Developer: M2H, Blackmill Games
Publisher: Blackmill Games, M2H
Platform: PC, PS4
Tested on: PS4
Verdun (PlayStation 4) – Review
Verdun is a collaboration of M2H and BlackMill Games, both Dutch game developer studios, and depicts the bloody trench warfare in the Verdun area during the first World War. Everything in the game, from the music to the maps to the uniforms and the weapons, is authentic and that is the biggest selling point of the game. We were lucky to both preview and review the PC version of Verdun and now it’s time for the PlayStation 4 version.
Story
Imagine yourself in the muddy trenches at the Battle of Verdun, surrounded by ten thousands of comrades of all ages. Bullets have been flying past you for the last couple of days, soldiers that you considered friends have long fallen victim to the bullet hail or got caught in the artillery fire that left gaping holes in the landscape. Sitting in the trenches, all you see is mud, blood and the barbwires that are there for your own protection. Except they don’t protect you against the cold, against the eager rats that feast upon the fallen. The Germans provoking you in counter-attacks and counter-offensives. Their last attack failed and now they are falling back. Your NCO is shouting orders but the mortars are deafening. As you try to come to your senses, you realize that this side of the trench is about to attack and they require your assistance. It is your job to keep them alive for as long as possible. Not as a medic though. You are the best sniper in your regiment and it is your task to utterly destroy the opposing defence while your comrades face the bullet hail.
Unfortunately Verdun does not have a narrative and the above short story was simply imagination. This does mean that you can force your own story upon, almost creating an entire background story for the soldier that you are playing as. Look at it as if you are role-playing, not in an MMO but in a first person shooter.
Graphics
The visuals in the PC version had undergone a huge graphic upgrade, using the brand new Unity 5 engine that allowed details to come our properly. Foliage looked absolutely stunning if you ran the game on high, and the new engine allowed for better lightning and shading improvements, adding the extra zing to the game. We were hoping that the console port would be able to deliver that and more but we were quite saddened by the graphics on the PlayStation 4. The horrible depth of field – which we discussed in the preview – almost seem to be back. Don’t be mistaken though, the graphics are still great, we just had higher expectations for a console.
Sound
The soundtrack has not been changed and if you ever played the PC version, you’ll be hearing the same authentic music that was rocking the first World War in the menu, just like before. If you haven’t played the game before, you’ll enjoy it for a short while but either way, the soundtrack does get repetitive after a while. The sound design during combat remains brilliant. Each weapon has its own unique sound and death is not as quiet as you’d think. Gory gurgling sounds and agonizing screams can be heard from nearly across the battlefield. The unique mixture of cries of death, snipers and rifles, mortars and commands is what creates the ambiance sound.
Gameplay
Verdun is not your typical first person shooter game and it cannot be compared to classics such as Medal of Honor or Call of Duty – and not because it’s two different wars. The gameplay in Verdun is what sets itself apart from the ever-growing list of first person shooters. Instead of running around, spraying and praying with machine guns, capturing flags or mindlessly running around in team deathmatch, the game uses a turn-based gameplay where you either attack and defend the frontlines in turns.
A console game is played with a controller and while most first person shooter games have a splendid reaction time when it comes down to controllers, Verdun is one of the few games that lacks in that department. There are three presets to choose from so hopefully one of them fits your style but even so, the controls feel clunky and lag tremendously which makes us believe that the game is having certain technical difficulties which weren’t there in the PC version. We know it’s a console port but this execution is just poor manufacturing.
Each side has several squads that can bring some much needed support to the trenches – be it air support or heavy siege weapons – and each squad is comprised of four soldiers each with their unique loadout. The German Alpenjägers are different than the British Tommies whom in turn vary from the Belgians. This type of variation has its ups and downs. The positive note is that all types of gamers could enjoy it as the style of play varies. On the downside, if you choose to join randomly you are most likely stuck with a class that you simply do not enjoy. The latter causes people to create their own squads but if we all do that, we won’t be able to win many games.
That being said, winning games requires teamwork and teamwork is difficult if you are forced in the role of the leading officer and have no clue on what to do. New players will be put off quite easily and veterans might enjoy the chaos erupting from wrongful commands but we noticed that most players tend to camp around spawn points to get easy kills. You won’t find this type of camping in the Frontlines game mode but it is still a pretty viable solution for good scores in the other game modes. If the team deathmatch-like game mode that is Frontlines is not your style, you could venture in free-for-all which is usually short-staffed or the squad defence mode which is also available offline.
Conclusion
We absolutely loved the PC version of Verdun but the console port to PlayStation 4 could use some polish and we wouldn’t recommend it just yet. The realism and authenticity is still surreal and the authentic turn-based warfare of counter-attacks and counter-defences is tremendous even on a console. Even now, single-player is still lacking but multiplayer mode delivers enough general jest for you to understand the situation during the first World War. The audio design is still superb but the visuals are questioning, especially since the field of depth is horrendous on the console and the animations are clunky though that might be caused by the lag. Until the general technical issues are solved, we suggest to stay clear and patiently wait for an update.
No Comments