FAU-G – First Impressions

So the early access for FAU-G just launched today i.e. January 26, on the occasion of Indian Republic Day. I had pre-registered for the game after seeing all the hype as well as criticism around it. So, I played FAU-G for about 15-20 minutes, and here’s what I found out about the game.

Modes:

The game currently only has a story mode campaign which takes place in the Galwan Valley. Two other modes, a Deathmatch and a FFA Deathmatch are planned for the future.

Gameplay:

The game doesn’t offer much to do except go to the objective location and fight, at least in the first 15-20 mins. Also, there’s nothing to interact with in the surrounding. There’s a lot of tents, watchtowers, and other , but you can’t interact with any of them

If you mess up the camera angle and start going in the wrong direction, the game doesn’t warn you that you’re going in the wrong way. It’s something that happened to me, but I quickly realized I’m going in the wrong direction after seeing the distance in the objective marker increase.

The movement is very basic, you can’t jump, duck or roll. And what’s even worse is that the character can run only in the front direction. Yes, it can’t run sideways, it just starts walking if you try.

Enemies will surround you from all directions, but only one will attack at a time. The combat looks automated and unrealistic as you don’t have much control over your character.

The AI needs to be worked on, there were times when the enemies saw me and came running towards me only to again go back to their normal stance, just forgetting that I ever was there.

A major issue I found is that once the character enters the fighting stance, it’s very difficult to isolate fights into 1v1s as there’s not much movement you can do while fighting.

Also you can’t pick up other weapons that have a full usability bar while you are already carrying weapons that don’t even have half. The game will just say inventory full, but won’t give you any option to throw away already equipped weapons.

Talking about throwing away, it would be great if the game offered throwables, or allowed you to throw your melee weapon towards oncoming enemies.

Be ready to take some damage while switching weapons during a fight, even if you’re just facing a single soldier. When it’s multiple soldiers, you’ll probably die. 

Taking damage in FAU-G game while switching from hand to melee combat
Taking damage while switching from hand to melee combat

Also, it’s better to not use your melee weapon and fight with your fists, so that you can use the melee weapon when you’re facing multiple opponents at a time.

It took me a while to figure out that the block button is to press and hold. Till then I was just tapping it whenever the enemies attacked me and wondering why it’s not working.

The health regeneration at the fireplace is a unique idea, but in my opinion it would’ve been better if you could get items such as bandages, medical supplies, water, etc. from fallen enemies which you can then use to regenerate your stamina and health. The one positive I see is whenever you feel like it’s hard for you to fight with low HP, you can just travel back and find a fireplace to regenerate health.

Enemy voice lines are repetitive, they need to add more in the future, but it’s not the most immediate change that’s needed, there’s a lot of gameplay and combat that needs to be worked on.

The story line seems good, at least in the first 10-15 mins. The cutscenes are ok, but the transition from cutscenes to the gameplay isn’t seamless.

Bugs & Glitches:

The game has some bugs, but it’s not very game breaking. Sometimes the character just bugs out and doesn’t attack for a second or two, which then gives the enemy soldiers a chance to strike and deplete your health.

Also picking up weapons while performing attacks is not possible, even though you are standing right over it. And the moment you stop to pick the weapon, an enemy starts hitting you. That’s not necessarily a bug or drawback, but I’m pretty sure it’s not an attempt at realistic gameplay either. You should be able to pick weapons and switch between them while fighting enemies.

Of course every gamer wants a bug free gameplay experience, but considering the game just launched, it’s ok, the developer will probably fix the minor bugs in future updates.

Our Take:

Overall, it feels like nCore released the game’s early access a little early, no joke intended. The game is unfinished and unpolished. There’s a lot of areas that need to be worked on, the most important being the combat. Let’s just hope that the developers at nCore Games are quick to work on all the feedback they receive, because mobile gaming is a rapidly growing space and if nCore doesn’t improve FAU-G in coming weeks or months, it is likely that the audience will move on and forget about the game. 

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