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Battlecry Preview - E3 2014

The battle begins with this new free to play effort from publisher Bethesda

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Free to play experiences are a hot item in today’s gaming landscape, however many major publishers that are most used to the traditional one time purchase models are still feeling their way around the concept. A few big names have attempted to enter this market, but they have been heavily criticised for their design. Battlecry, from Battlecry Studios, is Bethesda Softworks’ attempt to offer a free experience for action fans. We got to hear about and play this new title at E3 this year.

The game was introduced to us by the design director on the project Lucas Davis. Battlecry Studios itself was founded by parent company Zenimax back in 2012 to create triple-A quality titles, and having their debut project named after the studio definitely puts a lot of pressure to fulfill those expectations. Battlecry is a 32 player multiplayer combat game, with various team based modes. The goal is to provide an experience that is easy to jump into, backed up by strong fiction to establish this new IP for future success.

Battlecry game

Battlecry takes place in an alternate 20th century, where gunpowder has been outlawed. Before any world wars have broken out, nations have instead agreed to setup various battle areas wherein to work out their differences and any other disagreements. These arenas represent the game world, and are highly stylized, as a combination of graphic novel and hand pained visuals. The goal is to present a contrast between the beauty of the world and the brutality of combat in these warzones. It sounds interesting, but at the end of the day it’s just a way to fancily describe what will be typical enclosed multiplayer levels.

There will be three factions in the game, with two being showcased during the E3 demo; Royal Marines and Cossack Empire. The two factions featured stylized animations and armor designs that draw upon Britain and Eastern Europe, respectively. There will be five warrior classes in the beta – Enforcer (a tank character with a shield), Duelist (dual wield with cloaking and sneak abilities), Tech Archer (a mostly ranged warrior); Gadgeteer (support class to lock down areas of the map); and Brawler (a strong melee character) .

Battlecry game

Developers promise that your characters will have an extensive level of customization, as you use Iron as a resource to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gold will be used for visual customization, and is the frontrunner candidate for a resource that will be sold with real cash to the players. For a free to play title, we still know nothing about Battlecry’s plans of monetizing the game, and the developers would not discuss the subject, which made us cautious. There was also talk of the War Effort metagame, where players will participate in global conflicts and watch as the front lines move around the globe. However, this feature was not shown.

We then got some time to actually play through a couple of matches. Our demo was locked to one map, two factions and three of the character classes. Combat plays out as either a melee brawl or a ranged ambush, with fast paced action and a spam of special abilities. There is some verticality because you have a grappling ability, but its uses are so limited to specific parts of the map, it feels like a needless way to use up an action button. You can also dodge by double tapping jump.

Each class has three special abilities on a cooldown, and knowing when and how to use them is deemed to be crucial. However, in the matches we’ve played, the best strategy was to unload everything you have as soon as you get within range of an enemy. Should you survive the encounter, there was plenty of time to recharge the skills until the next foe came along. Undoubtedly, it would have been better if our match was a full 32 player contest, but instead we often spent more time running than actually in combat.

Battlecry game

You’ve also got an adrenalin meter that builds up during combat, and you can execute it in part, which lets you unleash more powerful attacks temporarily, or wait until the meter is full and become almost invincible for a short time. It’s an interesting system that does add some depth to the gameplay. Another unique aspect is that after the match concludes, all players get revived and can run around the map and interact via chat or gestures, and even exchange gifts or items.

At the moment, Battlecry lacks any appeal. The visuals may be unique, but they feel like a weird mash-up between Dishonored and Team Fortress 2, and don’t look all that great. Our time with the game was not very enjoyable, and played out as nothing more than a very basic multiplayer hack and slash with floaty controls. Perhaps the development is still early and with more factions, classes, and a full match the potential of the game will reveal itself. And maybe the monetization will be fair and not put players at a disadvantage when they don’t spend any money. Based on our impressions at E3 however, Battlecry has the look and feel of a low budget game that we’d call destined to become free to play. But it already is, so that’s something. The beta is expected to launch on PC next year.

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Battlecry
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PC
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Screenshots

Battlecry
4 images added Jun 16, 2014 20:37
Videos
Battlecry - PAX Australia Gameplay
Posted: Nov 4, 2014 14:49
Battlecry - E3 2015 Gameplay Trailer
Posted: Jun 17, 2015 03:23
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