Green Room Review| Ready Or Not

 

Image Credit: Steam

***Trigger Warning*** 

This game has missions about many dark topics such as mass shootings, human trafficking, sexual abuse, and distribution of cp. Please do not lay this game if any of those topics are triggering to any past traumas of yours.

Tactical FPS games used to be a lot easier to find in the early 2000's with the likes of Swat 4, Ghost Recon, and Rainbow Six were all the rage but one of those series faded into obscurity. Swat was a bit different than its contemporaries it was based on realistic situations and average locales such as restaurants, hospitals, and homes. Swat stood apart as you weren't military or high tier operatives you were an average American swat team you could beat the game without ever killing a soul or you could blast through playing judge, jury, and executioner. In 2021 a spiritual successor was put into Steam's early access program called Ready or Not and on December 13th, 2023 Ready or Not released its 1.0 build. The game had built a up a reputation in early access through both good gameplay and controversial missions and bad release timing. Though the controversy is there the game does its job in putting players in the boots of an American special weapons and tactics operator with missions that unfortunately reflect real situations like a college campus, nightclub, and hospital. Lets dive into this review! 

(Reviewed on Windows PC (Core i9-12900k, 32gb ram, and RTX 4070))

Gameplay

The gameplay for Ready or Not is where it differs from many modern FPS games there is no sprint, no jump, no prone option, the weapons sway heavily when moving or standing still, enemies can spot lasers or flashlights, getting shot in the leg prevents you from kicking in doors, and surviving a headshot makes your vision blurry. This game tries to be "realistic" making players specify between ammo types that have different effects against armor or flesh, you must choose between armor types with different tradeoffs, and choosing tactical equipment decides if your team is rushing rooms or slowing quarantining sections of the map and taking preventing suspects from moving the choice is yours. The major thing is choosing if you are going non lethal or going in with regular guns to neutralize your suspects. The shooting is satisfying high caliber weapons like battle rifles become hard to control in full auto, shotguns devastate enemies up to 50 meters away or further based on your ammo type, and smgs are fast but lack in penetration. Aside from focusing on tactics and loadouts the game will have you secure evidence and attempt to bring in specific suspects to further the case. This game is very fun but with the most recent patch I have noticed some annoying glitches like suspects becoming soft locked when you order your squad to arrest them and combat breaks out, if you turn on night visions when a squad member was mirroring under a door would cause them to freeze up and have to move them away and other minor annoyances. The game plays very slow if you are used to CoD or other popular FPS games but is a fun challenge to get good at and chase those S rank clears of missions with a great variety of locations across the fictional Los Suenos (based on Los Angeles). The only feature I miss from the beta build was each mission had a variety of scenarios like bomb threat, barricaded suspects, hostage situation, and active shooters. I understand for commander/story mode but for quickplay this feature would be great for replayability. 

Story

The story in this game is very dark delivered mainly through briefings and environmental cues/evidence. The missions ingame currently including the DLCs tell different stories such as a Human trafficking ring, drug distribution, and terrorists striking in domestic soil for the passing of a bill that oppresses their home country and more. IT takes cues from souls games in the way the story isn't handed to you but slowly connect maps and missions together to weave a full picture of what is happening in Los Suenos. This game has many dark moments that evoke a lot of emotion and wanting to kill as many of the suspects as you can after seeing what they have done. The story is still evolving as they just released the newest DLC Dark Waters with three new maps (I have not played yet) that take place off shore of Los Suenos.

Audio

Audio is where this game truly excels from the percussive realistic gunshots that echo off of the walls when in close quarters, or ring out when you are outside, The audio team at Void interactive really went all in. When in the rain you can hear the drops hit your gear and sliding down your helmet, after stepping in blood you hear your boots squeak with each step after. This game focuses on the details that not many other do hearing your expended mag bounce around on the floor or hearing expended brass shift around as you walk through the aftermath of a shootout. Every gun has a different sound to it and the sound of the criminals yelling back as you fight them and the bullets hitting near you create a strong adrenaline response. The game really takes into account your environment in many ways when you do anything from yell, shoot, or use a grenade of any type this game simulates the sounds very well.

Verdict

This game while it does have flaws and some occasional glitches is incredibly fun and at times frustrating but rewarding when you complete a mission with an S rank or just make it to the end without losing an officer. The game offers many ways to play in both co-op and solo where you can focus on taking every suspect alive or blasting through to save as many civilians as possible it provides a ton of variety for other playthroughs. The audio in this game is phenomenal and the graphics escalate the experience as you play and makes you want to experience every possible map in the game. With the developers continuing to support this game hopefully many of the glitches will be resolved and many more interesting locals will be added. This game has earned a 4.5/5 from me as the gameplay is refreshing in our current FPS market and the non linear way of understanding the world is easy to suck players in with. the slow methodical gameplay required for S rank mixed with the brash violence of any other run makes this game feel different as you still want to complete objectives and bring justice to Los Suenos. What is your favorite Tactical shooter? Let me know down below!

P.s. I released this review on Friday just to celebrate the year anniversary of the 1.0 update this is a rare occasion it should go back to Saturdays with the next review.