Valorant Review

Riot Games is a case that is quite unique in the gaming industry. While most developers build popularity and names through the quality of the various products they mix over the years, Riot Games has grown to become a giant because the success of only one name – League of Legends. This MOBA game that has lived and survived for many years is the foundation supporting Riot Games and a name that is tied to it. Riot Games lives for League of Legends and vice versa. Therefore, it is not surprising that many gamers are curious when through their latest product, Riot Games wants to get out of the "universe" that made its name. Starting as a game called “Project A” and later growing into a VALORANT game which was just available on the market as a free to play game, Riot Games wanted to test their ability to mix competitive games other than League of Legends. We meet new genres, new gamer markets, new challenges, and of course, new ambitions.

Moreover, VALORANT also feels like trying to fuse the best elements from two competitive FPS game trends – those who are present in the Overwatch-style hero shooter concept and those who prioritize mechanics such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. All of them are combined in the quality of simple visualization and PC specifications that are not too heavy that even old PCs are not difficult to handle. Those of you who often enjoy competitive shooter games will likely be familiar with the concepts offered by VALORANT. The world is built from a story of the existence of special earth humans who suddenly gain special powers after a mysterious event called "First Light" surfaced. No one knows what this “First Light” really is, but not only has it empowered some humans, it has also driven drastic transformations in life, technology, and the way government works. These special humans called "Radiants" and those who are simply armed with Radiant technology are also gathered by a mysterious organization called the Valorant Protocol.

The rest? Like games focused on multiplayer experiences in general, VALORANT's story will grow and develop as more events and characters are introduced in the future. One thing is for sure, this story is then translated into a competitive multiplayer game where two teams fight against each other, in a 5 VS 5 format. At the time this review was written, the battles took place in various parts of the world with captivating locations with the same mission – where one party tries to trigger a massive explosive device called Spike, while the other team tries to prevent it. This is the main concept of Valorant. Meanwhile, in terms of gameplay mechanics, simplifying it as a shooter game that combines the concepts of Overwatch and Counter Strike: Global Offensive in the same space, seems to be the best explanation sentence. Between these two games, the concept of the CS: GO game feels more dominant than Overwatch which only moves in the concept of heroes and skills. This means, the playing experience he offers is closer to a tactical shooter with prominent mechanics instead of a hero shooter game which is usually divided into various classes to support each other with thick arcade shooter gameplay. In VALORANT, the need to set spray shots, chase headshots as best you can, adjust the sound of footsteps to negate location information to the enemy, until strategy is something essential. It's CS:GO, but with a hero system and not the other way around.

Interesting Presentation

Just by reading the official PC specifications that he stretches, then you already understand that just like what they did in League of Legends, Riot Games' priority is to make sure VALORANT can be played by as many PC gamers as possible. Therefore, the visual presentation side is prioritized to keep VALORANT light but still offer visualizations that are at least attractive. As far as the eye could see, they arguably did this job well. With a world design and atmosphere that is able to offer a glimpse of the lore that has implications for the conditions of the world you live in, the thick cartoon flavor approach also doesn't reduce the charm of VALORANT itself. However, that doesn't mean it's perfect. Compared to other hero shooter games, especially Overwatch for example, Riot Games seems to have a tough task to offer a more attractive hero design, especially for the existing female characters. Most of the Agent characters that he currently stretches feel so generic and standard, that they don't feel special. You seem to have seen the designs of these characters from various other media, with only a few modifications to make them special. The only character whose design deserves praise in our eyes is Viper, which looks sensual and deadly at the same time.

Other criticisms also deserve to be directed at the visualization of most of the skills that look similar to each other. One of them happens with skills designed to block the enemy's view such as those of Brimstone, Jett, Viper, and Omen, all of which are dome-shaped that exist for a few seconds. The only thing that makes it different is the color. When these four characters are on a team, for example, it's a little ridiculous to see the map suddenly filled with domes of various colors at various points with visual features that don't differ much from each other. It doesn't really affect the gameplay much, moreover some of these "dome" attacks also have other effects like Viper's for example. It's just that I have to admit, it's not good.

The same thing also needs to be considered to make their standard weapon designs different. Most of the weapons that can be used in VALORANT end up being a rifle with a fairly long barrel with a dominant black color. The bad news? Sometimes the difference between one weapon and another lies only in the difference in the length of the muzzle tip, which incidentally doesn't provide enough visual clues if you, for example, want to pick up fallen enemy weapons when they die. What exactly is the weapon you are looking at? Is it worth the exchange for your weapon now? VALORANT does provide a description of what weapon you see if you point your crosshair at it, it's just that, in a precarious and panicked situation, this kind of action isn't exactly effective. There is hope to see the design of each weapon, especially for the SMG and Rifle, to be made more different in terms of appearance or at least, carry a clearer visual cue. Meanwhile, in terms of audio, VALORANT provides quite satisfactory quality. Sound does not only play a role in building the atmosphere, from small victory music to the sound of weapons, but also becomes an essential clue to win the battle – such as the sound of footsteps and the sound of spikes (bombs) as a source of information.

Which is interesting? There is an attempt to inject a bit of personality into the characters by injecting a voice-line where they will make certain comments when paired with other characters. But unfortunately, these comments are still limited at the time this review was written. The voiceline usually only occurs at the beginning of the game and unfortunately, the comment object doesn't respond to. Follow-up interactions also unfortunately don't occur during combat, either when one character kills another character or when they manage to blow up/tame Spike. Riot Games have extra homework here if they want to make their characters shine even more. As a game that combines two FPS game concepts in one space like this, VALORANT deserves to push itself to appear as an FPS game that has its own personality. Even though they carry a gameplay system closer to CS:GO at this time, hopefully they don't copy Valve's marketing style with it. For this matter, it's best if VALORANT is oriented to what Overwatch has managed to do over the last few years.

Mature Concept

Despite the fact that both are FPS games, combining the concepts offered by Overwatch and Counter Strike: Global Offensive in the same space is something that is considered crazy. Why? Because shooter games like Overwatch offer a thicker arcade flavor, where we meet characters like Junkrat, for example, who can even contribute to the battle without even having to aim or Reinhardt who comes as a tanker with clear roles and functions in the team. Concepts like this will then be combined and matched with a tactical shooter game where gamers need to know, understand, and understand how each weapon works beyond the need for strategy. The good news? VALORANT successfully executes the combination of the two carefully. Comes with hero characters, each of which has different skills, the taste of the shooter hero that VALORANT carries does not stand out. This means, you always have the opportunity to snatch victory without using your skills at all. Despite the fact that every hero (who is referred to as an Agent in this game) has at least 4 different skills with one of them functioning as an Ultimate attack with a more destructive nature, you can always win by relying solely on the weapon in hand. The skills that these characters carry are indeed more dominantly controlled by "utility" skills, between blocking the enemy's view, making them blind, acting like a flamethrower or an ordinary grenade, or simply knowing and tracking the enemy's position.

That impression strengthens as VALORANT also positions them as part of your shopping strategy early in the round. Unlike Overwatch where skills are always based on cooldown time, at least 2 of the 3 skills of every Agent in VALORANT are present like equipment that you have to buy and refill when they run out. Only 1 of the 3 skills of each character usually uses the cooldown system. This system generates a unique dynamic where gamers now have the choice to decide whether the money they collect each round should be distributed to more powerful weapons or replenish their skills to gain a distinct advantage in battle. As for the Ultimate attack, it cannot be bought with money. Ultimates will fill up as more enemies you kill or by collecting energy balls scattered across the battle arena.

The concept of this hero shooter is pushed further behind the scenes when you begin to understand that despite the uniqueness of each skill he carries, no character really has a clear, specific role – like Mercy or Reinhardt in Overwatch. You will indeed meet Agents who can recover by eating the souls of the enemies he killed like Reyna for example, or characters who have an ultimate side that can make him resurrect dead characters like Sage, but you will not meet a game strategy centered on them. . Therefore, he made the composition of the team in VALORANT culminate not so important. Whatever the composition of the team that is formulated, even when the enemy does the last pick, victory still depends on how good they are at aiming and shooting every enemy. All the extra skills that can be accessed on the Agent are like a "bonus" to make the arena and the sensation of battle feel a little different from the specific strategies that can be taken. But again, your battle planning will not depend on the composition of the Agents in the team.

Interestingly, VALORANT is also not as hardcore as Counter Strike: Global Offensive itself. There is an attempt to maintain a similar sensation, but with the complexity passed down in the name of recruiting a wider market. There are many indications that we can find. As an example? Less groupings and weapon variants so you don't have to worry about trying to think hard about where the money you collect in each round will go. Most of these weapons also support an aim system so you can always kill enemies at a great distance. Another reason also arises from the spray system that he stretches. While you have to guard and manage your shots in VALORANT, it doesn't end as extreme as CS:GO does. You can still spit out a fair amount of bullets with any weapon in the first few seconds of firing before recoil takes over. Then your experience playing VALORANT will indeed be more similar to your experience playing Counter-Strike. In the beginning, whether you're an offensive or defensive team, you'll find a team that usually splits up to move to several bombing locations that are also divided into different characters. The design of the VALORANT map is admittedly more straightforward, where it offers more alternative roads to certain locations. Early in the battle, you'll find a lot of skill throws here and there, most of which are designed to detect the presence of enemies or limit their point of view and movement. In just the first 30 seconds, you usually have an idea of ​​where the "hot" area will be and the battle will go fast. The team that first touches the number 13 wins will be counted as the winner.

Unfortunately, despite the intense and fast-paced combat sensation, VALORANT itself is not perfect as a competitive game. While it's likely that more brutal punishments will emerge when Ranked mode is introduced, for now, there are no consequences or alternative solutions for AFK gamers. If this happens in the beginning, then this means that you will have to fight unequally due to the smaller number of team members. There is an attempt to make it even more balanced indeed with extra money that will be added to you every time a round starts, the amount of which depends on the number of players AFKed. But in the end, he will not contribute much if your skills at the beginning, are not comparable. Riot needs to think about this before AFK cases like this explode and destroy the VALORANT experience.

Another issue worth talking about also comes from their anti-cheat system called Vanguard, which activates as soon as your PC starts up. The more you think about it, the anti-cheat system on this one is scary, despite the fact that Riot once claimed that Vanguard won't read your behavior and log anything you do with your PC. Why is it scary? Because this is the only anti-cheat system we've encountered where if you stop the process manually, it will require you to restart the computer to reactivate it in order to play VALORANT. That's right, you can't just look for it in programs and just restart it. You have to shut down and restart your entire system.

Conclusion

VALORANT comes across as a collaboration of clear concepts, thought out and fortunately, well executed. On paper, combining the concept of a hero shooter game with CS: GO-style gameplay does sound like a contradiction which in fact is impossible to produce an exciting and balanced competitive game. However, Riot Games has shown its brilliance here, producing a quite different and unique FPS game sensation, while ensuring that the multiplayer experience it offers is exciting, tense, and fun at the same time. Everything is perfect through the microtransactions system which is currently still limited to cosmetic items that do not affect performance at all, light performance demands, and a tempting free to play distribution format. Fortunately, with the free-to-play format and the quality that it currently carries, there seems to be no reason not to try VALORANT, especially if you love competitive FPS games whose gameplay approach is closer to CS:GO. Coupled with the proven popularity of Riot Games in League of Legends, it also seems safe to predict that the hectic community will make this FPS game last for a long time.