Babylon’s Fallgame as service branded PlatinumGames and Square Enixis finally out and as usual here is also our review. A title with certainly not just ambitious premises, a bit like all video games game as service, but that is not convincing at all. When it comes to PlatinumGames usually the gameplay is practically a guaranteed success, we are still talking about the same development house of a series like that of Bayonetta. But by playing Babylon’s Fall for this review, unfortunately, we did not perceive the stylistic code that unites the games of the software house. Beyond a fairly incomplete technical and graphic sector (which we will talk about later) gameplay is the first aspect of the game to limp. Because it is right to discuss progression, game balance and so on, and of course these are all topics we intend to cover, but in a video game so distinctly action either the gameplay works or the structure collapses, and not a little. We don’t feel like saying that the gameplay of it works as well, not as it should at least, for a variety of reasons.
Babylon’s Fall is supposed to shine for gameplay, but it doesn’t
We have tried the game on PlayStation 5, so we could have the micro vibrations of the DualSense, more accurate than those of a DuaShock 4 for example. Despite this, the feedback of the shots made and received leaves a lot to be desired, and consequently the situation gets worse if you play on old-gen (or in general with a standard Xbox One pad). In an action game the visual, sound and even “tactile” feedback must be convincingwhile instead in Babylon’s Fall hit enemies often the same satisfaction of hitting a wall (very little).
It doesn’t help either balancing of game, where Babylon’s Fall stumbles for the second time in a row. Premise, the title is placed as designed for co-op, so playing solo is certainly not the same thing. One would expect one scalability or difficulty of battles or hordes, considering it’s not an MMO. What do we mean? We take for example what happens in Elden Ring. When summoning someone for a boss, both bots and real players, the hit points of the enemy in question are doubled to counterbalance the increasing number of players. As a result, playing solo has difficulty X and playing co-op has difficulty Y. It does not work like thatevery fight is calibrated to have all 4 players in co-op (which is the maximum number) and therefore carrying out the missions alone is a real torture. Because ok, for sure those who live alone a co-op title are not enjoying the experience as it is conceived, but even in historical games at the Left 4 Dead there were hordes scaled based on the number of players, as well as the general difficulty. Playing in co-op is not a choice, it is a must.
It would not even be a big problem, per se, to stay in the same fight for a long time, an action video game that works perfectly indeed almost wanting long and intense fights, so you entertain yourself for a longer amount of time. But as mentioned is not the case with Babylon’s Fallwhich at times is indeed indeed very woody. A problem that, in our opinion, also derives from the choice to give a unique bar for both special attacks and dodges, a bit as if in a soulslike mana and stamina they were the same thing. This energy bar recharges when attacking, which is a good thing, but a must choose self dodge or do combos with special moves it’s tedious, frustrating, and in general it makes fights less fluid. A bar that, yes, recharges itself by doing nothing but walking, but really too slowly to call it a real recovery. By doing perfect dodges, so a moment before you are hit, at least the energy bar does not wear out, so if you are good pad in hand this mechanic will give you less problems.
The progression system was also rejected. In a game as service the first thing to do is to make the player perceive progression, immediately, so that he is teased by wanting to continue. It makes you turn up your nose, therefore, already in the early game stages, equipment that improves certain statistics and decreases others instead of increasing everything, with values that seem to be drawn out completely at random (+50 to this one, -32 to that other, and all with starting values in the tens or barely hundreds, therefore variations even of 40 or 50% very often). When a player who is completely new, without knowing anything or almost what are the pros and cons of a build, you must already have to ask yourself if the new objects are better or less than the previous ones, the problem is obvious.
The title is, moreover, a looterto Destiny so to speak, then the armamentari obtained during missions (they can also be purchased with microtransactions), but it is disappointing to have to wait for the end of the quest to be able to even find out what has been dropped, collecting everything inside micro chests to open. In Destinybut also in games like the Borderlands saga, what you collect is immediately usable and you can consequently change the equipped items at any time, what is not possible in Babylon’s Fall. Anthem he had most of these progression problems, primarily looting without really doing it all the way, but at least the gameplay managed to entertain. The game is not entertaining, it doesn’t give the right sense of progressiondoes not have a balancing that takes into account wanting to play it on your own (rather it was better to prevent doing it or using bots) and in general tedious the player a lot. The playful side of the experience is, ultimately, very mediocre.
Insufficient technical sector
If Babylon’s Fall gameplay is the worst aspect covered in this reviewcertainly the opposite of the technical sector and especially graphic. The title is perpetually grainy, the feeling you get is when you find it hard to focus on something with your eyes. It is not clear what it depends on, but everything is very blurry and with light effects that can even give real problems to the sight. The whole playing on PS5so it is assumed that no compromises were needed like that to run it at 60 FPS. Especially considering the quality of textures, animations and models, which at times seem taken from PS3. If you too suffer from small or large ones, vision problems (especially to whom they have been prescribed lenses with the blue light filter) keep in mind that the game may be difficult to play. Nothing to say instead about the sound, with some Very catchy OST net of a rather mediocre English dub (sometimes commas are not even taken into account).
In light of the above, it might seem that it is a video game to failand unfortunately that’s how it is. We are not dealing with an absolute disaster, there are no bug game breaking, inputs that are not read or commands mapped badly, indeed it is also possible to customize the mapping. The problem is not in the outline, it’s in the main dish. They are the pillars of the game that cannot stand up, and certainly the details of the kit cannot be enough to support them, so yes it is a rejection in all respects. A great shame for PlatinumGames and Square Enix, Babylon’s Fall could have been a lot and instead the fall that makes noise is his own.
#Babylons #Fall #Review #ambitious #mediocre