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The Finals isn't a perfect game. It has some pretty major issues with game balance that seem to change every time the weekly patch comes out. It has problems with performance mostly related to the destruction physics being handled server side. It has the typical issue that every modern free to play video game has where the store prices are heavily inflated for what you actually get in return which are usually bloated bundles where you'd only realistically want one or two of the items in it. While the battle passes are easy to grind compared to other games and have lots of quality stuff in them, they are still FOMO machines that force you to play continuously to get the value that is advertised. And since Season 3, the devs have issues settling on which competitive format actually fits the game that they have designed while keeping the fanbase happy at the same time.

I wanted to get all of those points out of the way before I say that The Finals is truly unique in the sea of competitive FPS games that are competing for your attention. There is really and truly nothing exactly like it, and it is awesome.

The Finals was developed by Embark Studios, a team mostly comprised of former DICE devs. You can spot the Battlefield influence right away, from the quality and realism of the weapon models and animations, to the class based design with gadgets locked to specific classes, to the iteration on DICE's legendary environmental destruction technology. Even the art direction is uniquely DICE, featuring bright primary colors and clean cityscapes that immediately evoke memories of Mirror's Edge. It looks and feels like it was crafted by a team of game dev veterans from the aesthetics to the gameplay to the technology used to craft it.

The biggest technological innovation that The Finals brings to the table is the destruction physics and their impressive server-side implementation. Almost every structure in The Finals' arenas can be destroyed. Floors, ceilings, and walls can be breached and used tactically by each team to create new passageways, use new sightlines, or relocate objectives by bringing them down through the floor for example. When the building's supports take too much damage, the entire structure can even come tumbling down piece by piece. The chaos that this can cause isn't just a fun spectacle to behold, it can and often does have a great impact on each game by dramatically changing sight lines, throwing up smoke and debris into the air, and making the terrain much harder to navigate around objective points. Unlike the Battlefield games from the past where the destruction physics were handled on each client's machine, The Finals puts all of that load onto the server instead. This way of doing things means that every player connected to a game experiences the destruction the exact same way, preventing issues like desyncing that could happen in the Battlefield games. It is the most fun thing about The Finals as a product and you should do yourself a favor and try it for yourself if you've missed those magical Battlefield moments from the Bad Company 2 and BF3 eras.

The class mechanics are another Battlefield staple that The Finals iterates on. Each class (Light, Medium, and Heavy) have completely different options for their kits and feel very different to control. Lights are fast and have specializations focused around hit and run tactics from close or long range, Mediums are versatile damage dealers and supporters with many types of weapons and even a few movement options, and Heavies are slow tanks with heavy weapons that have the largest ability to reshape the arena with their tools and abilities. All of these classes have many weapons and gadgets which can radically change how they can be effective in each game. Just to show some of the variety available to each class, Lights can use sniper rifles, SMGs, bows, throwing knives, swords, and daggers as weapons, equip specializations that let them perform a sideways dash, cloak, or use a grappling hook. The amount of subclasses that exist for each of these three classes that can work or at the very least be fun is vast and is limited only to your creativity as a player. It reminds me a lot of Team Fortress 2 in that way, and it's an aspect of game design that I've been missing.

There's an arcade-y feel to the game that is enhanced by the smoothness of the player movement. You can jump pretty high to climb walls and objects, you can sprint into a crouch slide to go down hills to gain a huge speed boost you can carry forward into a long jump, and you can use various movement tools like jump pads and ziplines to gain even more maneuverability. The speed of the player movement, the momentum you can and the ease of which you can climb and mantle over objects or onto roofs almost makes the game feel like Apex Legends or Titanfall 2 combined with the more grounded weapons and destruction of the Battlefield games.

The maps, game modes, and variety they bring together are excellent as well. The gameshow aesthetics of the game are used to introduce each map with bright, cheery commentary before they all get destroyed over the course of a game. Each subsequent season after the first has brought an entirely new aesthetic and vibe to the game, and this is always reflected in the map that is released too. While the stock maps of Monaco, Las Vegas, Seoul, and Skyway Stadium are all large and varied enough to still not be boring almost a year later, SYS$Horizon (Season 2) and Kyoto (Season 3) have raised the aesthetic and layout standard that Embark had already set. I love both of the new maps, and their quality makes me excited for what future offerings will eventually get added.

In short, The Finals' positives are in the core design, the technology, and the sheer amount of polish for a free to play game, and its negatives come from the devs trying to walk the tightrope of balance, game format, and pricing structure. The base gameplay is so good that I personally can put up with all of the small issues, and with the frequency of updates and amount of care that Embark puts in to solve issues as they come up show a commitment to making this game the best it can be.

Hope to see you in the arena!

[h1]Wrecking Crew[/h1] [hr][/hr] [b]The Finals[/b] isn't a perfect game. It has some pretty major issues with game balance that seem to change every time the weekly patch comes out. It has problems with performance mostly related to the destruction physics being handled server side. It has the typical issue that every modern free to play video game has where the store prices are heavily inflated for what you actually get in return which are usually bloated bundles where you'd only realistically want one or two of the items in it. While the battle passes are easy to grind compared to other games and have lots of quality stuff in them, they are still FOMO machines that force you to play continuously to get the value that is advertised. And since Season 3, the devs have issues settling on which competitive format actually fits the game that they have designed while keeping the fanbase happy at the same time. I wanted to get all of those points out of the way before I say that The Finals is truly unique in the sea of competitive FPS games that are competing for your attention. There is really and truly nothing exactly like it, and it is [i]awesome[/i]. The Finals was developed by Embark Studios, a team mostly comprised of former DICE devs. You can spot the Battlefield influence right away, from the quality and realism of the weapon models and animations, to the class based design with gadgets locked to specific classes, to the iteration on DICE's legendary environmental destruction technology. Even the art direction is uniquely DICE, featuring bright primary colors and clean cityscapes that immediately evoke memories of Mirror's Edge. It looks and feels like it was crafted by a team of game dev veterans from the aesthetics to the gameplay to the technology used to craft it. The biggest technological innovation that The Finals brings to the table is the destruction physics and their impressive server-side implementation. Almost every structure in The Finals' arenas can be destroyed. Floors, ceilings, and walls can be breached and used tactically by each team to create new passageways, use new sightlines, or relocate objectives by bringing them down through the floor for example. When the building's supports take too much damage, the entire structure can even come tumbling down piece by piece. The chaos that this can cause isn't just a fun spectacle to behold, it can and often does have a great impact on each game by dramatically changing sight lines, throwing up smoke and debris into the air, and making the terrain much harder to navigate around objective points. Unlike the Battlefield games from the past where the destruction physics were handled on each client's machine, The Finals puts all of that load onto the server instead. This way of doing things means that every player connected to a game experiences the destruction the exact same way, preventing issues like desyncing that could happen in the Battlefield games. It is [i]the[/i] most fun thing about The Finals as a product and you should do yourself a favor and try it for yourself if you've missed those magical Battlefield moments from the Bad Company 2 and BF3 eras. The class mechanics are another Battlefield staple that The Finals iterates on. Each class (Light, Medium, and Heavy) have completely different options for their kits and feel very different to control. Lights are fast and have specializations focused around hit and run tactics from close or long range, Mediums are versatile damage dealers and supporters with many types of weapons and even a few movement options, and Heavies are slow tanks with heavy weapons that have the largest ability to reshape the arena with their tools and abilities. All of these classes have many weapons and gadgets which can radically change how they can be effective in each game. Just to show some of the variety available to each class, Lights can use sniper rifles, SMGs, bows, throwing knives, swords, and daggers as weapons, equip specializations that let them perform a sideways dash, cloak, or use a grappling hook. The amount of subclasses that exist for each of these three classes that can work or at the very least be fun is vast and is limited only to your creativity as a player. It reminds me a lot of Team Fortress 2 in that way, and it's an aspect of game design that I've been missing. There's an arcade-y feel to the game that is enhanced by the smoothness of the player movement. You can jump pretty high to climb walls and objects, you can sprint into a crouch slide to go down hills to gain a huge speed boost you can carry forward into a long jump, and you can use various movement tools like jump pads and ziplines to gain even more maneuverability. The speed of the player movement, the momentum you can and the ease of which you can climb and mantle over objects or onto roofs almost makes the game feel like Apex Legends or Titanfall 2 combined with the more grounded weapons and destruction of the Battlefield games. The maps, game modes, and variety they bring together are excellent as well. The gameshow aesthetics of the game are used to introduce each map with bright, cheery commentary before they all get destroyed over the course of a game. Each subsequent season after the first has brought an entirely new aesthetic and vibe to the game, and this is always reflected in the map that is released too. While the stock maps of Monaco, Las Vegas, Seoul, and Skyway Stadium are all large and varied enough to still not be boring almost a year later, SYS$Horizon (Season 2) and Kyoto (Season 3) have raised the aesthetic and layout standard that Embark had already set. I love both of the new maps, and their quality makes me excited for what future offerings will eventually get added. In short, The Finals' positives are in the core design, the technology, and the sheer amount of polish for a free to play game, and its negatives come from the devs trying to walk the tightrope of balance, game format, and pricing structure. The base gameplay is so good that I personally can put up with all of the small issues, and with the frequency of updates and amount of care that Embark puts in to solve issues as they come up show a commitment to making this game the best it can be. Hope to see you in the arena!