Xbox Series X|S Review Key Provided By Black Matter
Over the summer, Black Matter and Team17 brought their WWII team-based FPS title, Hell Let Loose out of early access and onto its full PC release. As someone who really fell in love with its gameplay and immersion, I was eager, to say the least about how the game would find its footing on consoles.
Console FPS titles tend to lean more into fast-paced scenarios where it’s only a matter of seconds until you respawn and get into the action. Most players have specific team roles but aren’t subject to the same duties that HLL places its players in.
I was also hesitant as to how they’d pull off moving the PC version’s many key bindings onto a standard controller. Upon playing HLL on Xbox, I have to say, this is the next step forward for FPS titles on gaming consoles. It offers all of what I loved from its PC version, but with easier-to-use mechanics and the ease of playing from the couch.
In this “Lite Review” I’ll be covering more about how the game operates on consoles rather than its actual gameplay aspects such as gunplay, roles, and game modes. For its full review, feel free to check out the PC one I did this past summer.
Gameplay
As I said above, I was really interested in just how well HLL would play given how many key bindings it has on PC. Fortunately, Black Matter did a fantastic job at tieing it all up extremely well. The controls do seem to differ slightly in various ways from the standard FPS titles you’d see on console.
Radial selectors are used to better streamline item choices as well as chat options. Instead of holding down a key on a keyboard, you’ll just hold a shoulder button to choose either the squad or team/radius channel. Once selected, you’ll click the button to toggle your mic on and off.
I actually really love this option and upon using it, I wish more FPS games utilized this mechanic as well. It also seemed as if players really cared about playing the game maturely, as I never heard anyone just leaving the mic on. No chewing or yelling at anyone in their background either.
That takes me to the actual chat. At the time of writing the review, the game is still in a trial state, so the player count is a bit lower. This means that there aren’t too many players on comms. That’s not to say it was silent though. I’m just saying that compared to PC, there’s room for more players to utilize the voice chat in order to fully take advantage of the team-based strategy aspects of the game. I see it getting much more lively though upon release.
When it comes to how the gameplay actually feels on controller, it’s very smooth. I think my favorite takeaway from the controls was just how much easier it is to drive. It’s just so much easier to use a thumbstick instead of the clunky A and D keys. There’s also a fantastic amount of feedback in the controller.
Rumble feedback is something sorely missing in PC peripherals, but HLL remedies this beautifully here. I think that this just may be the most feedback I’ve ever felt in a game. It’s odd to say but there were so many times that explosions just really made my core controller go insane.
Another thing worth mentioning is the fact that you can cross-play between Xbox and PlayStation, which you can toggle on and off in the game’s settings. Also, if you’re lost on how to play the game, Black Matter incorporated just as many instructional materials as they did on PC which I found extremely helpful.
Audio and Visuals
HLL is right at home on next-gen consoles, delivering some pretty beautiful visuals. I can’t say for sure that it looks just as good as PC but it comes pretty close. Snow maps still look crisp and fire, smoke, and explosions are just perfection. The audio is also just as heavy and head-pounding as well, giving the game its realistic sense of scope and scale.
What It Could Have Done Better
While I absolutely love this game in all of its iterations, there are some hang-ups when it comes to the console version, at least for now. The game is missing the feature of selecting servers, which makes it impossible to choose which game mode you actually get to play.
Even though I was pleased with the game’s visuals overall, it does have some issues such as stuttering and texture popping. These are issues I’m hoping are ironed out in a patch quickly after launch as the stuttering bug happened heavily throughout my playthrough. The popping is a nuisance but doesn’t really affect the gameplay aside from it looking hokey.
I also took issue with some of the responsiveness from button prompts. It just felt at times that the game wasn’t ready for me to push the buttons even though the prompt would appear. Choosing classes and spawn points also seem to have some bugs that need to be worked out as they too are not very responsive either.
Verdict
Hell Let Loose is a shining light needed for console players who are looking for something more. Deeper gameplay, stronger team communication, and vast battlefields are what set this title apart from the AAA ones that we get annually. You can feel the heart and soul of the devs behind the game, and its gameplay is unrivaled in realism and difficulty. Even though it may have flaws currently, it is most definitely worth your time and money.
