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)
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