If any person requested me how you can make Counter-Strike 2 extra informal whereas nonetheless preserving its signature trappings—bomb websites, financial system, silent strolling, low time-to-kill—I might first ask why they’re making an attempt to power a sq. peg right into a spherical gap.
There isn’t any such factor as kicking again and “enjoyable” with a spherical of CS2. It is extraordinarily troublesome, ruthlessly punishes errors, the bullets do not shoot straight, and that is how tens of millions of gamers prefer it. A number of have tried, and every has discovered that throwing a towel over CS2’s sweaty gunplay runs the danger of eroding its attraction till you would possibly as effectively be making Name of Obligation.
Fragpunk is the primary FPS to string that needle. It is informal Counter-Strike, it is Valorant with out ultimates, it is round-based Name of Obligation, it is, it is…really, Fragpunk is so many shooters directly that it is one thing really particular. There are 100 little design choices that make Fragpunk work, however I’ve recognized 4 sensible twists on tac shooters that hold stress low and enjoyable excessive.
Shard Playing cards (duh)
In case you bounce into your first Fragpunk match with the ferocity of Counter-Strike, the primary signal that it’s best to dial again the sweat is Shard Playing cards: highly effective modifiers randomly drawn and activated by participant vote between every spherical. Shard Playing cards vary from small buffs to unhinged, round-defining rule modifications, like a card that deletes one of many bomb websites, one other that allows you to lay an egg that heals you, or my private favourite, a card that takes away everyone’s weapons for a compelled spherical of “knives solely.” I like how playful they’re and the way a number of appear to deliberately riff on conventional FPS server home guidelines.
Shard Playing cards are additionally a cool block of ice over simmering tempers. It is onerous to really feel such as you tousled if you solely misplaced a spherical as a result of the opposite workforce had swords that block bullets. They’re so deeply unserious that, at first, their random energy appears incompatible with a aggressive round-based format, however there’s really a good quantity of technique concerned in selecting them.
The factors used to activate playing cards are basically Fragpunk’s financial system—you possibly can financial institution factors for a number of rounds by not utilizing them or earn further by profitable rounds and racking up kills. Typically, frugal spending means you get to activate three playing cards directly that weigh the following spherical closely in your favor.
Not like CS or Valorant, the place the purpose of a “save spherical” is to finally purchase a godlike sniper rifle, I save up Shard factors so I can set off the stupidest card doable at any time when it seems.
As I discussed, Fragpunk’s financial system is gentle and completely wrapped up in Shard Playing cards, which suggests weapon choice will get to be far more chill. I could not consider it after I first perused the gun display and realized I may simply seize Fragpunk’s equal of the AWP instantly. The identical goes for all 16 weapons at launch—Fragpunk simply needs you to play with what’s snug.
However this aint Name of Obligation, so there’s a catch. For every class of massive gun (assault rifle, SMG, LMG, sniper, marksman rifle) you solely get two per half. So if I select my favourite all-arounder AR, a silenced M4-like known as the Self-discipline, within the first two rounds and die each instances, no extra free ARs till we swap sides.
I actually just like the system—there isn’t any scarcity of weapons, so you may by no means be caught slumming it with only a pistol, however it injects simply sufficient danger that there is an incentive to save lots of massive weapons for large moments.
Quick rounds
Better of seven rounds, quarter-hour. That is the utmost dedication to a match of Quickplay in Fragpunk, and it feels so proper. This could possibly be essentially the most impactful change of all of them. Each time I’ve ever put down Rainbow Six Siege for months or a 12 months, it was triggered by the distress of being trapped in a 40-minute slog of a loss.
It is simply one more reason I am unable to even faux to take Fragpunk too severely. By the point it is clear the opposite workforce is healthier, the match is virtually over. Is seven rounds lengthy sufficient to really choose ability? Nah, however there’s a Ranked mode unlocked at stage 30 that is better of 11 as an alternative (nonetheless considerably shorter than CS).
No ultimates
The issue with ultimates is that shooters which have them are inclined to revolve round them. That is the rub of a capability designed to be so good that it may win whole fights or rounds for you, and it is that proven fact that makes high-level Overwatch, Valorant, and Marvel Rivals an obnoxious bout of particle results. Fragpunk has heroes and talents, however there’s nothing I might classify as an final.
There are highly effective signature talents—in his impressions, Evan identified Dealer’s rocket launcher that may one-shot enemies if it hits their toes—however there is no single transfer as potent as Brimstone’s area laser or D.Va’s exploding mech. Some Shard Playing cards rise to that stage of usefulness, however even these take the guesswork out of ultimates by telling you precisely what playing cards are lively within the spherical.
Bonus: The bullets go straight
Sorry for the blasphemy, CS2 and Valorant enjoyers, however I am unable to get totally behind funky recoil patterns that do not observe the middle of the display. Not solely does it make bullets appear like they’re flying out of bent barrels, however it provides an imprecision to recoil management that I’ve seen drive mates bananas.
I respect that Fragpunk is a straight shooter. As in, the weapons work such as you’d count on in just about each different FPS on the planet. You’ll be able to even ADS, a function I beloved within the soon-to-be-shut-down Spectre Divide.
