Developer: Ninja Theory
Publisher: Ninja Theory
Platform: PC, Xbox One
Tested on: PC
Bleeding Edge – Review
In videogames, it is essential to have some good teamwork. An easy way to influence this is the need for specific roles, which is a formula typically used in MOBA games and co-op based shooter. Bleeding Edge is no different, as you compete in 4V4 matches that are a mix between Overwatch and League of Legends. How does Bleeding Edge stand out from the crowd? A perfect balanced blend of all elements found in a videogame.
Story
Bleeding Edge takes place in a very futuristic New York, somewhere around the year 2055. In this somewhat dystopian future fun isn’t allowed anymore, which is why a bunch of misfits has started the illegal underground fighting ring ‘Bleeding Edge’. People come together in this place to blow off some steam and have fun while doing an extreme sport. At the end of the intro movie, you will see that the fights in Bleeding Edge aren’t lethal and that the characters prefer good sportsmanship.
The story is mainly pieced together by reading the bios from each character and watching the intro video. It is noteworthy that Daemon his background is seen as the red wire that strings together the events of Bleeding Edge, as he is the founder of this fight club. Each character has a pretty elaborate background, talking about themselves, their past and sometimes their ties to Bleeding Edge. There isn’t a real story mode to the game, as seen quite often in this genre. It isn’t a missed feature, as the game favors quick gameplay.
Graphics
Bleeding Edge does represent its era very well as there are a lot of futuristic elements about the maps and characters. Many people are enhanced with mechanical parts, making most of them cyborgs. Venues are colorful and make you feel right at home in the modern era. Fights are cool like in action movies presenting you battles with immense effects, a clear interface and easy to navigate menus. The graphics are of very high quality and the game has a butter-smooth frame rate. Each character has unique abilities that light up the map like Chinese firework.
Sound
Each combatant in Bleeding Edge is fully voiced and this makes for some interesting battles. Characters will interact with each other, curse or say sweet one-liners. The music is very upbeat and is pleasantly mixed into the action. There are great sound effects to the actions and they correspond to the characters: ZeroCool, a gamer, has midi sounds while Nidhoggr, the Scandinavian guitarist, blasts heavy metal.
Gameplay
Bleeding Edge is a hero shooter that mixes elements from MOBA (League of Legends) and action games (Overwatch). The game starts with a very instructive tutorial that teaches you the ropes of the game in a playful way. You will learn about the different kinds of classes and how to best play them. If that is not enough, there is also a training mode where you can take your time and learn to play each character in the game. After completing the tutorial, you will have to drop into a real game against other players and this is where things get interesting. No bots are populating the servers, so it is good that this game already has a decent following. The gameplay is fast, hectic, yet feels familiar and each match will teach you new things. You will see how other players utilize their characters and you can quickly swap between heroes at the base. This is a pretty new idea as in most games you cannot switch to a different character after the start.
The main game has two types of events, which are picked randomly. You either have to capture and hold points, or collect power cells and deposit them. The two modes do have one thing in common; you can score points in two ways: either complete the objective or eliminate the opposition. In capture you must capture and hold the points on the map, some are static and some move around. These are not open all the time so you must choose carefully which point to hold and which one to attack. In deposit, you must collect power cores and deposit this at a collection point. The cool thing about this mode is that you can steal power cores from enemies and because you need a few seconds to deposit them, you need someone guarding your back while doing this. The great thing about both modes is that each match passes very quickly, so you can just jump into the action for a fast round that won’t consume your whole evening.
As mentioned earlier, you have three types of classes: assassin, support, and tank. Each role plays well for its designated section and with the right teamwork, you can become invincible. Luckily, you can comfortably ping out orders or enemies to communicate in a simple manner with your teammates. The game itself declares that it is best played with a controller and most times when a game does this, it means that keyboard and mouse controls are not optimized. However, Bleeding Edge controls perfectly with both setups, you only need three buttons for your skills and a dash button, so a slightly trained keyboard user could easily pull tricks off without too much hassle.
Next to all the fighting, there also is a certain progression to the game as you will level yourself and characters by playing with them. Leveling up will grant you money to buy upgrades, which will boost your skills slightly, yet won’t be game-breaking. You can also unlock different skins for the heroes. This isn’t as crazy as in most MOBA games, yet it could get upgraded in the future.
Conclusion
Bleeding Edge is a great game that combines gameplay elements from Overwatch and League of Legends. Its fast gameplay and short rounds make it an ideal game to pick up for a few matches or play for longer periods of time. Working together with your team can go great if they are willing to cooperate. There is good balancing between the different classes and the great mix of high-quality sound and graphics will make Bleeding Edge a staple for the action genre.
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