For Honor is, in its simplest form, a competitive fighting game, and one that truly feels personal and gritty. Every fight feels tactical and needs to be well thought out due to a wide range of variables, attacks and counters. What serves as the engine behind this experience is the intuitive but groundbreaking fight system that Ubisoft has rightfully boasted about, and labelled “The Art of Battle”

“The Art of Battle” at its basis gives players control. It allows them to block, attack and counter in any one of the three given directions, top, left and right freely. This mixed with different movesets and abilities allows the game to feel both strategic and like a traditional fighting game. It is definitely complicated, but it isn’t something that is hard to pick up, on the contrary, it is quite visually rich and simple where everything you can do is signified for you through the game’s easy to read UI.

However, when you couple this basis with advanced movesets and varied characters who can parry, dodge and each have a different style of recovery, strengths and weaknesses, the game can require practice and dedication. But that is a taken when it comes to anything competitive. It also allows for experimental play where different characters will suit different players dependent on how they prefer to play. So, if you want something large and powerful, or quick and nimble, or just a combination of both, you have got the choice.

What makes you think about what you choose and how you use it further are the game’s modes. You’ve got 1v1, 2v2, Brawl, 4v4, elimination and skirmish. I appreciate how each mode can completely change the way you are supposed to play when events that are not anticipated happen, sometimes even throwing you up against multiple opponents at the same time. But unfortunately things do go a little berserk with the game’s more hectic modes.

There are obviously still some balancing issues with some of the classes and movesets but Ubisoft has been dedicated to improving them throughout the game’s launch and its future. What I personally have a problem with however, is how the rewards of each fight are drip fed to players, whether they win or lose. For an online focused experience, a game has to be very clear and adamant about its reward policy, one that adequately rewards players in order to keep them engaged, but obviously not too much as to lose their attention. Ubisoft unfortunately struggles with this in For Honor which did make me want to stop playing quite a few times.

From what I have played, I have not had a bad experience with the game’s online infrastructure and pretty much all of my matches were devoid of lag or glitches that made the game unfair. What really impressed me about the game however, is that it does not require a lot of bandwith at all and thus has worked flawlessly with my slower than average internet, something that would make a lot of difference to  a wide range of players that are either capped or on a terrible internet service such as me.

There are also microtransactions in the game, and although a lot of people are usually okay with them for being cosmetic, I am personally not a huge fan as I believe anything that is worked on for the game prior to the launch should be easily and readily available for the players at no extra cost, especially if you are expected to pay a premium price.

The game’s singleplayer campaign unfortunately also disappointed me, especially considering the possibilities available with the game’s unique setting, a world which changed overnight after a great disaster took place, leading to a fight over survival by different clans and warriors from around the world. Just the prospect of seeing Knights, Vikings and Samurais is a childhood dream come true, but I still believe Ubisoft could have made the campaign much more interesting if it had a stronger storyline with better characters, especially since it tries to promote an interesting antagonist. Don’t get me wrong, the campaign is really fun to play and there are some exciting and expensive setpieces that you would expect from a Ubisoft game, but it isn’t particularly memorable. The overall voice acting and the way certain levels are crafted do salvage what they can from the experience though and make it a bit more interesting. Not to mention, a campaign mode is always a bonus in multiplayer games.

Even with some frustrating issues, For Honor is one of Ubisofts best releases in the recent years amidst their recycled and lackluster games. For Honor understands that it is a competitive fighting game and plays towards that with its strong roster of characters and abilities that combine with different modes and situations to create a truly satisfying and strategic gameplay experience.

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