The monopoly of PUBG is slowly decreasing and people are searching for its alternative. It was banned in different countries owing to its controversies. Even India, which by the way holds the largest stake of its fanbase recently banned it. Although battle royale games are nothing new to the world, PUBG introduced this concept in a new way. This made PUBG a champion over many of its competitors.
As a result of the ban, PUBG is slowly losing its power over the Indian market. Hence, Bluehole, the developer of PUBG made several attempts to regain its swing in India, but all of them went into the dust. It even dropped Tencent, the company that’s behind its creation just to appease the Indian government, but it didn’t help. The game is still banned in India.
Although it was banned, people however never stopped playing PUBG. One way or another, they are still playing the battle royale game. As a result, India is encouraging a new desi game called FAU-G, which by the way looks and sound similar to PUBG. They even released a closed beta version and it was flooded with sign up request from many people as soon as the news broke. After all this, we can clearly say that the arrival of PUBG is nowhere near. Henceforth, many games which look like PUBG are getting huge support even though they look pale in comparison to PUBG.
Farlight 84: The New Kid Around the Block.
Owing to PUBG’s ban, people started exploring play store looking for its alternative. Games like Call of duty, Modern Strike and Freefire’s download count were drastically raised but none of them gained its vibe. Now, a new game called Far Light 84 was seen in play store for early access and it looks promising. Flight 84 is a battle royale game shooter game developed by Miracle Games SG. It is a Singapore based company established in 2020. It’s the first game developed by the company.
The game was based on futuristic gameplay on a wasteland world in 2084. The place was named as Isle Cities. The survivors of the cities battle with each other while exploring the map and saving themselves from red zones and bombs. The game has a wide range of heavy weaponry, vehicle and explosive devices for the players to use.
Miracle games have opened early access to this game on play store and right now it has gained over 100K+ downloads already. We are playing it for a couple of days and here are our thoughts about the initial early release of this game.
Graphics
The game was based on the battle royale concept and also boosts some unique gaming features and stunning graphics. The textures are impressive and will remind you games like Anthem and Fortnite. Every small detail was neat and carefully placed. You can even find real-world objects such as dustbins, hand washers, and electric pole being placed here and there. The cabins in this game look pale while ejecting from the pod, but once you landed you’ll change your opinion. However, some gameplay features need a few polishing as they look clumsy and confusing. For instance, the landing seems a little awkward and needs a lot of work to make it more smooth.
The spawn area graphics needs to be more subtle. We played the game on OnePlus 8 and POCO F1 and observed a series of frame drops especially in the spawn area. Even high-end gaming phones like Asus ROG struggled in emulating the graphics of this game. We expect some serious changes in these segments to make it more smooth. As the spawn area is the first place gamer goes through while playing the game, making it smooth will make many players not to bounce off from playing the game.
Overall, the graphics are decent but need some serious improvements in order to make it more smooth.
Gameplay/Mechanics/Dynamics
While the graphics are decent and enjoyable, we find some aspects of the gameplay awful and awkward especially with the character’s movements. They are not bad while exploring, the issue with them only arises while battling it out with the enemies. During the battles, the avatar movements were not as smooth as it used to be in PUBG. Sometimes in hill areas, you will feel sudden glitches and frame drops while aiming at enemies, which will make you eventually loose. Ironically, in close encounters, you’ll observe your enemies getting pass through your avatar’s body like a god and kills you instantly.
The real pain in the back is the buttons used in the gameplay. While some of them are moveable and mapped according to your needs, some of them were just rock-solid. They are not movable and certainly don’t fit in the area they are given. Sometimes these buttons stuck like real buttons in the joystick and you’ll end up wondering around settings for a while. A small tip, while doing that make yourself secure in a tight spot or else you will get your avatar killed.
Features
Farlight 84 has some amazing and out of the box features. They make the game more interesting and fun to play. For instance, the backpack used to store the supplies were replaced in this game with a jetpack. A player can use the jetpack in the battle to move swiftly and also for stocking the supplies as well.
Guns used in the Farlight 84 are not lifelike, however they will certainly give you a new vibe while using them. You will feel more of them like laser guns than real guns. They posses some unique abilities such as throwing Protective Shields, Smoke Grenades, and Killing Robotic. However, the handling seems a little sluggish and the aiming seems a little awful. Unlike PUBG, aiming in this game seriously lacks that unique feel. Even equipping the crosshairs and holographic sight attached guns will not help you aim clearly at the enemy. This is certainly one of the big off-putting’s to this game.
Jetpacks & Amazing Cars
Apart from jetpack, one of the cool features in this game is Charging Poles. They present all around the game and can provide your equipment with energy so you can tap into your potential and face the challenge of this barren world at your best!
The vehicle in this game almost beats every other battle royale game we’ve ever played. They look dope and purely out of the world. For instance, the spider tank in the game is awesome and it’s a cool looking idea for a game like this. Some of the cars even remind you every bit of the DMC Delorean from back to the future franchise.
Farlight 84 Gallery
Sound Effects & Haptics
This particular segment is almost a tragedy. While some sounds such as gun firing and car movements were great, some sound effects were downright awful. To experience a game to its full potential, the sound effects are really necessary. Just observe the sounds raised by enemies footsteps and you will certainly understand the thing that I am trying to convey. Instead of pointing them to a certain side, you will get confused and will eventually get killed from your back.
The haptic feedback in this game is disastrous. You can observe small haptic feedback here and there and they certainly don’t give any life to this game. The game’s sound effects need some huge improvements and when it’s done, this game will certainly improve a lot.
Overall Opinion
As it’s an early access, we don’t expect anything more. The game should evolve and it can only happen over time. Although the idea of future survivors fighting up each other for the reign over the wasteland seems a little bit cringe worthy, overall its worth the try. However, the initial impressions of this game are quite promising. At least, It looks more promising than COD. If we give it some time to evolve, it certainly has the ability to smash the download numbers on Google Play over the time.
