Kill Strain: Overview game

Posted by Henrik Jensen on May 16th, 2018

The success of MOBA-games does not give rest to many developers, and Sony also touched it. And although representatives of this genre rarely visit the console because of not the most convenient control, some attempts are made by igrodel players. Of course, it's unlikely to be able to see the full resemblance of Dota 2or League of Legends . Take, for example, Kill Strain - its creators from Sony San Diego tried to take some elements from the popular MOBA.

Kill Strain tells of an unsuccessful experiment, which is rapidly approaching the end of the world, and the surviving people are divided into two opposing factions. To fight with each other there is no reason for them, since in this story there is also a third party - mutated representatives of the human race. This, in general, the matter is limited - no story campaign, no details of the clips are not here.

Having completed three stages of training, in which almost nothing is explained, a player can only launch a multiplayer match. Before doing this, you need to purchase a favorite hero in the market - a couple of hundred units of local currency will be generously given free of charge. It is not necessary to explain that in this conditionally-free game it was not without powerful characters for money, possessing much more useful skills than their "cheap" colleagues. So it is desirable to want to act worthily in battles in the battles.

When the match begins, it's not easy to understand what's happening on the screen. Compulsory education tells about the possibility of throwing grenades to destroy strains of the virus, as well as the destruction of enemy bases - as soon as some side does it, the match will be over. In the rest it is necessary to understand itself: where to recover after wounds, what tactics are best used, what characters have for skills and in what situations they are best suited. Yes, long training in video games is sometimes annoying, but from what is offered here, the sense is not enough.

Therefore, every match reminds of some kind of mess. People run back and forth, not knowing what to do. Mutated monsters kill them, because they are more clever and quick. And if a person perishes near a strain, he can at all turn into a monster and join another's team. In those cases when he dies nearby the infected place or manages to creep away, he will be reborn in a few seconds. Judging by the lack of explanation of this mechanics, the developers wanted to make it a surprise, however, to win such "surprises" will not help anyone.

The most illogical in Kill Strain is the definition of winners. If twenty minutes passed (the standard time of the match) and no base was destroyed, the mutants win. If someone's base is still destroyed, the leaders are determined not by their actions, but by the number of points earned. So even with frequent tasks and the desire to lead a team to victory, you can be an outsider simply because someone was doing something that gave him more points. And the wins themselves do not bring anything - the player just looks for a minute at the blazing base and goes to the menu.

The very idea that the destruction of one of the three bases leads to the end of the match, it seems strange. By and large, there are no winners in the match - there is only a losing side. Even if the outsiders were representatives of one of the human factions, what will happen next? Will the survivors continue to fight the mutants? Apparently not. In this there is no logic, especially if you consider that this is the main idea of the game. Much more meaning would be in the war between people and mutants, but in the pursuit of originality, the developers did not seem to notice how absurd the situation looks.

Nowhere is it said that the earned levels during the matches make the hero stronger. Yes, this is the standard mechanics for MOBA games, but here even all skills are unlocked from the beginning, so it's impossible to see the difference between the first level and the fifteenth characters. It turns out that during the "pumping" increases the damage from weapons, as well as from the skills used, but at the same time, no new opportunities appear. The currency during the matches is not earned, so that you can not buy anything, and all the characteristics improve automatically.

Regardless of which hero is chosen, his main skill is to call a robot into which he automatically sits down and within seconds becomes virtually invulnerable. And then with the balance there are even more problems, because the winner in Kill Strain is the one who "nafarmil" as many points as possible. Therefore, sitting in the robot, you can run around, destroy everything (including enemy turrets - they can not do anything) and earn points, winning the first places in the final table. When you realize how idiotic the system of identifying winners is, the desire to play is getting smaller. 

And this is the main problem Kill Strain - the developers as if could not understand what genre it belongs to. On the one hand, this is a battle between three teams, that is, teamwork should be rewarded. But in the end, you can not win here, but you lose only if the other groups have co-operated. If you try, blast someone else's turrets and bases, and also do everything possible for the success of your team, you can still be an outsider, because someone earned a bunch of points on destroying strains and climbed the top line of the final table. 

And every match turns into a roulette, as playing with friends in Kill Strainis impossible. There simply is not an option that allows the company to get together and invite friends to the team. How such a banal function was not added to the MOBA-like game www.friv2online.com? After several beta tests, you could notice her absence! Although, if the developers continue to insist that teamwork is not needed here, and only the "stuffed" glasses win, this option is unlikely to ever be seen.

And to call absolute rubbish Kill Strain does not work - it seems to be not the worst gameplay (shooting by mutants reminds something of Alienation ), there are some interesting ideas, but the implementation leaves much to be desired. The game is free, so there's nothing to try it out, and the PlayStation Plus subscription is not required. But the creators need to quickly fix at least some of the shortcomings, otherwise Kill Strain will not save even the absence of a price tag. 

Pros: there are some interesting ideas here; shooting at mutants and other people is not the worst. 
Minuses: The winner is determined not by actions, but by the number of points; there is very little logic in what is happening; playing with friends is impossible; training is almost useless and does not explain the most important.