Innovation or sustainability? Creating a multiplayer game that has both doesn’t seem like turkey snot, and many of the studios that try to do so end up going under. It remains to be seen if Crucible, the new from Amazon Game Studios, ends up reaping the success it seeks over time, but right now it is difficult for it to stand out from its competitors.
At the time of writing, Crucible has 2,873 simultaneous players based on Steam DB metrics. It topped 4,500 in the past 24 hours, coinciding with key hours for North America. In its premiere a week ago, it brought together 25,145 people simultaneously. On Twitch, it has dropped from 115,000 viewers to less than 15,000 in the best hours, and just over 500 in the worst. Only 45% of the almost 9,000 user reviews that have been published are positive. Definitely, the numbers are not the best way to value a game, but I think that at least they do reflect the feelings I want to convey in the analysis: it is a striking game, which manages to capture people’s attention, but once you try it, the interest…deflates quickly.
That’s not new to any game, let alone multiplayer titles, which often give the impression that they are “going to get stuck” when in reality there is almost always a healthy community willing to keep servers alive. But in the case of Crucible, it’s easy to understand where that level of abandonment comes from. We are talking about a product that takes a little bit of this popular genre, and a little bit of this other, and sews everything while waiting for something super fun to come out somehow. The truth is that what you gain in color, in spectacularity and in attractiveness evaporates as soon as you start to have the feeling that you have already seen the same elsewhere, and perhaps with more emotion. Its battle royale components do not make it Fortnitenor in PUBG; the tints of MOBA are not done by League of Legends or DOTA 2, and as a hero shooter he also has nothing to say to Overwatch or Team Fortress 2. What he needs is to exploit the things that make him unique, and there… there is still work to do.
It is not that it is wrong, but it costs their own to get hooked, to stay stuck there. And I admit that I feel a little sorry to write all this, because after several hours of play it is clear to me that after Crucible there is talent, there is a budget, and there is potential. I think it’s one of those titles that, if they manage to stay alive, they have what it takes to come back strong. Apex Legends was on a tightrope for a while, but managed to get back with the batteries charged, without going any further. It would be nice if Amazon Game Studios and Relentless Studios managed to do that with season 1and beyond, but until then I can’t help thinking that this game could go down in history in the same way that Paragon did a few years ago. The base is fine, it feels solid, but it takes a little bit of genius to keep it afloat.
A hunting enclosure full of aliens and artifacts
Essentially, Crucible is a team action game about map control and mastery. Their games are long, can easily exceed 20 minutes – not uncommon for MOBA fans, but somewhat unusual for shooters and the like – and require some adaptation exercise. It doesn’t all come down to fighting face-to-face with players from the opposing team. In fact, organizing an open contest between two groups is equivalent to undergoing an exam, and is the most tense and fun part of the game. But before getting there, it’s time to explore the jungle, kill the poor and innocent native fauna to collect experience points with which to unlock skill improvements and better statistics; stock up on medicine cabinets and dispute the control of the energy collection machines.
There is a lot to digest and at first it can be overwhelming, but the game welcomes us with a mandatory tutorial (which will stop being it in the next season) that more or less explains what each thing does, without going into too much detail. But it is enough to play a couple of games to take the thread of, at least, the vast majority of elements on the screen. We are always faced with an arms race for accumulating experience and being, at least, at the level of our opponents; so we spend most of our time scattered, leveling up and having sporadic encounters with opponents, which are resolved by asking for help or marking their location on the only (big) map that is available. The game redirects our attention with semi-random events: herds of aliens that make sacks of experience; a vortex that reduces the size of the map as in any battle royale, useful machines to control, and the like.
All this is valid for the three game modes that we can find in Crucible today: Trio of Hearts, Alpha Hunters and Domain of Harvesters. The first is a target mode, where from time to time a huge neutral alien nest appears. Upon dying, no matter who strikes the final blow, he drops one of the three items needed to win the game, so he is essentially taken by the team that manages to survive the previous contest? If that plays out to a large extent like any MOBA, the second has a style more akin to a battle royale: Eight pairs of two players face off in a death match with no comebacks until only one winner remains. Have they killed your partner? You can forge a temporary alliance with another solitary player to survive longer, even if they reach the end alive, that agreement is broken. The last modality becomes a control mode where it is time to capture and defend harvesters as long as possible, while they generate points for us passively.
Be clear: all game modes are fun, they naturally lead to good times. If you are lucky enough to find a game with two more or less well organized teams, you can experience some super tense and cool situations in which two teams exchange fire and try to reduce a hive at the same time, and this in turn waters both teams. Of projectiles. But there are not many games like this, mainly because the game does not have enough communication tools. There is a voice chat on the way to complement the announcement wheel, and also a contextual dialing system like that of Apex Legends; but the text chat will take even longer than those to arrive attending the latest development journal. Maybe if the game forced these fun times more, it would have a better reception. But the truth is that even in this way there are some ideas that make us raise an eyebrow.
We moved to the character template: varied, imaginative and to a certain extent, intelligent (with nuances that I will mention below). Each character feels really differentiated, obeys their own rules, and everyone has a skill tree that we can customize from the main menu or adjust quickly while loading the game. On a mechanical level, there are some great ideas: for example, BUGG can use his pistol both to attack and to water and activate his own traps, and intoxicate from the air the poor devils that fall into his game; while Shakirri alternates his passive reloading pistol with a sword that he uses to jump on his opponents, charge against them with a shield, or imprison them in a dome. But not all characters feel equally balanced or fun to control.
In this way, Drakhal is a melee tank that can regenerate health with some attacks, get closer to his opponents, dodge to the side or grab them to prevent them from escaping. The problem is that the handling of his ax is not as precise as that of firearms, and also four of his abilities are linked to button variants; that is, you must press one key to display a quick menu, and another to choose what you want to do. And you can’t do anything until the first animation ends, which sometimes feels really bad. Tosca’s case is more or less the opposite: He can teleport multiple times, and go through walls and objects in the process. For some characters like BUGG or Mendoza it is very normal, but for others like Rahi it can become a suffering according to what modes and situations. Design decisions that could have been better adjusted and are not fixed simply by changing damage parameters.
Another problem facing the game right now is the course and evolution of the game. Map beacons and team member representation could be more prominent on the interface, and don’t help much in coordinating in a game that already suffers from communication issues. If the team not working is even worse, because opponents will level up more efficiently, contests will be resolved unilaterally, and players who are aware of what’s happening in the game and don’t just kill aliens end up getting frustrated and leaving earlier of someone singing the victory, further spoiling the experience of the rest. To all we have to add that the process to start a game is slow, and that the reappearances after dying take their time as well. Also, once back in the game, walking becomes so slow that many characters have to figure out how to move faster.
Mendoza can sprint and Ajonah scrolls with a hook, but Rahi has to deal with a very slow teleport and Drakahl must alternate two boost abilities constantly just to gain speed. In that sense, it is a tedious game. Other titles would add some kind of vehicle, like in Heroes of the Storm, or even a teleportation mechanic; but here it is not so simple. Since Relentless have decreed that in the future measures will be implemented to solve this problem, such as a rule of piety that allows teams that are losing a lot to surrender after a certain time. Optimizations will also be implemented to speed up respawn time, although again we talk about things that are in the air at the time of writing the analysis.
On the other hand, the game welcomes us (for a limited time) with a generous amount of credits for the internal store, enough to get the battle pass. Pre-season, in this case. Works just like any other battle pass: 100 levels with rewards predefined, a free route, another premium. There are a couple of things that have caught my attention positively in this regard: one, that just like in games like Fortnite, there are enough credits in one battle pass to allow you to get the next one without checking out again; and two, that the typical cool ‘skin’ that is usually given to you at level 100 is actually here a key that you can exchange for the appearance that you choose. The store also offers featured items on sale and access to all other gestures, lines of dialogue and appearances without time restrictions. Story snippets, avatars, and other items can only be unlocked by repeatedly playing a certain character, thanks.
The PC version of the game, the only one currently available, offers a moderate but respectable number of configuration options, and we could say that it looks good, without too many frills. The map enjoys visual variety and some level of detail in the water, plants, and buildings. Maybe it could be a little more imaginative, but it also hides certain pieces of history and interesting touches here and there. Although I personally have not had any problems with ‘framerate’, I am aware that some users report performance-related complaints, with problems reaching 60 FPS even on mid-to-high-end cards and processors. For its part, the game arrives translated and folded to Spanish with a very acceptable level, and sound effects that simply comply. One last thing that is talked about a lot in the community is the connection, which certainly leaves us with a too high ping on some occasions. Restless has not commented on this in its immediate future plans.
Crucible is, roughly speaking, an amalgam of popular genres that strives to make sense and have fun. Gets it? Well, more or less, yes; it has very interesting modes and some very good moments, but it also gets stuck with the handling of some characters and the rhythm of some games, among others. If you are able to tolerate these issues, you will still have to face the fact that it has been released with many improvements to come on the horizon, so aspects like communication or optimization should still be pampered before it lives up to what it is. Expected of them.
- Each game is interesting, with many possibilities and freedoms.
- The map is large, looks good, and offers a variety of events and action.
- Some characters feel original and are really well designed …
- … But others face annoying problems struggling or moving.
- The pace of the game feels slow and weighed down by the lack of communication.
- The feeling of having taken only the worst of MOBA and battle royale.
- Duration:Priceless multiplayer
- Players:1-16 (Competitive: Online / Cooperative: Online)
The requirements Crucible version for PC have finally been revealed. Here we leave you the minimum and recommended requirements of the Amazon video game to play it on PC:
Minimum requirements:
- Operating system:Windows 7 (64-bit)
- Processor:Intel i5-3570 or AMD FX-6300
- Memory:8 GB of RAM
- Graphics:GTX 660 or ATI Radeon HD 6950
- DirectX:Version 11
- Network:Broadband Internet connection
- Storage:15 GB of available space
Recommended requirements:
- Operating system:Windows 10
- Processor:Intel i5-6500 (3.2 Ghz) or AMD Ryzen 3 2200G
- Memory:8 GB of RAM
- Graphics:GTX 1060 or Radeon RX 570
- DirectX:Version 11
- Network:Broadband Internet connection
- Storage:15 GB of available space
