The Finals Beta Review – A Rising Star In The World of Arena Shooters

Announced back in August of 2022, The Finals is supposed to be the next big multiplayer shooter that’s gonna take the world by storm. Its gameplay completely revolves around the concept of Cashouts, as players assemble teams of three and attempt to complete different objectives.

Since its announcement, the game has had a few different closed betas, followed by the most recent open beta, which showcased all of the improvements made to the new gameplay and visuals over the months. So let’s dive into the whirlwind of reactions and explore the impact of its launch with my The Finals review.

Story And Setting

Like a lot of arena-based shooters, there is an actual premise to the world of The Finals, and it revolves around people competing in a televised game show for fame and fortune. But as far as the actual lore is concerned, there are hints here and there, but we aren’t likely to learn concreted details until the full release.

But the game has quite a number of modes, and all of them mostly revolve around the concept of Cashouts. The team that banks the required amount of cash emerges as the winner or the one who has banked the highest amount of cash after the time limit expires. 

Currently, there are two game modes available in the open beta of The Finals; Quickplay and Tournaments, which are further divided into Quick Cash, Bank It, Tournament and Ranked Tournament sub-modes.

The premise of The Finals revolves around people competing in a televised game show for fame and fortune.

The Tournaments game mode lets the players experience a whole tournament in the form of ranked or unranked games. Players have to fight their way through different brackets of the match to make it to the final brackets of the match. The top 2 teams in each bracket move to the next set of brackets.

There are a total of 3 maps so far: Seoul, Skyway Stadium, and Monaco, with each map consisting of a day and night version.

Furthermore, each map features a dynamic weather system that allows players to experience sunny and cloudy weather with some addition of fog to it. Unfortunately, the maps are completely random and cannot be selected by players.

However, we expect the Devs to release more game modes and maps with full release to attract more players and make the game even more enjoyable.

Gameplay

I will not say that The Finals introduces completely new principles to the mechanics of FPS games, however, it has a different feel that differentiates it from past titles in the genre.

It introduces a combination of Call of Duty’s and Battlefield’s mechanics into one game, and this combined set of features allows players to experience a new, fast-paced shooter with unique and nostalgic gunplay. 

Unlike the two major FPS titles, CS2 and Valorant, The Finals consists of three players in a team and is not bound by the concept of landing precise headshots to get kills. Players can easily abuse the concept of run and gun.

However, landing headshots does deal more damage to enemies, but you also have the choice of spraying them down while running and gunning. But it’s not that easy to spray down the enemies due to the high recoil of guns and the limited amount of bullets in the magazine.

Gameplay is not only limited to weapons since the game has 27 different gadgets we can use. Some of these are available from the start, but others have to be unlocked by playing matches and earning VRs in order to unlock them.

I will not say that The Finals introduces completely new principles to the mechanics of FPS games, however, it has a different feel that differentiates it from past titles in the genre.

There is also a feature known as Specializations, which are basically different abilities that players can utilize to radically switch up the gameplay experience. Furthermore, the devs have introduced three different classes into the game; Light, Medium, and Heavy.

The Light Class, having the lightest loadout, is the fastest among all of the classes, which makes it good to flank enemy teams. Having the Evasive Dash or Grappling Hook equipped, I could instantly move from one location to another. 

On the other hand, the Medium class is more balanced. The set of weapons and gadgets available for it allowed me to be aggressive when needed, and play passively otherwise. Players can think of the Medium class as the support role as well.

And finally, the Heavy class can be considered as the tank. This class consists of the heaviest gear in the game and is the slowest when it comes to movement. However, it’s the one that allowed me to deal the most damage when it came to gunfights.

I felt that the Ranked system is not so different from what you might find in a lot of other FPS titles. Players have to start from the lowest rank, which is Bronze IV, and can make up to the highest rank of Diamond I in The Finals Leaderboards.

Winning games and gaining FP (Fame Points) will allow players to rank up. Good performance in matches can also result in positive FP. 

Visual And Performance

The Finals is built on the Unreal Engine 5. It’s not the only title released this year that runs on this engine, but it is indeed among the ones that make the best use of it so far due to its stunning Graphics and Visuals. Factors such as the map designs, as well as the dynamic weather system, make The Finals stand out from the rest.

Compared to the first and second closed beta playtests, The Finals has received very positive feedback on the changes they have made to the game visuals, making it more stunning than ever. The crispiness and stunning designs of weapon and gadget skins show the amount of effort the developers have put in.

The performance of The Finals has become a lot better as compared to the closed beta.

It’s not the only title released this year that runs on Unreal Engine 5, but it is indeed among the ones that make the best use of it so far.

There were complaints regarding low FPS the frames dropping drastically during explosions, and even game crashes were reported. And while these issues have not completely been solved, they are much less frequent.

While talking about the performance, how can I miss the latency, which is the most important aspect of an online multiplayer game. According to different speculations, The Finals is said to have 128-Tick servers, which keeps the latency minimum, thus reducing delay and enhancing the experience of online gaming. 

Verdict

The Finals has the potential to compete and win against some major FPS titles like Call of Duty: Warzone and Battlefield 2042. However, quite a number of improvements are required before stepping into the competitive world of FPS gaming. Otherwise, the game won’t be able to survive.

As it stands now, The Finals earns a positive review, but issues with it such as floaty movement, weapon inspection, settings bugs, and different glitches highly affect the overall performance. And they need to be fixed when the full release rolls around.

This has been our The Finals Review. While you’re here, consider checking out some of our other articles. 

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• RoboCop: Rogue City Review
• Alan Wake 2 Review
• Spider-Man 2 Review
• Lords of the Fallen Review
• Final Fantasy XVI Review