by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Intro:
… you’re better off waiting for a few months and a half dozen patches before deciding to kick this door in.
Of all the fantasy occupations that have fallen out of favour in recent years, cop has got to be on the top of the list. Due to certain unpleasant real-life incidents committed by the all-too-common “bad apples”, there are way more games where you play as crims than you do as law enforcement. Ready or Not seeks to address this imbalance, offering a multiplayer co-op shooter where you’re part of a SWAT team, ready to kick in doors, take prisoners and spray bullets at the wall when something surprises you.
Ready or Not puts players in the heavy boots of a SWAT team member in the fictitious city of Los Sueños in the midst of a grim and frankly terrifying crime wave. It seems that the citizens of LS can’t move three metres without being attacked by a gang, kidnapped by a cartel or strung up by a mad survivalist cult. Therefore, the onus is on you and up to four other players (or AI controlled idiots if you’re playing solo) to bring order to chaos, justice to injustice and bullets to heads.
This is a First Person Shooter with a difference. Unlike a lot of other games in the genre, it seeks to deliver an experience approximating reality. This means movement is slow, there are zero on screen prompts or UI clues for objectives and if you get shot a few times … Well, you’re dead as hell, son. No extra lives, no revives and no respawning. It makes for a tense and immersive experience when it all comes together. However, when it doesn’t? The game can be a bit of a nightmare.
Alas, Ready or Not is beset by a criminal number of bugs, both with the game itself and its online infrastructure. Clipping, glitches, audio dropouts, objectives not registering properly, hits not registering at all and straight-up crashes to desktop are not uncommon. Plus, finding a stable game that isn’t beset by lag or dropouts can prove challenging. It’s a pity, too, because underneath the janky animation, middling graphics and poor technical state, there’s a genuinely gripping, tense and exciting game here.
The feeling of tensely exploring a dim warehouse or decrepit home, being rushed by meth-dazed knife-wielding maniacs or cartel enforcers – it’s heady stuff and in its best moments, Ready or Not offers something truly unique. The fact that you can subdue and arrest most foes adds a tactical dimension to the piece and when you coordinate with a disciplined team, the whole experience can be deeply satisfying.
However, due to its many technical shortcomings you’re better off waiting for a few months and a half dozen patches before deciding to kick this door in.
