Combat system
Perhaps we have already sufficiently intrigued the reader about the battle system itself — now it’s worth talking about it. In For Honor, there is something common to all heroes (which in some places goes against reality, but at least allows you to maintain balance in the game) — three stances. Top, left and right. Just press the block button and switch to the desired stance (on consoles this is done easily and clearly — so it’s best to play For Honor on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One) — and attacks from that side are automatically blocked.
To break through the opponent’s defense, you need to either have time to switch to another stance, or use a technique to break through a block (the opponent can also repulse this technique), or use the skills of your character. For example, the guard, the basic hero of the knights, knows how to make a feint blow — supposedly swinging from one side, he strikes from the other.
Strikes can be fast, but weak, and slow, but strong — we, however, have become accustomed to this since the days of Dark Souls. Combinations of strikes are also available — if you miss the first strike of a combo, the remaining strikes are much more difficult to block. True, the combo here is mainly for 2-3 hits.
There is also the concept of stamina — that is, endurance. Strikes consume stamina, if its level drops to zero, you become very slow and cannot block (but you can still strike, albeit slowly). To re-gain stamina, you need to try not to move for some time. Moreover, stamina is restored faster outside the blocking mode.
Gameplay for honor
Regarding the gameplay, the project is innovative in many ways. You can’t immediately name any famous games in which elements of Dark Souls, Mortal Kombat, and Onimusha are so interestingly intertwined. The main element here is war and fights. One on one, two on two, teams, elimination, control points.
This depends on the selected mode. There are five of them here. Each is good in its own way, but also has its shortcomings. The only thing that’s ideal is the duel, there’s nothing to complain about. In a mass battle for territory, scattering enemies in batches will not work. One fighter has little chance against two living opponents, and if there are more of them, then the chances are zero.
This is due to the mechanics, which fix the control of blows in a fight on only one opponent. Therefore, in mass races for control of the map, the winners will be the scoundrels, the attackers colluding, for example, four against one. But on the other hand, this is exactly how things are in a real fight. In addition, this feature opens up the need for some kind of planning of attacks during mass skirmishes, cohesion and team spirit.
Since we’re talking about mechanics. It is also unique and interesting here. The area around the player is divided into top, right and left. Using the mouse (in the case of a PC, of course), he transfers the force to the zone needed at the moment. It carries out the desired attack or parry. Strikes can be roughly divided into strong and weak, although there are many options.
And each of the four heroes from the three available factions is unique. In this regard, an experienced For Honor player will eventually become a professional ax Viking or samurai — a master of the sword. This would be great if the game had perfect balance. But alas, while we observe that in many circumstances a certain fighter has a serious advantage.
Summary. Fresh, interesting. Not without problems in balance, but there are certainly many patches and updates ahead. For players tired of ordinary shooters and MOBAs with a lot of magic, this will be a great new entertainment.
Graphics
This is clearly a strong point of the game. It is already called the best game from Ubisoft in visual terms. And indeed. The developers did not skimp on polygons, high-quality shadows, reflections, and detailed vegetation. All this is at a high level and pleases the eye. Excellent medieval design.
Despite the already mentioned “cranberry-ness”, the world looks stylish and designed with soul. The only downside is that there are numerous animation bugs. They are often found even in single-player games, let alone multiplayer. Although in the heat of battle there is no time for them at all. It is also worth noting the excellent optimization.
Bottom line — everything is great here. Some bugs will most likely be fixed by patches and updates. Beautiful graphics with an interesting design are the key to a successful project.
Ratings
Graphics: 10/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Controls (consoles): 9/10
Overall rating: 9/10
Soundtrack
The soundtrack does not match hit music that can be sold separately. But it’s still there and doesn’t irritate, which is good. Drums, pipes, string motifs, all in a medieval style. This is what you expect from such a setting
System requirements for honor
The game has relatively lenient system requirements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtBO89TMAHg
Minimum:
- processor Intel Core i3-550 or AMD Phenom II X4 955;
- video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX660/GTX750ti/GTX950/GTX1050 (2GB VRAM or more) | AMD Radeon HD6970/HD7870/R9 270/R9 370/RX460 (2GB VRAM or more);
- RAM: 4 GB;
- OS: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (x64);
- hard disk space: 30 GB.
Recommended:
- processor: Intel Core i5-2500K or AMD FX-6350;
- video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX680/GTX760/GTX970/GTX1060 (2 GB VRAM or more) | AMD Radeon R9 280X/R9 380/RX470 (2 GB VRAM or more);
- OS: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (x64);
- RAM: 8 GB or more
- hard disk space: 30 GB.
Plot for honor
For Honor is a multiplayer game at its core. However, it also has a single-player story campaign that is 7-8 hours long. Quite weak, but very necessary in terms of training. The barrier to entry into the game is quite high and the mechanics of battles need to be mastered, otherwise the player will have to be a yellow-noob for a long time. It is highly recommended that you do not skip this part.
In principle, there is no need to talk about any kind of historical authenticity here. This is already obvious in a universe where Vikings, samurai and knights live next door. Things are no better with the recreated types of the mentioned factions. Here it’s more like cranberry, a set of stereotypes. And even then, they are not strictly followed. There are dark Vikings, female knights and so on. This is all clear.
The plot itself tells about this. The main antagonist is a female warrior named Apoleon. We won’t see her face without a mask. Confident in the abomination and wolf essence of all people, she wants, through conspiracies and wars, to achieve an endless conflict between the Vikings, knights and samurai. The player will experience events from the perspective of different characters:
- samurai Arodia;
- knight’s guard;
- Viking Holder.
In addition to the three main ones, there are a number of heroes who will be played for a short time. The plot is more interesting due to the variety of gameplay. There will be horse chases, massacres, cargo escorts, etc. The story is told through simple cutscenes, which you will eventually skip in order to quickly move on to the action. All this will give the player valuable experience and full readiness to enter multiplayer.
To sum it up, the story is not very interesting to follow, but it is fun to play. Its main task is to reveal the gameplay capabilities of each of the fighters of the existing factions. And he does it well. Therefore, the rating is quite satisfactory.
Total
Was the game from Ubisoft great? Well, as we said earlier, Ubisoft actually has a lot of good games out. But yes, For Honor is beautiful and original. Down with the dominance of monotonous shooters and no less monotonous MMORPGs — get medieval battles. Maybe not so realistic that they can be called a reconstruction, but atmospheric enough to understand how a sword differs from an ax and what is the advantage of a nagitana. And most importantly — no magic! Only the “warm lamp” clank of steel.
Conclusion
Most gaming publications give it high marks, and for good reason. This is a truly high-quality, expensive project aimed at future development. Personal forecast: he will have a long life with interesting DLC. Unless, of course, sales fail, which is doubtful given the current hype. Recommended for everyone.
