Currently in early access expect there to be improvements and refinement so take any issues raised with a grain of salt as pointing out area’s for refinement means they’re more likely to be resolved before full release and not be an issue at all!
The game itself is already in a very playable and fun format, being a first person shooter based around the lore and characters of the ghost in the shell stand alone complex series. The menu currently hints to there being plot points besides the simple multiplayer online combat, however without any plot the game is very fun and utilizes the universe well with think tanks in terminal conquest, and the enemy soldiers having essentially been downloaded into by the operatives and taken control of for the use of the combat.
This is one of the good unique features of the game, where the enemy operatives are all identical and you cannot identify until they use their skills which operative you’re dealing with and as a result they could pull out any skill, such as thermoptic camouflage, drones and turrets, arm based rocket launchers, thermoptic shields and more at present. Some of these are transferable to your teammates through skill linking which makes tactical simultaneous useage a tactical method which could take your enemy down with ease and precision.
At present there are three game modes, being team deathmatch where it is the first to score 10,000 points which wins, and essentially you only get 100 points per kill regardless of the “additional points” for shutting down and performing killstreaks, or other special modifiers which grant extra points for regenerating your skill but seem like they should count on a deathmatch scoreboard.
The second game mode is terminal conquest where the aim is to be the first to 5 terminal captures or push to the end of the map (3 points) often this game mode is currently imbalanced and once you’ve captured a point with the aid of a thinktank it can be very hard to stop the momentum gained, also maps are asymmetrical meaning often one side is favored for reasons of their advantage on the map positioning.
The third game mode at present is demolition where much like cs:go you have one life per round and the target is either to plant or defend against a terrorist bomb attack, and is often won simply through elimination. With two targets choosing where to defend or attack is often the tactical problem of this mode and offers the greatest challenge at present as people aren’t as likely to simply rush in like fools getting themselves killed as the consequences are that they have to sit out the round as punishment. Faster paced than cs:go the rounds score a first to 6 out of 10 swapping at 5 points from defense and offence to the other.
Additional modes and unlockable characters may be available, and it has been stated that all weapons would be only unlocked through in game earnt credits rather than money credits which would only go to cosmetic items like skins other than in perhaps special rare dlc.
More game modes, maps, characters and unlockables as well as bug fixes will occur over the game’s early access period and I will cover these and do a full review on release, note that in game frame rate is also smoother than my recording shows and is completely seamless without jumps, stay tuned for updates as they come. The balance issue has also been addressed so teams outnumbering you in matchups will not occur as they previously did.
Get ghost in the shell stand alone complex first assault online on steam now http://store.steampowered.com/app/369200