EARLY ACCESS REVIEW, WILL ADJUST WHEN 1.0 COMES OUT

Ground Branch is a hardcore tactical shooter with an in-depth customization system as well as many features that promote a more thoughtful approach to your missions compared to similiar games.

This Early Access (EA) game offers you PvP, PvE as well as Singleplayer vs. AI modes so far, on top of a customization system for your avatar. The customization goes as far as to let you choose where you put what kind of equipment/ammo on your chest carrier, by manually attaching the pouch to it yourself. Same system applies to weapons but with all the different accessories there are for them. You not only choose what scope(s) you put on it but also where they are located, as well as the exact position on the rail itself. It is pretty much the same as in real life at this point.


Positive Aspects

• Performance is quite good, no problem with constant 60FPS on 4k Ultra besides small frame drops
  
• Controls are very well thought out and have great innovations that I have never seen before
  
• Customization is innovative and pretty much as close as it gets to real life
  
• Very transparent developers that urge you to engage in conversation on their discord. Yes this is a plus as that is a much more progressive approach as some other devs chose

Negative Aspects

• Visual appeal of the game is not where it should be yet. Unreal Engine 4 is usually capable of much better graphics. There also seems to be a problem with AA as many edges seem very rough even on 4k ultra
  
• AI is next to unbeatable as they will snap onto you across the map on many occasions
  
• Model and Texture quality is still very low but that is being improved steadily
  
• Not many scopes and weapons to choose from at this point. Same goes for uniforms and vests
  
• Very clunky UI. Grenade switching and such is just weird. No indication of what weapon is in your hands etc.
  
• Quality of life features such as a ready up deadline on multiplayer servers is still lacking. If one guy is AFK the whole server has to wait forever
  
• Most Sounds seem to be placeholders
  
• No real "game" yet besides the Terrorist Hunt. Most of this game is pretty much just a concept at this point

The gameplay itself features some of the most common gamemodes such as (T)DM but also coop modes, called "Terrorist Hunt", where you try to kill all enemy AI. The controls are a bit clunky at first but after a good hour or two you get used to them. You always walk unless you press run or sprint, which is diffrent from most shooters. When aiming down your sights you can use scroll wheel to switch between the different scopes you have. When lasers and lights or NVGs are attached, you can access a menu via F to switch them on and off. Clicking R will do a fast reload where it drops your mag on the ground, which can be picked up again, while holding R does a normal reload where the mag is put back into your pouch. Clicking on a door handle bursts the door open while holding it allows you to manually open it via mouse movement to do a peek. Such features are new to this genre as far as I am concerned and I do believe a lot of games could benefit from such features.


The game has no problem running in 4k Ultra but it does have some random lag spikes depending on the mission or server. This is not a problem as it is still EA. I am actually suprised how well this ran although being so early in development. If you got somewhat good hardware, you should see no problems with this. The visuals themselves are still lack luster though, as the game seems to have issues with edges. Even with AA and 4k resolution you still see a lot of individual pixels, which should not be the case with these settings. Many magnifying scopes also have visual bugs where they only show you a white screen until you shoot once.


A game for every tactics fan. Many of my ArmA comrades already bought it for this reason. It offers you engaging tactical coop with lots of customization and options to approach your mission. This game shines the most when played in a small team of friends. So far there are 4(?) maps for you to hunt terrorists on as well as some other maps for diffrent gamemodes. A sort of linear coop mission line is planned for the full release. If you can live with the fact that gameplay features themselves are still lacking a bit, this is worth the purchase for sure. It can only get better from here and considering how well it already works, I have very high hopes for this to become the next gen coop shooter we always wanted.

However, this is still EA. The game is pretty much still a proof of concept rather than a game. UI is not even existing besides the laser/tac light menu and grenade switch although those options are very clunky still. The controls need a lot of refinement, the animations bound to them especially. Do not get into this expecting a working game like CS:GO or such.

[b]EARLY ACCESS REVIEW, WILL ADJUST WHEN 1.0 COMES OUT [h1]Ground Branch is a hardcore tactical shooter with an in-depth customization system as well as many features that promote a more thoughtful approach to your missions compared to similiar games.[/h1][/b] This Early Access (EA) game offers you PvP, PvE as well as Singleplayer vs. AI modes so far, on top of a customization system for your avatar. The customization goes as far as to let you choose where you put what kind of equipment/ammo on your chest carrier, by manually attaching the pouch to it yourself. Same system applies to weapons but with all the different accessories there are for them. You not only choose what scope(s) you put on it but also where they are located, as well as the exact position on the rail itself. It is pretty much the same as in real life at this point. [b]Positive Aspects[/b] [list] [*] Performance is quite good, no problem with constant 60FPS on 4k Ultra besides small frame drops [*] Controls are very well thought out and have great innovations that I have never seen before [*] Customization is innovative and pretty much as close as it gets to real life [*] Very transparent developers that urge you to engage in conversation on their discord. Yes this is a plus as that is a much more progressive approach as some other devs chose [/list] [b]Negative Aspects[/b] [list] [*]Visual appeal of the game is not where it should be yet. Unreal Engine 4 is usually capable of much better graphics. There also seems to be a problem with AA as many edges seem very rough even on 4k ultra [*] AI is next to unbeatable as they will snap onto you across the map on many occasions [*] Model and Texture quality is still very low but that is being improved steadily [*] Not many scopes and weapons to choose from at this point. Same goes for uniforms and vests [*] Very clunky UI. Grenade switching and such is just weird. No indication of what weapon is in your hands etc. [*] Quality of life features such as a ready up deadline on multiplayer servers is still lacking. If one guy is AFK the whole server has to wait forever [*] Most Sounds seem to be placeholders [*] No real "game" yet besides the Terrorist Hunt. Most of this game is pretty much just a concept at this point[/list] [h1]===Gameplay===[/h1] The gameplay itself features some of the most common gamemodes such as (T)DM but also coop modes, called "Terrorist Hunt", where you try to kill all enemy AI. The controls are a bit clunky at first but after a good hour or two you get used to them. You always walk unless you press run or sprint, which is diffrent from most shooters. When aiming down your sights you can use scroll wheel to switch between the different scopes you have. When lasers and lights or NVGs are attached, you can access a menu via F to switch them on and off. Clicking R will do a fast reload where it drops your mag on the ground, which can be picked up again, while holding R does a normal reload where the mag is put back into your pouch. Clicking on a door handle bursts the door open while holding it allows you to manually open it via mouse movement to do a peek. Such features are new to this genre as far as I am concerned and I do believe a lot of games could benefit from such features. [h1]===Performance===[/h1] The game has no problem running in 4k Ultra but it does have some random lag spikes depending on the mission or server. This is not a problem as it is still EA. I am actually suprised how well this ran although being so early in development. If you got somewhat good hardware, you should see no problems with this. The visuals themselves are still lack luster though, as the game seems to have issues with edges. Even with AA and 4k resolution you still see a lot of individual pixels, which should not be the case with these settings. Many magnifying scopes also have visual bugs where they only show you a white screen until you shoot once. [h1]===Conclusion===[/h1] A game for every tactics fan. Many of my ArmA comrades already bought it for this reason. It offers you engaging tactical coop with lots of customization and options to approach your mission. This game shines the most when played in a small team of friends. So far there are 4(?) maps for you to hunt terrorists on as well as some other maps for diffrent gamemodes. A sort of linear coop mission line is planned for the full release. If you can live with the fact that gameplay features themselves are still lacking a bit, this is worth the purchase for sure. It can only get better from here and considering how well it already works, I have very high hopes for this to become the next gen coop shooter we always wanted. However, this is still EA. The game is pretty much still a proof of concept rather than a game. UI is not even existing besides the laser/tac light menu and grenade switch although those options are very clunky still. The controls need a lot of refinement, the animations bound to them especially. Do not get into this expecting a working game like CS:GO or such.