Can For Honor live up to the hype?
For Honor is a third-person melee title where you can play as either a Viking, Knight or Samurai against other opponents through competitive matches. There’s also a single player campaign for each type of warrior, but it feels more like a tutorial to the multiplayer than an actual full-fledged campaign.
Combat itself is the main focus of For Honor, it stands out with it’s different approach. You can lock on to your opponent, but simply button-mashing will get you nowhere…instead you have to move the analog sticks to prepare to block an attack from the right angle, while getting ready to do the same for an attack swing or slice of your sword. Think of it like fast-paced rock, paper, scissors and you’ll get the idea.
It’s a pretty good one too, it’s hard to get used to at first…but once mastered, you’ll be wiping the floor with your rivals. The battlefields are big too, while modes are varied between simply taking out the other team to taking their outposts. Online play has been a bit mixed during the launch, but it’s clearly a game that is going to get bigger over the coming months. It’s more a case of wait and see if it has the long lifespan to compete with the multiplayer likes of Destiny and Overwatch.
Visually, For Honor is a pretty good looking game. It has PS4 Pro support and looks great on my 4K TV. The soundtrack is really good too, with some epic tracks that fit in with the tense atmosphere of the game.
The Verdict
It’ll take some time to see if For Honor has the staying power of other competitive multiplayer games, but it does offer a unique experience and what could possibly be better than fighting as a Samurai taking on a Viking or a Knight? Or any different combination? Not a lot.