Review of Naraka: Bladepoint(PC, Xbox One S/X)

 What's up, everyone! This time, I review the latest game in the battle royale subgenre.

Can Shafwan win that chicken dinner? Or will he be running for a Soul Alter before the review even starts?

Let's find out!

The Battle Royale game has been a  giga trend in recent years. The Sub Genre Started out in the same way that the highly successful MOBA franchise kicked off. Nothing more than a mod!  In this case, this highly successful zombie survival game, H1Z1, released to the public in 2018.

 The mod's popularity took off rather quickly and the rest, as they say, is history. The majority of Battle Royale games somehow ended up quite popular. Even one of EA's development studios, Respawn Entertainment tried their hand in this highly popular trend with Apex Legends.

This particular title was released in August 2021, and developed by China-based developers, 24 Entertainment, and Netease Interactive Entertainment.

The game is set in the fictional Morus Island. You pick a character from a roster of 14 characters, (more on that later on!) Then take to the battlefield with up to 60 other players, and become the last man, or a team standing.

The accessibility scores are as follows –

Visibility 10.5

The assist section of the options menu has limited features in terms of colourblind options. You can customise the colours of the crosshairs if you are using ranged weapons, for example repeating crossbows and muskets. 

I.e. the default colour of the crosshair, and the colour of the crosshair when you're targeting an enemy. However, you can apply screen filters which, in turn, makes the game want more accessible when taking this category into account.

On top of that, there are no colour-coded elements that will cause an issue for a colourblind player.

The colour scheme of your armour and items are colourblind unfriendly enough. The rarity ranges from grey, blue, purple and gold. These types of items indicate how durable, therefore effective this item, or armour is going to be.

Audibility 8

This is where the majority of the criticisms of the game lie. There are no subtitles supported in this game. However, due to the nature of the game i.e. Battle Royale, there is very little need for one.

 There is very little dialogue in this game, apart from chatter from your teammate's heroes. These only happen when that particular hero is engaging an enemy, or under attack. However, with a teammate comes under attack by an enemy player, their status in the bottom left of the screen will flash red.

Also, if global events were to happen, for example when the corruption (basically the storm in Fortnite)  will shortly start to shrink, or become more potent on-screen notifications will appear in the centre of the screen. So, a player with a hearing impairment will suffer a very minor disadvantage when playing this game.

Mobility 9.5

In terms of the console version, the button layouts can be fully customised when using a controller. However, there are no customisation options, in terms of stick layouts.

However, the PC version is like night and day. key bindings to be fully customised the year the control section of the options menu. The PC version also has controller support, which works in a co-pilot fashion. This allows our mobility-impaired player to use a controller for melee combat, and your trusty keyboard and mouse for the rest. 

So in terms of this category, the PC version will be your best bet, provided your PC can handle it as the PC version has the least issues.

DETAILED BREAKDOWN

PC- 6/5

 console-3.5/5

Gameplay 8.5

In terms of all Battle Royale games out there, it is this game I will tolerate. This is because the game is the most unique of all. Instead of mindlessly gunning down every player that you will encounter during a match, this game has melee combat thrown in the mix. 

After all, the majority of the games Arsenal are, in fact, melee weapons, for example, daggers, nunchucks, and dual blades. Similar to other games in the Battle Royale subgenre, the rarity of the item determines its effectiveness. The rarer the item, or armour the more effective that item is. For example, gold armour can soak up a lot of punishment before breaking, and a grey staff has a very limited amount of hits before the weapon's durability wears out. When that happens, the weapon's attack strength is drastically reduced.

Inventory management is also key in this game, for example, weapon repair kits restore the durability of a selected weapon, armour powder, as the name suggests repairs your armour, and vitalllia heals wounds.

Souljades gives passive stat increases, for example, attack strength, and resistance when being head with melee weapons.

This game has bog standard solo, duo and trio modes with other players online, or AI-controlled bots. however, with all games of the Battle Royale subgenre, the game does get repetitive after X amount of matches, as there is very little content to make this game diverse.

In summary, Naraka Bladepoint is a refreshing take on the Battle Royale subgenre.

The roster of characters, each with their own roles and abilities reinforces the teamwork mechanic in which the game is built. For example, Kurumi is a healer, she can create a link with a teammate, healing home, or her over time, she can also teleport to that player's location in a pinch, allowing her to assist her teammates in combat by taking her opponents by surprise. This is important as team composition is an important part of this game.

So, if you are looking for a souls-esque Battle Royale game to play over the summer, this game could be a good choice.

 

OVERALL SCORE 95.25%

|See you guys in the next review!

SpartanCommander1990 out!

Roll out, Spartan Legion