Review: Gang Beasts

Gang Beasts appeared in Steam's "Early Access" already three and a half years ago, and already then lethal players and ordinary players saw potential in it. The simplest fighting game, not requiring memorization of combinations and learning techniques, perfectly suited for entertainment in the company of friends, and it was funny to watch from the side of the fights of the gelatinous little men. In many respects this was due to the bright style and magnificent animation of the fighters - it's simply impossible to look at what is happening without laughing.

"Early Access" the game left only this month, but after the hours spent in it you hardly understand what exactly the developers were doing for three and a half years. The gameplay has not changed, there are no new opportunities, except that a couple of maps and modes have been added. The feeling that this is still an early version does not leave a single minute, since many elements here either do not work at all, or are made too shabby even for an independent studio.

The essence of the game is simple: a few people fall into a small location and must defeat each other, throwing opponents out of the map or in some dangerous zones. In local matches participation is accepted by a maximum of four users, and online their number can reach eight. There is no difference between the characters - in the menu you can change their appearance, but it does not affect any characteristics of the men. But hats and costumes give each of them an individuality, although I would like more diverse things in the wardrobe.

At first, it is necessary not so much to fight for the sake of victory, as to understand management. Part of the action is carried out by the usual pressing, part - by holding the buttons. The opponent can be beaten by the head and hands, and then, when he loses consciousness for a few seconds, grab the lifeless body and take it to the right place or throw it away. It also happens that in trying to eliminate the enemy you fall outside the card itself, but it does not cause irritation.

A simple formula works at the expense of a variety of maps, each of which offers unique ways of punishing people. That group falls on moving trucks, on the roofs of which it is dangerous to stand because of road signs. That the characters are on a flying airship and almost slip from it, because of which the danger of dying increases. One of the funniest locations is the metro, where you need to push each other under a passing train.

Each match quickly turns into chaos: everyone splits each other on the head, jumps, faints, someone pulls someone aside. The man falling from the cliff suddenly wakes up and grabs his hands against the wall, trying to climb up, and then comes to his abuser and cuts him in revenge. Some maps have destructible objects like fences, boards and windows, which adds more opportunities in combat, but at the same time makes the duel more dangerous.

Unfortunately, all this works more or less well only in local multiplayer. Online servers Gang Beasts correctly do not function even a week after the release. Whichever mode you run, you will constantly encounter a delay in the input, because of which it is almost impossible to play normally. When the character makes a jump a half seconds after pressing the corresponding button, it becomes difficult to enjoy the matches. The same happens with strokes, and for some pressing the game generally refuses to respond.

This is true for all modes, which in the game is catastrophically small. There is an ordinary battle to the death and a team version of it - in them you probably spend the most time. I did not manage to play football, because every time I started it, my opponent and I stood still. But chasing the ball and scoring goals is still not as exciting as simply beating each other and throwing off the cliff.

Fans of PvE can launch a cooperative mode, in which a team of four people battles with waves of AI-controlled opponents. Enemies turn out to be quite intelligent and die not so easily as one might think. The only problem is that the deceased participant remains dead until the end of the match, because of what it is almost impossible to try to win waves with a group of "random" - if someone immediately leaves the game, then one can not try. 

This concludes the content - everything that was available in the game three years ago, remained in place. But almost nothing new in Gang Beastsdid not appear. Nowhere is the nightmarish interface, as if done hastily. And it's not so much in primitive fonts and lack of training, as in its strangeness. Combat to death consists of several stages, between which a leader table is displayed. And sometimes it does not appear at all, and if you see it, it's just the faces of the little men in the column, with the poorly drawn stars signifying victory.

Bugs are also found during the battle - sometimes the camera can go to the side, because of what its fighter can not be found on the screen. This is especially annoying in those moments when you are thrown out of the server without a warning in just ten seconds, explaining this by the lack of activity. A similar situation arose on my map with trucks - figuring out all the opponents on my side, I just watched the fight of the two remaining players on the other car. Who knew what would be punished for this?

Gang Beasts has always seemed like a great partying game, and in a sense it really is. But such a project was three years ago, and by and large, even then he could leave the "Early Access". Why the release of the final version and the appearance of the game on the PS4 had to wait for so many years - it is decidedly incomprehensible: the flaws were not eliminated, there is no new content, the servers are still working somehow. But at least the animation is funny, but it's hardly worth it to spend money for it. 

My personal Rate would be: 4/10