I'm somewhat of an expert in multiplayer. I was able to largely predict the success of both PUBG and Fortnite back when the industry was mocking both titles pre release. I've also identified a media who's single player oriented and therefore blind to what truly makes multiplayer special. IconEra, you deserve this, a review of Concord from a connoisseur of the medium. Multiplayer can be broken down into the following 4 pillars: Progression, playstyle variance, social aspect, and excitement level.
PROGRESSION - 4/10
-There's a few aspects to progression in a multiplayer game. Your in match progression (does your score go up?), your player skill (are you improving/learning?), and your out of match progression (are you unlocking things?) Concords in match progression is bad. Concord player skill progression is fine. Concords out of match progression is awful. You add up all 3 mini pillars and you get a four out of ten.
PLAYSTYLE VARIANCE - 8/10
- Concord does pretty well in this area. The 16 characters in the game all play pretty differently from one another. Tanks having no DPS disadvantage is also an interesting design choice to encourage the choosing of those characters. Now does it do this any better than Overwatch? Probably not. Still, this is the strongest aspect to the game.
SOCIAL - 5/10
- I've played both betas and the last couple days of early access. I don't think I've heard more than 10 people in total use their mics. There are games that really encourage mic usage. Concord doesn't. The game seems to be too casual in nature to encourage randoms to talk to one another.
EXCITEMENT - 2/10
- This game is a really boring sell. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to persuade someone to try Concord when there's 6 other very competent 5v5 Hero Shooters on the market. Why would anyone spend $40 dollars here when there are so many other free options? It really feels like Firewalk thought they were genius in 2016 and thought no other Hero Shooters were going to come to market after Overwatch. I equate this pillar to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Does the premise of the experience excite players enough to step through the closet into the new world?
OVERALL SCORE - 6.5/10
Odd notes...
- Concord is to Hero Shooters what Heroes of the Storm was to MOBA's. Blizzard thought the barrier of entry was too high for MOBAs so they made one designed for beginners. Concord is VERY noob / casual friendly. The characters are very simple to learn, the hitboxes are generous, and there's a comeback mechanic for teams and players to get stronger when they die.
- I do wonder if the SJW character design was a bad choice for a PvP oriented audience. I tend to think more competitive people hate this stuff more than less competitive people. You might be able to get away with these characters in a single player FPS game.
- The story is both cool and dumb. I'm showing up to a planet to complete missions in my Northstar ship, but so are my other 4 teammates? Why are there 5 clones of DAW on my team and 5 clones of DAW on my opponents team? Every match has 10 Northstar Ships dropping in and all the ships are loaded with essentially the same characters. WTF? That said, if this game were great, something we could spend hundreds of hours with, then perhaps a compelling, cohesive story would be appreciated.
What should Firewalk focus on post launch?
- Bump Rivalry mode up to FIRST TO SIX wins. It's currently set to FIRST TO FOUR wins and it's way too short.
- They have to start working on a mode that's unique to Concord. The base 6 modes have all been done to death over the last 25 years. A payload mode isn't going to cut it.
- The XP we earn should be converted into currency and we should be able to buy the upgrades we want. Unlocking a purple glove for a character I don't play couldn't be lamer.
I'll end my review on a postive note. I don't think PlayStation should shutter Firewalk. There's talent at this studio. They just need to assess what went wrong here and be given one more chance to pull their own weight. The lead character designer should probably have a burlap sack on his head and be in a van headed to a remote town in Mexico though.
PROGRESSION - 4/10
-There's a few aspects to progression in a multiplayer game. Your in match progression (does your score go up?), your player skill (are you improving/learning?), and your out of match progression (are you unlocking things?) Concords in match progression is bad. Concord player skill progression is fine. Concords out of match progression is awful. You add up all 3 mini pillars and you get a four out of ten.
PLAYSTYLE VARIANCE - 8/10
- Concord does pretty well in this area. The 16 characters in the game all play pretty differently from one another. Tanks having no DPS disadvantage is also an interesting design choice to encourage the choosing of those characters. Now does it do this any better than Overwatch? Probably not. Still, this is the strongest aspect to the game.
SOCIAL - 5/10
- I've played both betas and the last couple days of early access. I don't think I've heard more than 10 people in total use their mics. There are games that really encourage mic usage. Concord doesn't. The game seems to be too casual in nature to encourage randoms to talk to one another.
EXCITEMENT - 2/10
- This game is a really boring sell. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to persuade someone to try Concord when there's 6 other very competent 5v5 Hero Shooters on the market. Why would anyone spend $40 dollars here when there are so many other free options? It really feels like Firewalk thought they were genius in 2016 and thought no other Hero Shooters were going to come to market after Overwatch. I equate this pillar to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Does the premise of the experience excite players enough to step through the closet into the new world?
OVERALL SCORE - 6.5/10
Odd notes...
- Concord is to Hero Shooters what Heroes of the Storm was to MOBA's. Blizzard thought the barrier of entry was too high for MOBAs so they made one designed for beginners. Concord is VERY noob / casual friendly. The characters are very simple to learn, the hitboxes are generous, and there's a comeback mechanic for teams and players to get stronger when they die.
- I do wonder if the SJW character design was a bad choice for a PvP oriented audience. I tend to think more competitive people hate this stuff more than less competitive people. You might be able to get away with these characters in a single player FPS game.
- The story is both cool and dumb. I'm showing up to a planet to complete missions in my Northstar ship, but so are my other 4 teammates? Why are there 5 clones of DAW on my team and 5 clones of DAW on my opponents team? Every match has 10 Northstar Ships dropping in and all the ships are loaded with essentially the same characters. WTF? That said, if this game were great, something we could spend hundreds of hours with, then perhaps a compelling, cohesive story would be appreciated.
What should Firewalk focus on post launch?
- Bump Rivalry mode up to FIRST TO SIX wins. It's currently set to FIRST TO FOUR wins and it's way too short.
- They have to start working on a mode that's unique to Concord. The base 6 modes have all been done to death over the last 25 years. A payload mode isn't going to cut it.
- The XP we earn should be converted into currency and we should be able to buy the upgrades we want. Unlocking a purple glove for a character I don't play couldn't be lamer.
I'll end my review on a postive note. I don't think PlayStation should shutter Firewalk. There's talent at this studio. They just need to assess what went wrong here and be given one more chance to pull their own weight. The lead character designer should probably have a burlap sack on his head and be in a van headed to a remote town in Mexico though.
.
. I dunno why it didn't just go with a 12AM PST
