels of fortune, which depending on the luck of the player got them more or less exciting rewards. Apart from these special events, there were also a bunch of Gameshow booths scattered around the map. Players who danced in front of them for a couple of seconds could open them and unlock some nice prizes. During the process of opening the booths however loud music was playing, which could attract other players. I like this risk vs reward approach, that makes the looting process more interesting.

Most Battle Royale games feature a cycle system, in which the area of the map is progressively shrinking during the match. The active playzone in these games usually resembles a circle. Radical Heights on the other hand is one of the few games, which uses a grid system instead of a cycle. The only other games, which uses a somewhat comparably system are Darwin Project and CSGO Danger Zone (Hyper Scape recently released and it using a similar system). In Radical Heights however the grids are not round, but square instead and some of the grids can even reopen in the beginning of the match. The spawn points, from which the players drop into the match, are by the way randomized, which makes the players spread further across the map in the beginning (H1Z1 uses a somewhat familiar system nowadays). Randomized respawns or a bus flying across the map from which players drop, is of course a matter of preference, but I do like the randomization. The closing of the grids occurs randomly, which means that the map can get very fragmented during the match. Shortly before a Grid will not be accessible anymore it will turn yellow, which gives players a last chance to leave that part of the map. Players in red grids will obviously receive damage.  If there is only one open grid left in the match, than the game will start  a final shootout moment. Players will get a short moment to get to that final grid, where the sky has turned dark and giant search lights lighten up the area. This is actually pretty cool.

Money/Cash plays a bigger role in Radical Heights than in any other Battle Royale game (including Warzone). Money can not only be found on the ground or looted from dead enemies, but most importantly be withdrawn from cashpoints. Players can also instead of withdrawing money from their account, deposit their current match cash to their total account. Even if players get defeated, they take the majority of their cash from the match with them to their overall account. Money can aside from looting, fighting, participating in gameshow events and depositing also be found in the terms of some of the previously mentioned items (Cassette players, TVs etc.), but it can also be gained by destroying some environmental objects with dollar signs on top. I nearly forgot to mention, but players can also sell all of their weapons or items at special vendors to gain even more cash, that could be in turn invested into other gear.

Money/Cash is therefore in Radical Heights clearly the central gameplay element. Whether to save and deposit money to extend the chance of winning in future matches or to invest heavily in better weapons and gear in the current match is the most important decision in every match and I really like this strategic component.

The ingame cash can also be used to buy cosmetics in the main menu. The cosmetics however have to be found ingame first (3 cosmetic items can be found per match), before they can be purchased with ingame cash. All other cosmetics can be purchased with Rad Gems, which is the currency that can only be purchased with real money. I definitely do like the concept of rewarding parsimonious players with cosmetics and the Rad Gems and deluxe cosmetics are the way to finance the game, which I can understand. I believe in comparison to game like Fortnite and others this actually a relatively fair monetization model.

The Radical Heights map has its strengths and weaknesses. I really like a lot of the environmental objects and some theme specific buildings like the Arcades and Malls. There are for example the famous Hollywood letters on the map, just this time spelling Radical. The map features large areas with hills, forests and seas divided by mansion areas and some more urban cities with the previously mentioned malls and Arcade shops, that were so popular in the 80s. Radical Heights manages to mix these elements in a healthy way, creating an organic and atmospheric map in the process. The problem is just that the empty buildings and grey textures inside some of them noticeably decrease the immersion. That is shame and probably wouldn't have happened if Boss Key Studios had taken the time to polish the game before releasing it so early. The developers were however aware of this problem and would have upgraded the map in these areas (at least it is what employees of the development team state), which would have probably appeased a lot of the critics.  

There were Solo and Duo modes for 100 players available in Radical Heights. A squad mode was originally supposed to come into the game at a later stage, but got pulled of after the cancellation of the game. Squads would have certainly been a good addition to the game, since a lot of players like to play with their friends and nearly all BR games with 100 players or more offer them. If the matchmaking system didn't find enough players for the next round, the lobbies were filled up with Bots. There was however sadly no option for custom matches against Bots (A way to keep Radical Heights alive after the server shutdown). Some players are very sceptical towards Bots in BR games, but I believe they can be a good addition to shorten queue times, as long as there aren't too many Bots in the matches.

As i mentioned in the beginning, Radical Heights shut down its servers after only a few months in 2018. For the longest time there has not been any news on the game whatsoever and official servers are probably never going to return, but in early 2020 the glimmer of hope for Radical Heights players has been renewed on Reddit. A user named Liamkirt has begun recreating the entire game to probably open unoffical or emulated servers in the future. He regularly shares his progress on Reddit and Discord. It looks like there is still a long way to go, especially since he seems to mostly be doing the work on his own in his spare time. I would however be very excited to give his version a try and to experience Radical Heights for the first time.

 

Pro:

-80s and Gameshow atmosphere (Gameshow events)

-Cash as a strategic gameplay factor

-Cosmetics purchasable with ingame cash

-Less serious BR/Roll Jump/BMX Bikes

-Grid System and random spawns

-Very strong soundtrack

 

Contra:

-Technical Issues (Visually, Sound, Gameplay, FPS)

-Extreme Early Access (Some empty buildings etc.)

(-Deposit money to win?)

(-Developer abandoned game quickly)

(-No squad mode)

 

Result:

Radical Heights was often made fun of because of its Extreme Early Access status, but in comparison to for example The Culling 2, Radical Heights is actually a good game or at least very decent. It captures the gameshow vibe and fun instead of a realism approach very well. Because Cash is the central strategic factor of the game, it manages to stand out of the crowd and fans of 80s references certainly had a lot of reasons to like the game. Radical Heights was not a flawless game and had many technical problems, but I believe it was moving in the right direction and after a few more months could have become a very polished BR alternative.

(Rating a game I have not played myself is not easy, but after extensive research I would assume I would have rated Radical Heights something between 6-7/10)

CSGO Danger Zone (PC) Review

This is a review for the Battle Royale mode of Counter Strike Global Offensive. CSGO is the newest iteration (Release 2012) of the extremely popular Counter Strike Series. It is one of the most played and streamed games worldwide and even a lot of people outside of the videogame community will have heard of it. We are however today just looking at the Battle Royale Part of CSGO, that was implemented in December 2018. The mode got added into the game in the course of its transition from a buy to play game into an F2P model. Danger Zone is the name of the BR-mode and it's only playable on the PC-Version of the game, which obviously excludes all PS3 and Xbox360 players (all 3 of them ;).

Danger Zone could be played in Solo, Duo and Trio Squads. In Solo games there was a player maximum of 16, while in the other two modes a maximum of 18 participants could engage in the same match. In early 2019 the Solo and Trio modes got removed from the game permanently. This was probably done in order to keep Queue times low, but it feels like an exaggeration to me. CSGO player numbers are still very high at all times and the Duo Queue time for me has never been longer than a hand full of seconds. I believe Danger Zone could and should have kept supporting these modes.

There are 3 different maps in total in Danger Zone, which is more than practically all other BR games. Most other BRs either switch out their maps or use 2 in rotation, but Danger Zone puts all 3 maps in a regular rotation. I however have to say, that I encountered 'Blacksite' and 'Sirocco' a lot more than 'Jungle'. Blacksite is the original Map, with which Danger Zone released in 2018. Blacksite is an island mixed with industrial and nature environmental elements. The map has two large harbours with multiple storehouses in the south and east of the island. The other parts of the map consist of forest elements divided by various living houses, outposts and some bunkers. There is  also a small lighthouse island in the northwest of Blacksite.

Sirocco got added in 2019 and is a Mediterranean desert map. Sirocco is also an island and it has the shape of an X. In comparison to Blacksite this map is much more center focused with a large fortress in the middle of the map on a hill, that gives it a much higher altitude than the outside points of the map. The architecture of the storage buildings and houses is pretty similar to those of Blacksite, but Sirocco also has a couple of unique elements like a large wall wiggling through the west of the map. Since the fortress is so much higher placed than the outside cities and areas, there is a large tunnel system below the fortress making it easier to sneak to other places on the map below the surface. I really like this element. Even though apart from the unique twists of Sirocco most buildings look very similar to Blacksite, it still has a very different vibe because of the desert and rocky environment. In Sirocco verticality also plays a far bigger role than in Blacksite.

The third map Jungle is actually a community based map, that the developers rewarded by making it the third official map in rotation. As the name suggests, it is a jungle island, that has taken over elements like a lighthouse, a harbour or storage departments from the other two maps. Since this map was designed by a community member, I don't think it would be fair to criticize the repetition of elements. Especially since we also see some different components like hut villages on the beaches and generally more palm tree areas and grass fields divided by small rivers. Blacksite and Sirocco had far more buildings even within the nature parts of the map, while Jungle allows the map to feel like a true jungle with far fewer buildings in the center of the map. The POIs are all located at the outside zones. I feel it definitely works well for a map like Jungle and the map actually reminded me a lot of Far Cry 1. It is just a shame, that Jungle seems to appear far less often in the map rotation than the other two maps. (Edit: It seems that Jungle has recently been excluded from the map rotation...)

Every map is split up in different smaller part (hexagons). These hexagons will gradually start to shrink during the match. A black and red scab will start to consume the playable area in the closing hexagons. The damage outside the playable area remains the same throughout the whole match, which is different to most other BR games. Since the damage is not that high, it can be viable to shortly move outside of the zone to gain a tactical advantage even late into the game.

All players have to choose spawn locations around the map at the start of the match. There can only be one player per spawn location, but teammates can obviously decide to spawn in the surrounding area. The players rope down to their spawns from helicopters. All players start the match with just their fists as weapons and a small amount of cash. Aside from the spawn location players can also select a single piece of equipment they want to start the match with (Armour, a parachute or a ballistic shield for example).

As long as the teammate is still alive, players can respawn into the match. The living teammate doesn't have to collect anything (like a respawn beacon) and instead just has to survive for about 30 seconds after the other player got eliminated. I honestly would have preferred a system, where the surviving player has to buy his dead teammate back into the game via the tablet. Since the tablet/drones and money play such an essential role in Danger Zone, it would have fit a lot better into the gameplay. It would also have added the strategic element of having to decide whether you are going to invest in better weapons/items or to keep some savings for a respawn.

The Gunplay in Danger Zone is identical to the other CS modes. CS veterans therefore will feel right back home, while new players will have to get used to the CS gameplay. With the exception of snipers, nearly no weapons have the ability to aim down sight and standing still is practically necessary in order to shoot. Personally I have never been to fond of the CS gunplay in comparison to some of the other big FPS franchises. It is however important to state, that the Counter Strike franchise has a lot of fans, who completely love and adore this type of gunplay. Even though I am not the biggest fan, I still found the gameplay enjoyable.

The starting weapons for all players are their fists (Spoiler Alert: They are not that effective). Participants can furthermore either find weapons and items around the map or purchase them via money with their tablets. The weaponpool consists of various knifes, hammers or small axes as melee weapons, various Pistols, SMGs, Shotguns, Assault and Sniper Rifles. The weaponpool therefore is quite comparable to the other CSGO modes. Items in Danger Zone involve Grenades, Bombs (Which have an enormous area of effect, but are very slow. You can stand 30-40 meters away and still die from the blast), Armour, Health Syringes and Ammunition Boxes.

There are also various Lootboxes scattered around the Danger Zone maps, which contain different weapon and equipment rewards. The less valuable lootboxes can be broken via fists, while the better ones require heavier weapons to be opened. Aside from lootboxes there are also safes, which have to be opened with the bombs/C4, which is not only going to be very noisy, but it will also leave some smoke signals, that easily can attract nearby players. The only other source of findable loot are the locked prison cells, which can either be exploded as well or be opened via a purchase.    

Another way to earn money in Danger Zone by the way are the ingame missions. Players can open suitcases with assassination contracts on other players or alternatively escort hostages to evacuation points. I like the involvement of this missions in Danger Zone (COD Warzone later on also implemented such a contract system into its BR game).

Probably the standout feature of Danger Zone is the tablet. Every player starts with a tablet into the match and it can either show the current map or be used for purchases. The tablet shows which parts of the map have already been closed and indicates the presence of players in hexagons by highlighting them in a yellow colour. The tablet is therefore an extremely useful tool for recon activities. The tablet also allows ordering drones to bring you weapon or item deliveries. Money for these purchases can either simply be looted around the map or taken from defeated enemies. More valuable equipment like sniper rifles or tablet upgrades are obviously more expansive, but usually worth saving for. An upgraded tablet for example can show the position of incoming items drones from other players or the next zone position. (Nearby flying Item drones can also by the way be shot down and you can steal the items before they arrive at the player, who ordered them. Item drones can also give away the position of other players if you follow them quick enough.) In the beginning I was a bit sceptical about the tablet and item drones, but I came to the believe, that they were essential elements in order to differentiate Danger Zone from the wide crowd of other Battle Royale games.   

CSGO in general is even in 2020 still an insanely popular game. Danger Zone however has never received the same amount of sympathy from both the Counter Strike community as well as BR fans. Veteran players saw the introduction of Danger Zone into CS, same as the F2P transition, as bad signs and unnecessary steps. That being said Danger Zone has despite its lack of popularity a very healthy playerbase. There is always a mix of some of the fans of the mode as well as bored veterans and new F2P players. Because Danger Zone also only requires 18 players to start a match, it is reasonable to assume that Danger Zone servers despite any major updates in quite a while (Last real content update around 1 year ago) will continue to be online for years to come.

Danger Zone players will be classified into different ranks, ranging from 'Lab Rat 1' to 'Howling Alpha'. These ranks are mostly just of cosmetic nature and players from all kinds of skill levels and ranks will, according to Valve, be mixed into lobbies. There is not supposed to be something like Skillbased matchmaking, which some people will like and others maybe not so much.

Another issue we have to talk about with nearly every PC-Game is the Cheater situation. I myself only once encountered a player, who in Replay looked to have used a wall-hack. I have however heard of many other players complaining about cheaters in Danger Zone and generally in CSGO becoming an issue after the F2P transition of the game. I am a CSGO Prime player, which might have been helping. If you are a free player, you might be less lucky concerning cheaters.    

 

Pro:

-3 different maps

-Unique Tablet and item drone system

-Survival atmosphere

-Healthy playerbase

-Ingame missions

(-CSGO Gameplay?)

 

Contra:

-Outdated visuals

-Lack of Solo and Squad modes

-Auto Respawns

-Cheater Situation

(-CS Gunplay?)

 

Result:

CSGO Danger Zone is a small scale Battle Royale game (I honestly would be curious how Danger Zone would play out on a larger map with around 50 players). Despite that I liked both the different maps as well as the unique elements like the tablets and item drone deliveries. Visually Danger Zone however is not on par with the competition in the BR genre, which is mostly based on the age of CSGO (Release 2012). Much more important than visuals however is the gameplay, which for me is a bit of a double edged sword. I personally am just not that fond of the CS gunplay, but that obviously is a very subjective point of view. On the other hand Danger Zone manages to produce the survival atmosphere, that I really enjoy to see in BR games. Aspects that further bring the score down for me are the lack of Solo and Squad modes, the too easy respawn system and the threat of cheaters. CS fans and BR enthusiasts may want to give it a try, but I also wouldn't classify Danger Zone as a must play BR game.

6/10