SHOUT OUT - When The Finals dropped, it felt like next gen had arrived
Crunchy.
By Jonathan Garrett
28/04/24
NOTE: thatHITBOX Shout Out’s are not sponsored content. They’re games, developers, individuals, or issues that we want to highlight and share purely out of interest.
Although familiar experiences create a particular kind of cosy vibe, we had very much been seeking new IP once this gen entered full swing. Numerous factors impacted the release focus of the major platforms, with COVID and supply shortages necessitating a longer set of cross gen releases than perhaps we initially expected. But then Embark Studios dropped The Finals.
From a technical perspective, and in terms of polish, this was the first title that we believed wouldn’t have been possible on older hardware. The nuance of the destruction, appropriate balance and scale to the maps, and the slick nature of the presentation leveraged modern console tech and Unreal Engine 5 in a way that felt truly new.
Its influences are apparent, given the number of devs who worked on legacy Battlefield titles, but it has carved a mechanical flow and visual identity all its own. With Season 2 in full swing, there is plenty to be excited about. If you haven’t yet dipped a toe, we can wholeheartedly recommend it. The Finals will be staying in our regular rotation for many months to come.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
