Few video games have ever been as laser-focused as Riot Games’ latest free-to-play first-person shooter, Valorant.
The creators made the sensible decision to put almost everything aside that isn’t gameplay, making Valorant’s superb mechanical design its standout feature.
This strategy is logical. Since releasing the wildly successful League of Legends in 2009, Riot has been working on Valorant, which has taught the company some valuable lessons. To have any chance of the game taking root over the long-term, you must start with a base that is completely rock-solid. This includes character selection, balancing, map design, and pretty much every other facet of the experience.
And Valorant’s action is as good as anything I’ve seen in the professional level; it will support all those potential future expansions.
It all comes down to what the business refers to as “competitive integrity.” Riot Games wants you to constantly feel like it’s your fault, not a problem with cheating, balance, or anything else you may blame on Riot Games, when something goes wrong in a match. The successes will also be yours alone if your losses are yours alone.
This notion is supported by Valorant’s robust anti-cheat system as well as the game’s amazing deployment, which includes top-tier servers to decrease latency. Overall, it’s a great approach to multiplayer design and implementation.
This strategy is also evident in the game’s design, which borrows concepts from many other competitive shooters already in existence and demonstrates once more that effectiveness outweighs uniqueness.
Review On MANAGE EXPECTATIONS (AND RECOIL)
The primary game mode in Valorant is easy. One team plays on offensive, the other on defence, as two five-player teams face off. After 12 rounds, the teams trade places, and the match is won by the first team to win 13 rounds.
On each of the four levels in the game, the attacking team tries to plant a bomb, known as the Spike, at a bomb location. The attacking team must be eliminated for the defending team to succeed, or the placed explosive must be defused. Because there is only one life every round for each participant, either team may win by simply eliminating every member of the opposing squad.
Anyone who has played Counter-Strike or games with a similar gameplay mechanic in the last several years will recognise the action, although Valorant deviates from the Counter-Strike template with its Agent characters. Each player chooses one of 11 Agents at the start of a game, and each Agent has unique special skills that give an additional layer of strategy. Make an informed decision when you begin, though, as you cannot change Agents until the battle is complete. To respond to the decisions made by the opposing side, you cannot swap to another character, but neither can they.
Due to this restriction, though, I seldom ever get claustrophobia. In contrast to Overwatch, which frequently seems like a competitive shooter with heroic protagonists that also happens to have firearms, Valorant is a competitive shooter with tactically adept characters. This works out perfectly because Valorant’s shooting is excellent.
DIRECTING THE FIRE TO THE RIGHT PLACE
What does Riot Games do with the gunplay in Valorant that makes it work so well? When someone says that the shooting, or action, in a game feels nice, it might imply a lot of various ways.
Similar to Counter-Strike, players must purchase weaponry at the start of each round. These heavy weapons have an intense recoil and can spray bullets all over the screen if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Each weapon has a gratifying and distinctive booming ker-CHAK sound that is released when a round is used, giving the impression that every bullet counts. The guns all shoot relatively slowly. Making ensuring the bullets land where you want them to be your challenge.
Even if I miss with my first shot and my opponent hits me twice in the body, I can still prevail in the gunfight if I can change my aim to a headshot before the second bullet is fired. Fighting like this is usually exciting, and the winner nearly always depends on who can shoot the fastest and best. One of Valorant’s most gratifying and difficult mechanics is learning to manage the recoil.
