» If there’s one genre that lends itself to boom or bust, it's the online shooter. For every success like Call of Duty, Halo, or Apex Legends, it seems like there are at least a dozen other games that have come and gone with barely a spark before they fizzle. With so many good competitive shooters in play, what makes one stand out? After dozens of hours, I’m beginning to see how The Finals answers those questions: with an excellent gameshow-infused style and a brilliantly destructible playground.

» There are currently two main modes: the first, Quick Cash, has each team vying to collect a vault of coins and deposit it at a designated spot on the map, which tends to result in the bloody convergence of all three squads at those points. This effectively keeps the action going, and because taking over the deposit doesn’t reset its progress, rounds move steadily and avoid momentum-killing stalemates altogether.

Meanwhile, the Bank It mode focuses a bit more on direct PvP battles, but they also tend to be more scattered. Here, each player carries coins in their virtual pockets, all of which is gathered either from vaults around the map or by eliminating enemies. The on-the-fly strategizing of going for kills one second and then needing to deposit your loot before it all goes to waste the next is exciting, and it’s pretty fun to eliminate someone right in front of the bank so you can deposit all their coins yourself.

Individually, both modes are well-designed and generally very fun. The fact that The Finals is limited to just those two options, however, is a red flag. If the player base starts to grow tired of these game types and there aren’t any other options, there is a real possibility of people moving on before too long. While I didn’t find that to be an issue during my time playing, that does present a potential concern for the long-term health of this community that I hope is addressed with new modes in future updates.

Once you’ve played a few matches you’ll unlock tournaments, and this is where the competitive attitude of The Finals really shines. The primary tournament mode puts you and seven other teams in a bracket playing modified versions of Cashout. Two games of four teams each run simultaneously, with the top two squads from each game advancing to the second round. The top two teams from that game then face off in a direct 3v3 match to determine the overall winner. It does a great job mixing the high-stakes nature of actual competition with rounds that are fast and satisfying enough to elicit that “just one more game” feeling after each tournament. There’s a ranked version, where players can move up in leagues based on their performance.

» You can choose from three different weight classes for your character, and they all play very differently from each other. The Light build, for example, focuses on mobility, trading stopping power for a grappling hook to quickly get to high or far places. The Medium, meanwhile, is an all-rounder and has abilities that focus on support, such as its healing beam. Finally, there’s the Heavy, which could have been taken straight from Rainbow Six: Siege, as it alternates between controlling the battlefield with heavy weapons and smashing through walls like the Juggernaut.

There’s a solid variety of equipment for you to choose from before each match, and they can have a major impact on the battlefield if used properly. There are standard choices, like frag grenades and deployable cover, and those are tried and true options that do what you’d expect – but they hardly stand out when you can instead drop jump pads that launch you high into the air, or goo grenades that can seal large spaces with an expanding foam. Some options are universal, like the pyro grenades, while others are restricted to specific classes like the Medium builds’ defibrillator that instantly revives downed teammates.

» Each character archetype also has a litany of cosmetics that can be unlocked through XP progression or by spending real-world money. There’s a pretty solid assortment to choose from right out of the gate, though the amount of time it takes to unlock good-looking items (without taking out your wallet) requires major retuning. After 20 hours, the best I could afford was some fanny packs and tights on one character, which makes getting the whole squad glammed up feel like a pipe dream.

That slow progression is also true of VRs, the in-game “cash” you earn for playing that’s used to unlock non-cosmetic things like different abilities, weapons, and gadgets. I get that there needs to be a balance between giving you everything too soon, which can take away the joy of progression, and making it take too long to earn things, but right now The Finals skews a bit too much towards the latter. It’s hard to experiment with builds when all the pieces for each character are locked behind dozens of hours of matches.

» The destructibility of each stage is the real star of The Finals. Sure, you can enter a room from the door or window. But taking the less obvious path of crashing right through the ceiling is a thrilling way to get the drop on unsuspecting teams, and you haven’t played The Finals until you’ve stolen the vault by blowing a hole in an upper floor and had it drop right in front of you. By the end of a tense match, the battlefield is often littered with debris from entire buildings beginning to collapse.

There’s a lot more to that system than some cool rubble and an ad hoc door, too, as the strategic impact is huge. One map is high atop skyscrapers connected by sky bridges, and I sat in stunned silence the first time I saw a team destroy the section where a bridge met a building, causing the entire thing to collapse to the ground below. Split-second judgment calls when buildings fall around you about whether to jump off or ride the debris down can make or break firefights and create unforgettable moments – like when my entire team was dead in the final seconds of a match, and the only thing that stopped another team from stealing the bank for the win was the amount of rubble they had to dig through to reach it.

» There will always be an element of luck in the quality of teammates you are matched with, which is a big part of why The Finals (as with most team-based shooters) is better across the board with people you know. It’s so much fun to coordinate an assault with friends or to seize the bank and then protect it with mines and defensive structures. It’s also a huge advantage to work together. A flamethrower wielding Heavy supported by a healing beam from a Medium can wipe an entire team, and the strategic element of choosing complementary builds and kits is very engaging. When someone dies, they leave an action figure behind that can be used to revive them, and scooping one up so you can find a safe place to bring them back is as useful as it is hilarious.

» The Finals does a great job standing out from the competitive shooter crowd thanks to its fast-paced action, excellent environmental destruction, and gameshow-meets-squad shooter vibes. The way flying through the battlefield with a grappling hook or hulk-smashing through buildings mixes with its strict, objective-based modes is a breath of fresh air. It’s a concern that there are only two of those modes total right now, and it definitely feels like both in-game balance and the overall reward economy need some adjustments. But those are small critiques relative to the outrageous fun and breathtaking spectacle of buildings crumbling around you.


Was this review helpful?
» If so, please leave a rating. Awards are also greatly appreciated!

[h1][b]A Team-Based Shooter with Non-Stop Destruction…[/b][/h1] » If there’s one genre that lends itself to boom or bust, it's the online shooter. For every success like Call of Duty, Halo, or Apex Legends, it seems like there are at least a dozen other games that have come and gone with barely a spark before they fizzle. With so many good competitive shooters in play, what makes one stand out? After dozens of hours, I’m beginning to see how [b]The Finals[/b] answers those questions: with an excellent gameshow-infused style and a brilliantly destructible playground. [h1]Gamemodes[/h1] » There are currently two main modes: the first, Quick Cash, has each team vying to collect a vault of coins and deposit it at a designated spot on the map, which tends to result in the bloody convergence of all three squads at those points. This effectively keeps the action going, and because taking over the deposit doesn’t reset its progress, rounds move steadily and avoid momentum-killing stalemates altogether. Meanwhile, the Bank It mode focuses a bit more on direct PvP battles, but they also tend to be more scattered. Here, each player carries coins in their virtual pockets, all of which is gathered either from vaults around the map or by eliminating enemies. The on-the-fly strategizing of going for kills one second and then needing to deposit your loot before it all goes to waste the next is exciting, and it’s pretty fun to eliminate someone right in front of the bank so you can deposit all their coins yourself. Individually, both modes are well-designed and generally very fun. The fact that The Finals is limited to just those two options, however, is a red flag. If the player base starts to grow tired of these game types and there aren’t any other options, there is a real possibility of people moving on before too long. While I didn’t find that to be an issue during my time playing, that does present a potential concern for the long-term health of this community that I hope is addressed with new modes in future updates. Once you’ve played a few matches you’ll unlock tournaments, and this is where the competitive attitude of The Finals really shines. The primary tournament mode puts you and seven other teams in a bracket playing modified versions of Cashout. Two games of four teams each run simultaneously, with the top two squads from each game advancing to the second round. The top two teams from that game then face off in a direct 3v3 match to determine the overall winner. It does a great job mixing the high-stakes nature of actual competition with rounds that are fast and satisfying enough to elicit that “just one more game” feeling after each tournament. There’s a ranked version, where players can move up in leagues based on their performance. [h1]Builds and Equipment[/h1] » You can choose from three different weight classes for your character, and they all play very differently from each other. The Light build, for example, focuses on mobility, trading stopping power for a grappling hook to quickly get to high or far places. The Medium, meanwhile, is an all-rounder and has abilities that focus on support, such as its healing beam. Finally, there’s the Heavy, which could have been taken straight from Rainbow Six: Siege, as it alternates between controlling the battlefield with heavy weapons and smashing through walls like the Juggernaut. There’s a solid variety of equipment for you to choose from before each match, and they can have a major impact on the battlefield if used properly. There are standard choices, like frag grenades and deployable cover, and those are tried and true options that do what you’d expect – but they hardly stand out when you can instead drop jump pads that launch you high into the air, or goo grenades that can seal large spaces with an expanding foam. Some options are universal, like the pyro grenades, while others are restricted to specific classes like the Medium builds’ defibrillator that instantly revives downed teammates. [h1]Progression[/h1] » Each character archetype also has a litany of cosmetics that can be unlocked through XP progression or by spending real-world money. There’s a pretty solid assortment to choose from right out of the gate, though the amount of time it takes to unlock good-looking items (without taking out your wallet) requires major retuning. After 20 hours, the best I could afford was some fanny packs and tights on one character, which makes getting the whole squad glammed up feel like a pipe dream. That slow progression is also true of VRs, the in-game “cash” you earn for playing that’s used to unlock non-cosmetic things like different abilities, weapons, and gadgets. I get that there needs to be a balance between giving you everything too soon, which can take away the joy of progression, and making it take too long to earn things, but right now The Finals skews a bit too much towards the latter. It’s hard to experiment with builds when all the pieces for each character are locked behind dozens of hours of matches. [h1]Destruction[/h1] » The destructibility of each stage is the real star of The Finals. Sure, you can enter a room from the door or window. But taking the less obvious path of crashing right through the ceiling is a thrilling way to get the drop on unsuspecting teams, and you haven’t played The Finals until you’ve stolen the vault by blowing a hole in an upper floor and had it drop right in front of you. By the end of a tense match, the battlefield is often littered with debris from entire buildings beginning to collapse. There’s a lot more to that system than some cool rubble and an ad hoc door, too, as the strategic impact is huge. One map is high atop skyscrapers connected by sky bridges, and I sat in stunned silence the first time I saw a team destroy the section where a bridge met a building, causing the entire thing to collapse to the ground below. Split-second judgment calls when buildings fall around you about whether to jump off or ride the debris down can make or break firefights and create unforgettable moments – like when my entire team was dead in the final seconds of a match, and the only thing that stopped another team from stealing the bank for the win was the amount of rubble they had to dig through to reach it. [h1]Teamwork[/h1] » There will always be an element of luck in the quality of teammates you are matched with, which is a big part of why The Finals (as with most team-based shooters) is better across the board with people you know. It’s so much fun to coordinate an assault with friends or to seize the bank and then protect it with mines and defensive structures. It’s also a huge advantage to work together. A flamethrower wielding Heavy supported by a healing beam from a Medium can wipe an entire team, and the strategic element of choosing complementary builds and kits is very engaging. When someone dies, they leave an action figure behind that can be used to revive them, and scooping one up so you can find a safe place to bring them back is as useful as it is hilarious. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] » The Finals does a great job standing out from the competitive shooter crowd thanks to its fast-paced action, excellent environmental destruction, and gameshow-meets-squad shooter vibes. The way flying through the battlefield with a grappling hook or hulk-smashing through buildings mixes with its strict, objective-based modes is a breath of fresh air. It’s a concern that there are only two of those modes total right now, and it definitely feels like both in-game balance and the overall reward economy need some adjustments. But those are small critiques relative to the outrageous fun and breathtaking spectacle of buildings crumbling around you. [h1][b]Score: 7.8/10[/b][/h1] [b][i]Was this review helpful?[/i][/b] » If so, please leave a rating. Awards are also greatly appreciated!