Magnificent 5 (PC) Review

 

Magnificent 5 is a Wild West Battle Royale, which sounds pretty cool in concept. The gameplay is also decent, but like some of the other less known BR games it lacks a player base. Occasionally there are a handful of players online, but most of the time it is either 0 or 1. The game is the Battle Royale version of the PVE Survival game New Frontier, which itself is the renamed version of Wild West Online (There are a lot of controversies behind the developer Free Reign Entertainment and especially their founder Sergey Titov. Titov was involved in creating games like The WarZ, Falling Skies, Last Man Standing and Wild West Online. These games are mostly not even really terrible, but they all have in common that they get pushed out way too early, they include clear P2W elements and they all get abandoned without warning, after they milked their playerbase dry. In some cases these games even got re-released without any changes as 'new' games under different names. The WarZ turned to Infestation Survivor Stories and Wild West Online to The New Frontier).

As I mentioned the gameplay of Magnificent 5 is pretty decent and is the closest to something like a BR version of Red Dead Redemption we are gonna get (Apparently a BR mode named Gun Rush has been added to Red Dead Redemption 2, but it seems to be much smaller scale and without a real BR map). That being said, it is still a very large gap to the gameplay of the Red Dead games. The game can be played in either third or first person view. By default, weapons are being used in first person and riding is being handled in third person, but players can freely switch between both.

The weapons (Rifles and Revolvers) fit the setting well. So far I only saw Pistols, Shotguns and Repeater-Rifles (semi Snipers) in the game, but there are also supposed to be real Snipers. Weapon variety isn't so large, but the setting certainly also limits this (SMGs or ARs would simply be unrealistic and unfair in the Wild West). The gunplay is slower in this game than most others, but that is somewhat accurate for the weapon technology of the time. Gameplay in general/movement is also a bit slower than in most BRs (except for Mortal Royale of course). Downed players will actually lie on the ground like they have been eliminated (they can still be revived by teammates at this point), but you actually need to shoot their corpse again, so that it turns into a gravestone. This is certainly something to get used to, since in others games there is clear visual difference between being downed and being eliminated, not so in Magnificent 5.

Every player starts the match with a horse, which seems appropriate for a Cowboy. Mounted combat is possible and certainly makes the hunt for other players more thrilling. The riding works well in general. Players will also need their horses, if they want to explore the huge map. (The western cities, Saloons, Sheriff offices etc. look nice) Apart from killing players, the main goal is to explore the beautiful map and find some treasure chests to collect. The map is really one of the highlights and porting it over from The new Frontier was good move. There are many different places to explore and a good variety of different elements, that represent the setting well.

There are no Solo or Duo modes, but instead only a 5 people Squad mode (hence the name Magnificent 5) with up to 100 players (good luck with that!). To start a match there are at least 5 Squads required (they however don't have to be filled up completely, so 5 players could theoretically be enough). Most times you will not find anybody and sit for hours in queues. The first time I actually managed to find a lobby my game crashed after the loading screen... Thankfully there are still some dedicated players out there, who occasionally queue in. With their help I got into some matches (Still important to note, that some of them just play for grinding and not to play competitively). If you want to play, than you should definitely either check the Steam Charts or a Discord-channel, because you will otherwise very likely only waste your time.

The visuals of Magnificent 5 are totally okay. They are not comparable to those of the best games in the genre, but they certainly look better than that of most of the trashier BR games out there. Sound effects are decent and fit the setting.

 

Pro:

- Beautiful and large Wild West map

- Setting has been captured well (horses, cities, weapons etc.)

- Gameplay is overall decent

(- Riding works well)

(- Choice between First and Third person perspective)

 

Contra:

- Slow gameplay

- Lack of a playerbase

(- Smaller weaponselection)

(- Squads only)

(- Controversial developer)

 

Result:

Magnificent 5 is special in the sense, that is the only real Wild West Battle Royale game worth talking about (we are simply going to pretend, that Red West Royale doesn't exist). It captures the atmosphere of the scenario pretty well and it has a gorgeous prairie map. While the gameplay may be realistic, it still fells to slow and heavy in comparison to others. Furthermore, it is difficult to even play the game, because there are so few players out there. I would still recommend trying out the game, because it is definitely not a bad game and it has a cool Wild West atmosphere to offer.

5.5/10

Pixel Battle Royale (PC) Review

 

Pixel Battle Royale is the Battle Royale version of a Minecraft/Unturned Rip-Off. Sadly however it is not even the best Rip-Off. The smartphone games 'Pixel's Unknown Battleground' and 'Grand Battle Royale' have at least the same level of visual presentation, but their maps are actually better designed. The weapon and game model variety is also much better in both of them. Minecraft Hunger Games (The original Minecraft Battle Royale game) and Survival Games (The Minecraft copy, which got the closest to the original) are also superior in most aspects and for everybody, who prefers pixel graphics without the squarish Minecraft Blocks, Unturned seems like a much better choice than Pixel Battle Royale. Battle Royal Survival has many things in common with Pixel BR, but I would choose Pixel as the better of two not so great choices after all.

The population of Pixel Battle Royale is really low, which means there are usually 0-2 people playing online. Luckily you can create private lobbies in this game and add up to 19 Bots to them (20 player maximum in all modes). I have actually been lucky enough to get into some lobbies with other people playing BR, TDM or on an Exploration mode (Pixel BR has additional DM, TDM and Exploration modes aside from the regular BR and one can create private or public lobbies for all of them). The Bots in Pixel BR are a bit too weak in my opinion. Unless a player screws up massively, he is not going to have a challenge playing against Bots.

There is only a handful of weapons in this game (Axe, Pistol, Shotgun, SMG, Sniper). The pistol is pretty imprecise, the SMG is okay and the Sniper Rifle is pretty good. Overall the weapon selection does feel a bit limited and the weapon feedback could certainly be better.

There are also cars as vehicles in the game. They however don't seem to work so well, since they are only a little bit faster than walking and the map is too small and matches too short to really utilize them.

The map isn't so great, unless you compare it to Battle Royale Survival, since this map at least has a volcano and buildings on different floor levels than the ground. In comparison to the best F2P BR games out there however the map is still one of the weaker ones.

The visuals are not that great either, but at least a bit better than that of Battle Royale Survival. You can customize the sound volume and many other options, which shouldn't necessarily be a plus, but I sadly have experienced differently in some other games. Only weird thing is, that dead enemies always moan like they would be close by, after they got eliminated somewhere around the map.

 

Pro:

-Sniper weapon works

-Multiple game modes

-Full Bot support (Private lobbies possible)

 

Contra:

-Bad Visuals

-Weapon feedback isn't great and selection is quite limited

-Map isn't great

-Low population

-Bots a bit too weak

 

Result:

I believe this game is the better alternative to Battle Royale Survival, but I wouldn't recommend it to anybody, unless they want to experience every Minecraft/Pixel inspired BR game there is. At least it is free and has private lobbies/bot support.

3.5/10

Battle Royale Survival (PC) Review

 

After recently playing Pixel Battle Royale, I thought to also give this game a go. Needless to state that both Battle Royale Survival and Pixel Battle Royale are shameless copies of Minecraft and Unturned with their pixels graphics. Trove for example shows how you can make a pixel game of your own, which is actually decent.

Battle Royale Survival however isn't a decent game. What this game does better than Pixel BR is, that it allows up to 100 players or bots to participate in a lobby.

The map in Pixel Battle Royale was already bad, but the standard map in Battle Royale Survival is even worse. It is without exaggeration the worst map I have ever seen in any BR game and i seriously doubt any other game can do worse (At least I pray to never find out, if any BR does worse). 98% of the map is empty wasteland. There is a small city in a valley in the middle of the map. The only other things on the entire map are 2,3 houses at the outside parts of the map. Once the plane started the first time I was left shocked after seeing this misery of a map. I understand that this game is probably a rush job, but you should take at least more than 5 mins to design the map. Every amateur with minimal dedication could have done a better job...

There is a training map, which is completely useless since there is only 1 Bot on it and nothing else to shoot or do. Thankfully there is also a second map in the game. This map has a very large city in the middle of it, which even got its own harbour and a cathedral. All buildings however can not be entered and there is absolutely nothing else on the map aside from this city. In a game like this however, this city is already a clear highlight.

The population of the game is even more dead than that of Pixel Battle Royale, which means an average of 0 concurrent players. While 100 Bots are an improvement over Pixel BR's 20 and while Pixel had stupid Stormtrooper Bots, Battle Royale Survival suffers from the opposite fate. 100 Bots get dropped simultaneously at the tiny map and since there is practically no cover on the map and these bots have a very strong auto-aim with the imprecise weapons, it again creates an unbalance.

The character models of both games seem to be identical and the weapon selection too (This game has an additional Magnum Pistol, but fewer skins. Apart from that I noticed no differences). This means the weapons also handle around the same way. Against crap bots like in Pixel BR that isn't problem, if the weapons are imprecise. In Battle Royale Survival however the Auto-Aim Bots are a bit of a pain, because they can laser you from a 100 meters with a trash weapon, while you have to do your best to even shoot straight (Bots also don't need to jump from a plane and can already loot weapons, while the players are still in the air). With the sniper weapon however or if you take enough cover (in one the very few houses on the map for example), they shouldn't be a problem. Since the Bots are pretty aggressive and the map is so small and with so few cover opportunities, 90% of the Bots die within the first 4-5 mins. My recommendation would be to collect weapons and play cautiously for the first 2-3 mins, till the complete and utter chaos has vanished.

And I haven't even mentioned the earrape problem of this game. The automatic sound volume is way too high and there exists no option to change the sound volume inside or outside the game. This is simply inacceptable...

 

Result:

We have bad visuals, a disaster standard map, rather lackluster gameplay, too aggressive auto-aim Bots and a devastating earrape glitch. Positives are that you can play this game with up to 99 Bots, even if nobody else is online (which is probably going to be the case), the sniper rifle works decently and the second map is somewhat acceptable (even though also way too empty outside of the main attraction).

3/10

Royale Island Showdown (PC) Review

 

Royale Island Showdown released this week as a new Battle Royale game and so I foolishly thought about giving the game a chance, since the pictures of it didn't look so bad (in hindsight I probably should have looked closer).

The first thing to point out is, that Royale Island Showdown may call itself a Battle Royale game for the sake of name recognition, but you can hardly classify it as one. There is a player maximum of 4 players (!), which is ridiculously low for a BR game. The twist of Royale Island Showdown is, that all human players also get 1 AI teammate as sort of a bodyguard. It is true, that I don't know any other game that does that, nonetheless this is certainly not all that revolutionary and doesn't really impact the gameplay. Not every 1 Life Deathmatch mode is the same as a Battle Royale game and I still have a hard time calling it that.

Movement actually works pretty well in the game and fells fluent, but the biggest issue of the game is its hit detection. It is not that great and too many shots don't register appropriately. It certainly extends the length of the matches (which are still short, as you could expect in a 4 player Multiplayer match with 1 life). This issue should be fixed, since it gives the game a bit of a weird feeling. Especially disappointing since the gunplay itself is actually quite alright, but the bad hit detection puts it down.

There are only three weapons in the game (Pistols, AR and Sniper) and no option for melee attacks. The gameplay options are therefore pretty limited. It is also disappointing, that there seems to be no zoom-in function for the sniper rifle, at least I couldn't get any button to do it. The bots may be a nice idea, but i found them to be way too dumb to influence the gunfights in any meaningful way. They keep following their human player and will occasionally shot, but I think they are too weak and they should definitely be improved. 

The visuals of the game are super basic, there isn't much to see in this game. The graphics engine is okay, but the map is simply too empty. There are many grey ramps, some grey empty block buildings and a lot of green conical blocks, which are supposed to resemble trees. The player models are also only coloured mannequin versions, so this basic visual presentation may be on purpose. At least you can differentiate the teams well through the four colours (blue, red, orange, purple). The starting island btw is just a grey block, that has the letters "Starting Island" written on it, which should probably make this game win the minimalism award of the year (Credit where credit is due. The plane at the beginning of the match, from which  players drop off, is a grey alien like space ship, which makes it the coolest looking part of the game).

Another problematic area is the sound department. Except for gunshots there are simply no soundeffects in the game whatsoever. There is no soundtrack anywhere, there are no footstep sounds and no sounds for collecting a weapon or a health item. Weapon shots do make a sound effect and they sound alright, but unfortunately this game also has an earrape-issue. I am referring to the fact, that the sound volume is by default set to a way too high volume and neither sound effects nor controls, visuals or anything else are customizable. The menu is as basic as it gets. You can choose to start an online game, a LAN game or quit. Once you queued up, you are on the starting island and there isn't even an option to get back to the main menu or to quit (you have to alt+f4 to get back to Steam). Same as Element Battle Royale I have to point out, that this game is probably closer to a tech-demo than a real game. 

I queued multiple times within the first week of launch and was only able to once get a match going with 2 instead of 4 players. It is not really a good sign, if the game is already pretty dead within the first week, especially if you consider how few players are required to get a match going.

 

Pro:

- Bot teammate idea is not bad

- Online and LAN matches

- Movement and gunplay essentially work well

 

Contra:

- Bots are too stupid

- Visuals are very basic

- Sound is nearly nonexistent/ too loud

- No customizability of anything/ no options

- Hit detection needs to be improved

- Small population

 

Result:

Royale Island Showdown is probably a one person project and in its current state closer to a Tech-Demo than a full game. The visuals are very basic, sound effects are nearly nonexistent, customizability is nonexistent and it can take a long time to find another player to start a match. The gunplay functions well enough, but hit detection needs to be improved. The concept with Bot-Bodyguards is okay, but this game would need to get polish in every department. As it is, I can not recommend Royale Island Showdown. It may be worth a shot for 4 friends trying to play a new shooter, but even than, there would be many, many better ones out there.

3/10

Trash Battle Royale Games and some of the rest: Including Last Tide (PC), Fractured Lands (PC), Banzai Royale (PC), Rules of Survival (PC), Rideout Heroes (PC), Super Mecha Champions (PC) etc.

 

I have written reviews for some really good BR games (like Darwin Project, Fortnite), some  more mixed ones (CSGO Danger Zone, Warface BR) and some pretty bad ones (Culling 2, Survival Frenzy) and I am going to continue that in the future. There are however also a couple of BR-games I am very like never going to play or review for this blog. I will in the following article give super short characterizations of them and explain, why I won't play them.

Some of them, like Fractured Lands (Mad Max Battle Royale), Last Tide (Underwater BR with sharks) or Banzai Royale (Birds eye view round based Samurai Royale), seem to have somewhat decent gameplay (however still far away from the really great games), but I am just not willing to invest money in order to try them out, if there are at least two dozen free games, which are more fun.

Even more audacious are Rules of Survival (Netease version of PUBG), which looks exactly like all the other free mobile BR-games, but actually needs to be purchased on Steam (apparently there is also a free version like PUBG Lite...), Survival Games (P2P version of a crappy Minecraft Battle Royale attempt), Bean Battles (Round based BR game with Bean characters) and The Prison Experiment: Battle Royale (horrible prealpha version of a prison BR game), which all have a asking price.

The other group is the seemingly endless conglomerate of F2P mobile BR games, that for some reason were ported to PC as well. These games often offer some of the most generic gameplay you have ever seen, are horribly optimized for PC and look like absolute trash. I have already reviewed games like Creative Destruction (Fortnite like BR game with building elements and a fantasy world = Netease version of Fortnite) and Modern Combat 5 Battle Royale (Generic First Person Shooter game) and simply don't see what the others could have to offer.

These games include Hopeless Land (Inferior version of Rules of Survival aka Rip-off of a Rip-Off...), Crossfire Legends (Looks nearly identical to Hopeless Land), Scarfall (Trash version of H1Z1), Survival Squad (Another really bad PUBG clone), Bloodrivals Battle Royale (Generic First Person BR, that manages to look worse than Modern Combat 5), Battle Royale 3D - Warrior 63 (Windows 95 version of a BR game. It makes my eyes hurt...), Garena Free Fire (Yet another PUBG copy), Die Pig Die (Unfinished mess, that only loosely resembles BR), Project Battle (Inferior version of Creative Destruction), Red West Royale (Wild West BR with Pixel graphics and Fortnite building elements), Super Mecha Champions (Anime Battle Royale with Mechs) and Rideout Heroes (Netease version of Realm Royale). The last two games you can at least give credit for not being 1:1 copies of the inspiration sources.