“It has to be said, no one asked for a Halo/Portal crossover, but we’re so glad it happened. Let’s just hope it has a long lifespan and doesn’t rely entirely on the gimmick.”Published and developed by 1047 Games, ‘Splitgate’ was released in July 2021 and has been making itself known in the gaming community ever since. A fast paced arena-style FPS paying homage to the Halo series in visual design, this title will have you thinking outside the box as you attempt to not only out-gun your opponents but also out-think them. The merge of Halo 4v4 multiplayer with portal gun combat was unexpected and created scepticism amongst the gaming community but after 10 hours of playing I can safely say the pairing goes great, why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?
You begin each game with either a 3v3 or 4v4 setup depending on your choice of game mode, 1047 Games have provided us with a nice selection of game modes to keep things interesting (Team Deathmatch, Team Swat, Shotty Snipers, King of the Hill, Domination etc) as well as community game modes like ‘Instagib’ and ‘Teabag Confirmed’ which rotate regularly… yes there’s a game mode where you have to teabag your enemy to confirm the kill. As well as this, there are also custom game modes and ranked game modes for those more competitive than the average casual.
Gameplay:With an average match time of 5-8 minutes, Splitgate’s fast paced finger on the trigger run ‘n gun gameplay requires quick thinking and fast reactions. What initially seems to be a gimmick soon becomes a corner stone in the title’s gameplay, portal placement and IQ plays become crucial for winning and if you don’t learn quickly you’ll be punished greatly. The map is no longer confined to the walls and corridors provided, portals can open up new routes for flanking and allow different angles for offence/defence.
You have the option of placing yellow/purple portals on light blue patterned panels/walls scattered around every map through the use of your LB and RB buttons:
• You can see through your own portals but not through your teammate's or enemy’s.
• You can ‘teleportal’ through any portal as long as it’s linked.
• You can shoot through any portal as long as it’s linked.
• Portals can be destroyed by EMP grenades you are given or picked up during a match.
To add more to the mixture, players are given a jetpack to help them gain access to hard to reach places or hop/hover round blind corners but be careful, you’re only given a select amount of ‘fuel’ before it has to recharge.
1047 Games pride themselves as “passionate fans of Halo” and the passion is clear as day when playing ‘Splitgate’. Weapons have next to no recoil, weapon reticule doesn’t ‘bloom’ after firing, the announcer is overly excited to be calling out double kills in a cinematic tone of voice and majority of the weapon and character design is uninspired, it seems Dr. Halsey donated some MJOLNIR armour. There are also other nuances that give a nod to other titles such as the HUD design and use of text font that remind users of ‘Overwatch’.
Even though the nature of an arena FPS shooter limits the scale of environmental design, no open-world or render distances to explore, 1047 Games have made sure every map is crisp, vibrant and detailed enough to please the eye without being too distracting from the action taking place.
Achievements:Now this wouldn’t be a TA review if I wasn’t going to take some time to discuss the achievements. On first look, the list looks like a quick completion with only 30 achievements. But a further look reveals a good balance between quick unlocks, grinds, skill and luck based achievements. All of which require you to try different game modes and tactics to unlock them. As of writing this review I have currently unlocked 24/30 and I’m now facing the ‘wall’ that is getting 1,047 match wins (currently at 5% progress) amongst other time consuming achievements like totalling 500,000 damage on opponents. The bigger achievements will definitely separate the determined achievement hunters from the rest and could potentially net big TA Ratio scores if more people pick up the game.
It’s hard to say whether the game is deserving of DLC just yet but from experience I feel any game developer will try and justify releasing DLC if they want to, let’s just hope they maintain the time/difficulty balance if they do.
Likes/Dislikes:+ Free to play.
+ The concept of portal warfare gives a fresh take on the FPS genre.
+/- Micro-transactions, but all cosmetic. No pay to win.
- Long log in times. Limited server space means you can be waiting for as long as 2+ hours to login (I watched netflix in the background some evenings). The wait can be depending on time of day/time zone or if 1047 refresh the servers for maintenance. Couple of times there was a quick login and over the period of a week the login times have been declining so it’s a positive sign for things to come but could also mean that gamers are giving up on the title before it’s even got going. This limits the amount of matches found once logged in and also off-setting the matchmaking, there are times where players under level 10 can be matched against players level 35+ in casual game modes; or worse, you could be teamed up with Bots whose A.I is not the worst I’ve seen but definitely lacking the competency to balance out the teams.
Future thoughts: • Lifespan, how long can the concept alone last? Will there be a committed group of gun-wielding portal assassins roaming the last remaining server in years to come? Who knows, but it would look cool, maybe an e-sports league will develop in time where we get to see ridiculous multi-layered plays between professionals.
• Battlepass and cosmetic rewards are all that seems to be the constant “new” aspect to the title. There’s no campaign, a select number of weapons/maps; and a season pass is yet to be released. Hopefully more maps and weapons will be released in the future.
• As I’ve levelled up I’ve noticed that you reach a certain point where you’ve joined the inner circle of people who’ve started to learn the layouts of all maps and weapons, best portal placements/combos etc. The longer the game goes on the harder it’ll be for newcomers to enjoy their early matches. Okay so there’s a separate ranked and casual game modes but casual has the risk of placing you against a team that clean you out in less than 3 minutes.
• The game is still in open Beta. So far I’ve yet to experience any glitches or problems, everything seems to be running smoothly, a good sign for things to come when a full release is announced.
• The community’s response to the game has been good, so good that 1047 have decided to keep the game in open Beta for now, CEO and co-Founder Ian Proulx has stated: "Our team has been blown away by the incredible reception the Splitgate community has shown us. With the steep and sudden increase in players trying to access servers, we're having to sort out a myriad of technical issues that come with this level of insane growth. We've worked hard to provide a high-quality game and experience, and our biggest challenge is simply to have enough capacity to serve the entire community.”
Overall:The game is fun, sometimes challenging and keeps you on your toes without costing you a penny or dime and it’s come at an ideal time in-between the release of triple A titles this year and the next. For an open Beta it has been put together really well and holds a lot of potential if 1047 Games can keep up with the high demand. What it lacks in content it makes up for in the playing experience.
What a lot of gamers have failed to appreciate since ‘Splitgate’s’ release is the flow of the matches. There have been complaints of aim assist, sensitivity issues, other player tactics (camping, run ‘n shotgun), boring FPS combat requiring little skill… the list goes on. These aren’t so much issues with the inception and development of the game but with others players, this can’t be helped, people will play how they want to play. My advice? If you can’t beat them, join them and change your settings in the menu… or get good. The combat design and mechanics of the game have allowed gamers to use their skills and knowledge from other games and levelled the playing field as well as given newcomers to the genre a chance to stand with the strongest. All you need is practice and persistence; and before you know it you’ll be pulling off ridiculous kill streaks with snipers and carbine rifles.
Has this become my next main title? Probably not. But it’s definitely a title I can put a couple of enjoyable hours into every day. If 1047 Games want this title to go all the way, they will have to seriously consider what else they can offer the gaming community.
4.0