The Finals Preview: This Hunger Games Shooter-Style FPS Shows Promise But Has Major Issues

All For The Fame

The Finals throws you into a virtual combat game show, a Hunger Games-esque competition for fame, fortune, and lucrative sponsorships. Inspired by films like The Hunger Games and Gladiator, the game sets you against other teams in a battle for supremacy. You customize your Competitor, though options currently feel somewhat limited. Matches unfold across real-world locations like Monaco and Seoul, each with dynamic weather and time of day adding an unpredictable element to each round. The core concept is engaging, promising a unique blend of action and spectacle.

Clock in, Cash Out

The objective in The Finals isn’t simple elimination; it’s about accumulating and banking cash. Teams compete to secure Vaults containing money, then race to designated Cashout points. Carrying the cash renders players defenseless, creating intense moments of vulnerability and opportunity for daring heists. The lengthy deposit timer adds strategic depth, encouraging both protection and aggressive appropriation of other teams’ hard-earned loot. Tournament mode extends the experience with a knockout-style bracket, adding a layer of competitive intensity and longevity to the matches.

Insert Coin To Play

The Finals isn’t a battle royale; death isn’t the end. Players enjoy multiple respawns, either through teammate revives or by spending “coins” after a timer expires. This respawn system, along with the ability to drag fallen teammates’ trophies to safety, encourages teamwork and strategic retreats. Environmental interaction is a key feature. Players can pick up and throw various objects like explosive canisters, toxic gas, and the game’s unique Goo containers, creating tactical opportunities for both offense and defense. The Goo, a deployable foam barrier, offers temporary cover but wasn’t consistently utilized during gameplay.

Chaos Incarnate

The game’s defining characteristic is its complete environmental destruction. Buildings, walls, even the ground itself crumble under the impact of weaponry and explosives. This server-side destruction ensures consistent experiences for all players in a match. The result is exhilarating chaos, forcing players to constantly adapt and reposition themselves. While this adds a unique and unpredictable dynamic, it also creates significant visual clutter, occasionally obscuring the action and potentially overwhelming new players. The destruction, while a core element, occasionally hindered gameplay due to excessive visual obscuring and the frequency of falling through the map.

Choose Your Contestant

Players choose from three distinct Competitor builds – Light, Medium, and Heavy – each offering unique advantages and disadvantages. The Light build prioritizes speed and agility, specializing in sniper and submachine guns; the Medium offers a balanced approach with assault rifles and shotguns; while the Heavy excels in close-quarters combat with heavy machine guns and grenade launchers, also including a deployable shield. While the variety is welcome, significant imbalances exist between these builds, with some (like the Light build’s near-impossible-to-hit hitbox) significantly outperforming others. The Heavy build’s grenade launcher, capable of obliterating structures and inflicting substantial damage, felt particularly overpowered in the closed beta.

Balancing Act

The Finals suffers from significant balancing issues. The lack of class restrictions allows for unbalanced team compositions, with combinations like multiple Heavy builds utilizing the overpowered grenade launcher creating overwhelming advantages. Weapon balancing remains inconsistent, with some weapons consistently one-shotting opponents, creating frustrating gameplay experiences. The destructible environment exacerbates these problems, creating scenarios where visual clutter hinders combat and allows enemies to easily escape and recover. While the developers have been responsive to feedback, the current state of balance requires significant improvement before The Finals can find a stable footing in the competitive FPS landscape.