• April 13, 2018
• Leave a Comment on First Impressions: Radical Heights
• Entertainment, PC, Pop Culture, Sneak Peek, Video Games
• Early Access, PC, Radical Heights

First Impressions: Radical Heights

The Battle Royale scene just got another challenger in the form of Radical Heights. The latest game from Boss Key Productions, the same studio behind the now dead Lawbreakers. I have played over 2 hours on Steam and I’m going to tell you my thoughts about the game and whether or not you should try it.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnHjhNeRBxA[/embedyt]

One thing that set’s this game apart from the other Battle Royale game is that it is an 80’s style, cash money grabbing (Not in the sense you are thinking of), game show type of game. The point of Radical Heights is to collect cash, upgrade your weapons, collect cash, be the last man standing and did I forget to mention that you need to collect cash? Cash plays a huge part in this game. When you land on the ground from jumping off the plane, you need to scramble to find weapons and cash. Cash is the currency of the game and you can actually store up cash in an ATM to use for future games. So no matter what happens, even if you die, you will be getting cash in some way.

Now another thing to point out about this game is still it’s in “Xtreme” Early Access right now, it has only been in development for about 5 months and when you play it, it really shows. The game doesn’t look terrible, it just really looks like a Steam Early Access game that you would find randomly on the store page. While the 80’s style does help make it stand out from the rest, from various 80’s cosmetics and 80’s style UI (User Interface) to an 80’s style game show host narrating your adventure throughout the game.

Now for about 5 months of development time, I can say that this game does work and is functional. However, it has a tone of frame rate issues, bug, glitches, etc. Some of the items in the game don’t even have textures, for example, the ammo boxes are just squares with different colours to make them stand out. I will say that the guns, characters and some of the houses do have some textures making them look good but not everything is visually pleasing.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6hYHAdec7A[/embedyt]

I don’t mind that Boss Key Productions released this game that early in its development. I even went into this game expecting trash on fire. However, once you learn the mechanics and how things work, you can discover a game that has some cool and different ideas that set itself apart from the other Battle Royle games. I can’t look over the fact that the game can be really Janky and the servers could use an upgrade because the servers crap out at times and can crash your game.

Cliff Bleszinski, the head of Boss Key Productions, took to social media to address/embrace the jankyness on the game and how the gaming community has been reacting to it. Telling us to, “Embrace The Jank”.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhZep77lNuq/?hl=en&taken-by=dudehugetank

Well, it’s supposed to be taken as a joke because the game is in “Xtreme Early Access”, and the game needs a lot more work done it. I feel that this message can be taken one of two ways. One, they know that the game is Janky and that this is their way of trying to address those issues by making a meme. Two, they are just trolling their fans who are complaining about the games state and are trying to mock them.

Critiques aside, the shooting mechanics of the game can also use some work as well. While they are working, they can also backfire (See what I did there?), and can cost you the game. Sometimes, your bullets don’t hit the target and this can cause frustration with the player. However, it’s not like that all the time. Most of the time, everything works out fine but sometimes it hiccups and cost you. You can probably blame that on the early access of the game and I would agree with you.

The game does have microtransactions that are only cosmetic so it won’t affect the gameplay at all unless you want to distract the enemy by looking like a pink Rambo. Speaking of Rambo, you can buy a Founders Pack that comes with different items including the Rambo cosmetic items I mentioned earlier.

Check it out:

While like I said before, the game has a huge 80’s style theme to it and they have clearly embraced it with the cosmetics. I love 80’s style games, references and movies to know that it was a huge selling point for me and if you love all things 80’s, you will definitely get a kick out of this game.

The Verdict:

While not perfect and janky as all hell, Radical Heights can still offer you a fun time once you get the hang of it. The game is a unique take on the Battle Royale formula and is not just another clone of Fortnite. While some would write off this game, I would say to give it a try. The game may be janky but I’m not mad that I played it.