Recent reviews by Juicebox

After playing 11 hours of Highguard (as of writing this), I'd like to give my own feedback on the game. Keep in mind that I'm speaking from MY experience, and at no point am I trying to speak as if I'm talking for the entire, or a group of the, playerbase.

The game is separated into 3 stages:

1. Reinforce your base
2. Gear up: Traverse the map, find armor, guns, Vesper (currency to give to the in-game trader)
3. Raid: Defend your base, or attack the enemies' base after grabbing the Shieldbreaker and planting it at the enemy base's dome.

For me, I love the pace of the game. I enjoy how there are slower stages, which then flow pretty well into a more hectic, chaotic and fast paced situation.

I've seen tons of mixed opinions on the 3v3 format. Some say it's way too small given how big the map is, some say they HAVE to change the 3v3 format to 5v5 or even 6v6.

I think the format is perfect. The map doesn't feel too big for me, it feels just right. In my first 2 games, I wasn't too sure how I felt about the format. But now, I feel like it's just right.

Given that the game is in a 3v3 format, I personally think it'll cater more to a competitive audience. At least for me, the game becomes literally 10x more enjoyable when I'm playing with 2 of my buddies. This DOES NOT take away that I still thoroughly enjoy the game solo queueing.

Currently, I'm having zero issues regarding performance. Outside of gunfights I'm running at around 180 FPS, in gunfights it only drops about 10-20 FPS, which is more than fine for me given I'm running at a refresh rate of 165Hz.

I would also like to note that I'm using 2 .ini files that improve performance. This initially gave me a boost of 110 FPS (before I started using those .ini files).

Now, this doesn't take away that this game has performance issues. I've heard people saying they crash, have some stutters, big FPS drops during fights. I'm probably just one of the lucky people who hasn't had issues.

They also pushed out an update yesterday or the day before (28/01 or 29/01), which apparently also fixed quite some performance related things. And a dedicated performance patch is coming later this week.

Personally, HUGE fan. I've poured quite some time into Apex Legends and Titanfall 2, and the gunplay feels somewhat similar. So in general I'm a fan of how the gunfights go.

I don't think there's currently a "hard meta" regarding guns, besides the Kraken/Paladin shotgun being used by almost every player I come across. I do think these shotguns are incredibly strong (especially the Kraken's legendary upgrade, making it very doable to just "1 shot" someone)

Despite what I've heard other people say, I love the Wardens. I'm a big fan of how they supplement gameplay instead of being the absolute main focus of fights. I do have some issues with some Wardens in their current state (I'm not covering all of them).

I love her design, her kit is super cool, and I'm a big fan of the voice actress. But my biggest issue is: her kit is incredibly bugged?
When I first played her, I didn't pay much attention. But me being my analytical self, I started paying attention to what the Forest Wisps (Tactical) and the Forest Mother (Ultimate) actually did. Supposedly the Wisps throw concussion grenades. But I rarely see them do just about anything. Multiple occasions where they "just stand there".

Same goes for the Forest Mother. It's supposed to throw bigger bombs at enemies. And while I've seen it do that (both of the abilities for that matter), more often than not it just stares at the enemy while they are, for example, defusing a bomb next to which I've planted my Ultimate and 1 or 2 Tacticals.

I don't know, this was my experience with her, but I feel like her kit is currently somewhat bugged.

The support of Highguard. Her kit is INCREDIBLY strong. Tactical gives you bonus shield (25HP), her Ultimate creates a respawn point with 3 charges/"lives". This also effectively gives you 9 lives during a raid, instead of 6.

When it comes to balancing, I think Mara might be problematic given the value she provides. Her kit doesn't require deep knowledge, nor is there a skill floor, let alone a skill ceiling. I do need to add, there is NOTHING wrong with a "low skill required" character in any video game. In general I do not have a direct issue with Mara, but I do think she's a bit too strong.

Very cool character, though I don't play her myself. My only issue with her is her cloak ability (Tactical). And more specifically that she makes no footstep sounds during her Tactical (might just be an issue on my side, just my experience). I've had quite some occasions where she pops up behind me, I don't even realise, and I die. But again, this might be an issue on my side, haven't been able to confirm her audibility during her Tactical.

Absolutely love this guy's design. But I think his kit is a bit pointless? I feel like his entire kit is given to everyone in the form of a raid tool, the Rocket Launcher. Now, I do like this guy, so whenever I play him, I use his tactical as a mobility tool. To quickly get a burst of speed from 1 piece of cover to another, or take high ground during a raid.

If I had the power to make a change to his kit. I'd make it to where he could have more air control during his Tactical (because you are FULLY locked during the animation). I've had silly situations where I launch myself upwards to try and hop a wall or take high ground, and I'm literally staring at my opponent who proceeds to beam me to death. I've learned my lesson though teehee. Besides the air control, I would personally like to see him being able to cancel his ability mid "flight" so he could end up in a slide, or just whip out his gun to be more ready for a gunfight.

I think the games awesome, I hope the devs keep it up the way they are now. And when reading negative reviews, please read them thoroughly, and DON'T look at the % of negative reviews. I huge amount of them are trolls, or are people who form a full "review" after playing for 1 hour (practically impossible to get a proper view of the game as you first have to boot up the game (adds time to your play total), play the tutorial, play 1 game. All of that adds to roughly 1 hour).

Hopefully this review was helpful!

good game, very fun, extremely exciting. Chargers need to get cancer tho :(

best 1v4 experience

anal/prostate cancer c:

♥♥♥♥

Unfinished and looks really ugly

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