The good, the bad and the suggestions.

[dblkil]

30 hours in, hundreds of matches and platinum 1 league.

I've reviewed the game on the storefront, but I'll be more elaborate here.

This game has exceeded my expectations and different with what I had in mind, specially I've experienced MC franchise before.MC4 on mobile, can't stand the controls, MC5 on Microsoft store was riddled with microtransactions everywhere, and the core game is just not fun (for me at least).

I'd rather play COD instead of MC5. That is the kind of competition GL is facing on MC franchise.

Now this came up, got me curious. The last thing I know I've spent 30 hours within a week.

The good

1. Simplistic, streamlined but familiar core gameplay. Every FPS gamer must at least played 1 COD game once or at least tried. As far as I know MC have taken inspiration from the COD games, specially from MW series. So controls and handlings are very familiar, easy to get into specially if you played COD (or MC games) previously. Doesn't attempt to be overly ambitious, but really good at what it does. And by removing the unnecessary jump and crouch buttons probably remove the dodging options the player have, but that's what encourages us to maximize the abilities to its fullest extend.

2. EXCELLENT character designs. I assume the characters are human in armors, but then I guess the character design team got carried away. But I really like them all. My suggestion just go crazy anyway, make a quadruped character and call it a cyborg or something. I'm curious on what the art dept would came up with. It's a game afterall it doesn't need to be realistic or making sense, it suppose to be fun, and the game is VERY fun.Yes of course it should be matching with the whole theme/looks.

3. Fast matchmaking, 4 v 4. Great for a quick session or two, like fighting games.

4. Fair rewards. Lootboxes and character stat upgrades turn me off at first. But now I had 17 out of 18 characters fully unlocked. And daily grind rewards is quite generous. So now I don't mind at all. In short, just play the game and you'll be rewarded by how much you willing to "invest" (in hours of play) in it.

5. Minimal cheaters. (don't call them hackers please. Snowden is a hacker, these guys are just losers). Out of hundreds of matches (300 something IIRC) I stumbled maybe 4-5 cheaters. Not bad. Other's experiences may vary though and I've stumbled into these cheaters on later level. VAC probably not optimal to be implement (yet) for the current playerbase count. But I believe GL is working on anti cheat system. So best of luck I would love these cheaters get banned immediately. Otherwise the small playerbase would decline fast with these morons.

6. Original idea. Well not so original, but what is "original" today? The merging of COD-like gameplay with hero shooter (Overwatch-like) works VERY well, for me.

7. Excellent graphics! Really, I love the color palettes and GL don't seem to shy away using vibrant colors on the characters and the levels. Not just that it runs beautifully on Atom Z8700 powered GPD Win 1 with Intel onboard graphics! In short, beautiful graphics on a potato! Great job!

The Bad

1. Character upgrades involve stats. It is difficult enough to balance out different characters with different weapons and abilities. Character stat upgrades making the game very unbalanced further. BUT I do agree with what Karen said, once you maxed out your main, it's oh so satisfying!

2. Few maps and game modes. Well the game is still at its infant. I'm pretty sure GL will add more maps and modes, and in this case characters, in the future.

3. Lootboxes. No I'm not hating it just because it's "cool" right now to hate lootboxes. But so far the only way to get the upgrade tokens is through the lootboxes. While player level don't actually do anything to character upgrades. But still, I can live with it, specially after seeing 2017's videos on this game, Besides, GL need to feed their artists and coders. Not to mention GL have toned down A LOT of the loot box mechanics. So props to that. Suggestion : the best practice, is Warframe IMO, hanging up there on the top 10 steam stats. And that is why the game last so long, even though I barely play it but a lot of my friends do. It's kinda repetitive to my taste, not my cup of tea (Warframe).

4. No chat. No voice not even text chat? Or did I miss the option?

5. Steam achievement is bugged. I've already unlocked the master league achievement while I was in gold league (in-game) IIRC. This is probably due to major overhaul to the progression system, the game is hugely different from what I seen in YouTube (Anthony CSN). I've unlocked everything but the multiplayer victory crates never adds up to this day. But it's just a minor complain, didn't change how good the game is. I wouldn't mind a fix though.

6. The one line voice acting are great! But... not cheesy and humorous enough. Seems like GL is holding itself back. Probably just to convey how different each character is. Mi Nu is the upbeat girl, while Seven is more a cold type. I'm sorry I couldn't help to compare these two with Tracer and Widowmaker, yes they are VERY different and GL came up with original designs, but these are the comparable characters. Also Blaze kind of remind me of Deadpool. Back to the voice acting, Which I doubt there will be any updates on it anymore, apart from new characters that will be added later on. And if GL do, please make it melty cheesy, over the top. Go Mature audiences for the VO if necessary.

7. No anti cheat implemented? Just the reporting facility? Please implement this ASAP don't let this game die. I don't record my plays and reporting could do so much. After a year or so since release, GL should have the big picture what is the normal score ceiling was. 6000 is still possible, 7000-8000 is very hard, above that is nearly impossible. I'm averaging at about 5000 even as MVP.

The suggestions

1. KULT! Yeah probably been complained a lot. I understand the slowdown effect is to differentiate Kult from Blaze, otherwise he's just Blaze with green flame. But either nerf the slowdown or the damage a little bit. Blaze is fine, the grenade indicators already gives his ability off, and Mi Nu can run away from his flamethrower.

2. PC-Mobile account sync. If possible. I don't mean cross play, but our stats, progressions, and stuffs, carries from mobile to pc and vice versa. I'm currently playing the PC version exclusively. But installing the mobile version on my phone, and even considering to buy a bluetooth gamepad specially for it.

3. No duplicate characters. From AnthonyCSN videos it's clear that Kan is nerfed. But still sometimes I stumbled a team with 3 Kults or 4 Kan. No duplicates will force players to learn the other characters other than his/her mains.

4. Reporting system. I have no idea how the report system works.Also definitely can't find the reporting tool if I didn't read Karen's post on this. Make it more visible, announce it in-game if you need to. Probably give reporting players some reward for it. I receive credit from customer care but I don't remember what was written in the inbox. This could cause chaos in the first pass, people will report others just to get the compensation. So give the compensation if the reported player do cheat! Not everyone record their play, including me. This should be enough until you do implemented better anti cheat system (or move on to other game in this case).

5. Buff the headshot! One major enjoyment I had in this game is that I had a good chance as others. In games like CS:GO with players who had over 10000+ hours from CS 1.6 will dominate every game with single headshot. So I don't know myself whether this is a good idea or not. But it also irks me when Kult poisoned me while I'm spraying my whole magazine to his head and I ended up dead while he/she still raking kills without the need to aim at all!

That's all I can think for now, probably will add some more stuffs later.

TL:DR I enjoy this game SO MUCH

Thanks for the great game, and the progression system + lootbox overhaul!

[dblkil]

reserved

I might collect suggestions from others and compile them in this post.

[karen_gameloft]

Hey josoka! Thanks so much for the detailed feedback! Have already passed along some of the bugs you've mentioned that I've spotted.

For PC-mobile sync, you actually can do! I do that myself -- I play on the Windows version of the game + my iPhone. However, Steam doesn't allow Facebook linking (or outside linking of accounts), which we rely on to allow cross-platform play. But othewise, this is something we definitely encourage and is reflected in how a player may start off on Android, but can move their account to iOS or even PC (via Windows).

In regards to the no duplicates point, while it's beneficial for players higher in leagues/play time, it is definitely a harder point for players in the lower leagues or newer to the game. We do hope to find a good balance so that some sort of this can be implemented in the future.

As for Agent-related feedback, it will be forwarded to the game designers :)

Thanks again for your detailed comments!

[dblkil]

Originally posted by karen_gameloft:

Hey josoka! Thanks so much for the detailed feedback! Have already passed along some of the bugs you've mentioned that I've spotted.

For PC-mobile sync, you actually can do! I do that myself -- I play on the Windows version of the game + my iPhone. However, Steam doesn't allow Facebook linking (or outside linking of accounts), which we rely on to allow cross-platform play. But othewise, this is something we definitely encourage and is reflected in how a player may start off on Android, but can move their account to iOS or even PC (via Windows).

Mmm okay I'll try downloading the microsoft store version. Hopefully the steam stuffs carries over to that version, then I can sync my progress with Android.

As far as I remember syncing was one main reason why I stopped playing Asphalt 8 back then. But it was years ago. Eh I'll just redownload all the games again and see if they can sync now.

I'll let you know if I succeeded transferring my progress to my mobile.

In regards to the no duplicates point, while it's beneficial for players higher in leagues/play time, it is definitely a harder point for players in the lower leagues or newer to the game. We do hope to find a good balance so that some sort of this can be implemented in the future.

Oh yeah I forgot that when starting we only have 1 character to use :)))

[dblkil]

Just want to add with the one liner thingy. Shadow Warrior Classic Redux is great example of what I'm trying to brought up here. A CHINESE ninja, with SUSHIs lying everywhere in the maps, quotes about acupuncture, and overly bad asian accent (switch L with R on every word Lo Wang said).

This character is a mixed salad of everything asian stereotypes. Why can't we have characters like this in 2018? Oh yeah political correctness and people are so fragile nowadays :(

I mean I'm asian myself but even just by hearing his accent I lol'ed and genuinely enjoyed his one liners so much. It's risky being too forced and offensive but "better than acupuncture!"

[dblkil]

Awww Steam version save files isn't compatible with Microsoft Store version :(

I guess I need to contact the support now.

[karen_gameloft]

You could contact customer care! But yeah, Steam doesn't have cross platform capabilities with any of our other platforms :( So not quite sure if they're able to do that for you.

As for the Characters, we do have some sort to themed ones -- i.e. SW1FT speaks in Spanish with some Spanish catchphrases. Obviously, Chapka is ridiculously over the top English (I can barely understand what she's saying in her Trailer :'D). And Tower is very much Russian!

[dblkil]

Originally posted by karen_gameloft:

You could contact customer care! But yeah, Steam doesn't have cross platform capabilities with any of our other platforms :( So not quite sure if they're able to do that for you.

But other studio like Hi-Rez got their own server IMO, and prompted login on start. My profile are all in their server as well, and I could download a standalone client for paladins,or whatever games they have and sync the saves? Years ago Gameloft got own server for this kind of things. However I haven't actually try their (Hi-Rez) standalone client though. So I don't know.

Also I don't exactly know what is Valve's regulation on this. But please work on this?

I just tried the Windows Store version and see if it sync to the Android version. And it is synced without any problem. Asphalt (8 and Extreme) games don't sync :(( but they're old games anyway.

BTW if there's currently no workaround at all (MCVS steam-android sync, not Asphalt) it's fine, I could use a backup, fresh profile anyway. Probably it's handy to have multiple saves anyway. But steam version is the best IMO. Just one fact that I could play it on Windows 7 is a huge advantage over Microsoft Store version. Tons of people are still using Windows 7. Also, seems like Steam version is much more "optimized"?

If this game hold up on Steam in years to come, pretty sure GL will focus development into it. Right now as I see GL just dip toe into Steam late last year and the reception is mixed simply because GL is famous on the mobile market. It's a whole different market and challenge on Steam.

Oh and about the no duplicates, since I just replayed the Microsoft Store version, by the time I got into starter league 3 I already had 6 characters. So I guess it's possible? Please consider it too.

As for the Characters, we do have some sort to themed ones -- i.e. SW1FT speaks in Spanish with some Spanish catchphrases. Obviously, Chapka is ridiculously over the top English (I can barely understand what she's saying in her Trailer :'D). And Tower is very much Russian!

Yeah I've said it in OP, the VO actings are GREAT.

But you haven't added any chinese character :))

And also, thanks for the new update!

Because of this game, I now presses E instead of F in Quake Champions :(