BACK 4 BLOODEvan Lahti, global
editor-in-chief: Before
it released, we were
concerned that adding
aim-down-sights to the Left 4
Dead^ formula^ would^ slow^ it^
down too much. But Back 4
Blood’s guns are silky in your
hands, containing nuance that
exceeds their appearance.
As an FPS fan I love the
attention to detail: the hip fire
animation changes when you
drop to a crouch,
communicating clearly that
you’re more accurate than
standing, but less accurate than
if you were in ironsights. Range
matters. You can kit out a horde
killer by grabbing attachments
and card bonuses that increase
bullet penetration.
The high volume of enemies
and the fact that so many guns
are one-hit kills against basic
undead feels great. Lately I’m
lugging around the. 50 calibre
sniper rifle as an anti-‘big guy’
gun, with the silenced Magnum
as a sidearm.
Morgan Park, staff writer: Were
I still on my first playthrough of
Back 4 Blood, I would’ve
thought Evan silly for carrying
the big sniper rifle that shoots
slow. But now that I’m jumping
back into the campaign on a
higher difficulty, having a
marksman for the nastier
infected hordes is not only
smart, but necessary. I think
that speaks to Back 4 Blood’s
strengths over Left 4 Dead: the
game pushes you to try new
things, and it’s not only
replayable because shooting
zombies is fun. There’s always
a new deck to test out, a gun
you’ve not given a proper try
yet, or a nasty combo of
Corruption Cards that puts a
twist on a mission you’ve done
before. It’s Left 4 Dead, but
more, and often better.Jacob Ridley, senior hardware
editor: I’ve never had as much
fun benchmarking a game as I
did in Back 4 Blood, and that
was in the company of the
game’s confused bots. Seriously,
I ran the same level maybe 30
times, and I genuinely enjoyed
every run. If you have a cheery
bunch of zombie-annihilating
hobbyists to play with, there’s a
lot of replayability in this game.
The cards system makes each
level feel a little different to the
last, and with buffs, for both
player and zombie, you’ll find
you end up with a different
playstyle nearly every run.Morgan Park: In a
world of multiplayer
games that are either
ultra competitive or glorified
checklists, Chivalry 2 is a rare
game that just wants you to
hop into a match and go effin
wild. Objectives are little more
than set dressing for the
game’s impressively massive
64-player battles. You can push
the battering ram toward the
castle with your team, but no
one will begrudge you for
ignoring it and going on
kicking spree instead. One
time I decided I’m allergic to
swords and was only allowed
to kill people with
dismembered arms and heads
(it went surprisingly well).Evan Lahti: If you’ve ever
practiced a martial art, you
know how crucial it is to
manage and manipulate
distance to beat an opponent.
Chivalry 2 manages to contain
this aspect of authenticity
without going all-in on fussy
medieval realism. It feels
unbelievably good to survive a
3v1 by dodging at the right
time, or forcing enemies to
wallop one another with
unexpected footwork.This is a rare competitive
multiplayer game that
understands the value of being
messy. Sometimes a catapult
shot drops out of the sky and
insta-kills me and five of my
teammates. Over-enthusiastic
teammates will hit you in the
back of the head with their
falchion. Archers are an
absolute nuisance, cowardly
arrow-lobbers who can kill
with impunity. But Chivalry 2
embraces these warped aspects
as charming texture. There’s a
dedicated button for letting
everyone around you know that
you want to ‘Kill the archers’. I
press it often.Tyler Wilde, executiveeditor: I
love how Chivalry 2 balances
negativity with positivity. When
you die, you can tap a key to
commend the knight who
decapitated you, if they deserve
it. A couple of times I looked
for that key in Battlefield 2042
and was disappointed not to
find it. And like Evan says, the
combat is subtler than it can
look. You’ve got to use footwork
to find openings, and find a
rhythm without being
predictable. It’s a bit like
boxing. But with swords.CHIVALRY 2BESTCO-OP
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2021