Black Squad Review: A potentially huge F2P FPS game.

When one sees F2P in a title they typically think "Oh look, another freenium game." This is true for most of the popular free-to-play games; Warface, Crossfire, and what used to be Battlefield Play4Free. However, this is not the case for Black Squad.

Black Squad is a game that takes elements from CS:GO and CoD, which is all built around the Unreal Engine 3 engine. The game was actually first released in South Korea (and possibly Indonesia) back in 2014, and is currently in Early Access for the North/South American and European audience.

Black Squad features multiple gamemodes, with set rules and somewhat variable player counts. Capture is a gamemode where two teams are pitted on opposite sides of the map, and are tasked with holding a point for the longest. Destruction is where two teams are assigned five crates that have a megaload of HP (per team) to destroy. Assassination is where one team is given orders to kill a VIP, while the others have to prevent the VIP's unfortunate death. Finally, Demolition is a gamemode based almost entirely off Counter Strike; one team has to plant a bomb and the others have to prevent that from happening.

In certain gamemodes, such as Destruction and Capture, there is a point-based perk system; players can choose from Assault, Command, Support, and Recon; each has rank (and point) locked perks unique to each class. Perks can range from small ammo boxes to Hellpike missiles. While such can bring a unique twist to the game, it does hamper down on the realism of the game.

There are also many options for multiplayer servers. While there are no truly dedicated servers on Black Squad, a person can create a server for everyone to join for free, with most options on gamemodes and player count available to a person. If you want to play with friends and only friends, you can; private servers with 4-digit numerical passcodes are available. However, the servers don't allow much administrative ability, only allowing you to kick during intermission.

Now on to weapons. This is the point where most games would go pay to win.

The game features a variety of weapons available for Gold, which is earned in matches and by logging in daily. These include rapid fire guns such as the Kriss Vector, high damage guns such as the SCAR-H, sniper rifles, shotguns, and pistols. Each has somewhat unique stats and are mostly designed for specific situations (CQC, mid range, or sniping range). Other guns, some of which are very powerful, can be bought with Medals. Sounds like a currency you would have to pay for, right?

Wrong. 

Medals are actually just a harder-to-obtain currency, earned from level ups and as a reward if one logs in for a week straight. Guns bought with medals are powerful, indeed, but can be countered with standard guns, therefore preventing an inbalance in the playing field. So, overall, the game puts more of an emphasis on skill rather than money. So, how does the game make a profit?

By selling gun skins, that is.

While not tradable on the Steam market, the game features skins that cost real money. Such skins can be obtained by crates (although unlikely) or by BS (Black Squad) coins, which are gained from crates. The game has an rather broad classification system when it comes to skins. Most skins are 500 BS coins, which designate them as the more common skins. The game then has skins for 20,000 BS coins; a rapid jump from uncommon to godly (or super expensive). A problem with this is that there is a giant price gap; there are no levels in between uncommon and godly. An obvious solution would be to designate rarites and create skins with rarities in between the two; rares for 2000 BS coins, super rares for 5000 BS coins, and legendaries for 10000 BS coins.

So, is this game worth one's time?

If you like competitive gameplay and cannot afford CS:GO, then yes. The game is largely a true free to play game; every gun is obtainable without spending a single cent, no maps or major content are behind a paywall, and you can play (or start) public and private servers. Skins are entirely optional, but are a nice addition. However, there is one great negative about the game.

Company-community interaction. Since this game is developed and owned by an Asian based company, it would make it difficult for American and European players to provide feedback.

Overall, however, this game does provide a good, worthwhile experience, and I recommend that you try it.

Rating: 9/10