| System: PS4, Xbox One, PC |  |
| Dev: Ubisoft Montreal | |
| Pub: Ubisoft | |
| Release: February 14, 2017 | |
| Players: 1-8 Player | |
| Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p | Blood and Gore, Intense Violence |
Does all of this setup make it sound like something’s got to give? Well, it does. Unfortunately, actually getting those nifty bits and pieces is both a crapshoot and chore. While you can get random item rewards from matches, you’re mostly exchanging accrued Steel in exchange for additional characters and randomized boxes of equipment. With a character being 500 Steel and scavenging boxes costing at least 300 Steel, it eventually begins feeling like you’ll need to resort to microtransactions to build up your armory. Steel can be earned from making progress in the game by playing and going through the tutorials, but it’s difficult to get enough for everything you need when the online multiplayer isn’t always working properly.
There are issues with multiplayer cohesiveness and continuity. It could be due to For Honor’s reliance on peer-to-peer networking. If the person acting as host has a bad connection, everyone’s going to have a bad time. It might be launch issues and growing pains. While I didn’t have many problems finding a fight when choosing a quick match or Duel, it was difficult finding one that really worked well. All I know is this. I absolutely am noticing latency and connection issues.
Now, this might not be the biggest problem in all games, but it is in one like For Honor. Precision is of the utmost importance here. Doing something in the right place at the right time is critical, and sudden lag screwing up timing is the last thing we want or need. That isn’t even taking into account disconnects due to connection issues. I don’t know if it was rage quitting, but I ran into more than a few instances where I couldn’t finish matches due to something going wrong.
Let me give you an example of my worst For Honor experience so far. Now, I’m not the best player out there. Given the game’s age, I’m sure I’m not the only one. So, when I have an opportunity to win Duels, I’m pretty happy. It was a 2-1 match in my favor. Except suddenly, there are connection errors. The screen dims, I see the warning, and when it clears, suddenly my opponent has completely walloped me. Even though I was pressing in the correct direction to supposedly guard against the attack, it did nothing. Twice in a row this happened during the fight, assuring the enemy’s victory.
Of course, I suppose I should be thankful that I was even able to play at all. I encountered network error 0004000014, matchmaking error 0002000115, and many other errors beginning with “000” when attempting to take part in the multiplayer modes.
If For Honor were a game that wasn’t didn’t rely so heavily on its internet connection, I could rave about it for hours. It is beautiful. The move sets for each character are well thought out and balanced, meaning people who put in enough effort will succeed with any of the available heroes. The campaign offers an interesting enough solo experience that lets people gradually face greater challenges. The multiplayer is extraordinary, when it’s working properly. It’s just that Ubisoft has once again not anticipated the needs of a game such as this. I feel like peer-to-peer wasn’t the right system for such a game, and that it would have been better for everyone if this had been a client-server game.
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By Jenni Lada Site Editor Date: 02/14/2017 |
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