Harmony was initially teased final 12 months with a easy video that showcased a ship cruising by means of house. I believe a hamburger was concerned. Anyway, after seeing that quick teaser, I truthfully anticipated to see a story-driven FPS – it is a first-party Sony recreation, in any case – however perhaps it’d be one thing like an MMO, a la Future. I used to be on board for a brand new expertise regardless, however then I used to be considerably shocked to be taught that Harmony is, in reality, a 5v5 shooter.
And now that I’ve performed it, I’m very glad that Harmony does plan on maintaining with its world lore and ongoing storyline, since a few of my favourite FPS video games like Overwatch and Apex Legends do that seasonally as effectively . Moreover, every season that releases will probably be free to all gamers, who solely should buy the sport and revel in future updates to come back.
Whereas I loved my time within the restricted hands-on preview total, I’ve a number of issues for the longevity of Harmony and what it has to supply. Harmony’s meat-and-potatoes method is a reasonably normal 5v5 arrange, with two groups selecting their most well-liked character earlier than diving into an objective-based crew battle.
Through the preview, I used to be capable of play three of six modes that will probably be out there at launch: Trophy Hunt, Cargo Run, and Conflict Level. Trophy Hunt was the one one which featured respawns within the match and was mainly Kill Confirmed crew deathmatch.
Cargo Run, in the meantime, was a single-life match the place the target was to run to the middle, steal a Blue Buddy package deal and plant it at one in all two websites. If planted, the enemy crew might go and stand on the package deal to diffuse it and take it again. And at last, Conflict Level was a round-based single-life recreation mode with the target being to regulate the one seize zone in all the map a number of instances to get the victory.
The one-life modes have been robust to heat up on whereas nonetheless attending to know the sport, as failure clearly means you’re out of the motion for a bit. And whereas Harmony is a reasonably simple FPS, I’ve a core criticism a mere two months from its August 24 launch: within the construct I performed, the motion felt extraordinarily floaty and required a little bit of time to get used to. That is exacerbated by the truth that every Freerunner character you possibly can play has a novel set of motion and expertise they convey to the crew, so every time you swap to a brand new character, you’re then making an attempt to be taught and configure your mind to how they work. So you possibly can think about that it will get a bit disorienting.
And whereas Harmony will probably be launched on PC day and date with PS5, I used to be solely capable of preview this on the PS5 with a controller, and so with that in thoughts, I’d say the motion is closely harking back to Future and Halo. Once more, it’s extremely floaty, which could possibly be a enjoyable ingredient whether it is performed effectively. Nonetheless, the way in which the preview construct felt, the feather-light jumps and grasp time actually didn’t match the quantity of fast-paced fights that might happen at any time within the matches.
Whereas Halo does make the most of an identical floaty leap mechanic, the remainder of the mechanics and gameplay in Halo justify that reasoning and don’t make it really feel just like the odd ingredient out. Grenades additionally really feel mild when lobbed by means of the air, the assorted skills in Halo all have the identical weight and cadence to them, and the match pacing displays the balancing between the bottom recreation mechanics. Gamers in Halo, even in aggressive ranked matches, do heal over time after avoiding taking injury for some time.
Equally, Future is a recreation that’s extra PvE associated and thus doesn’t want the extremely snappy mechanics that Halo or Harmony want in PvP fights. Even within the PvP fights in Future, the standard TTK is slower because the fights may be drawn out as a result of totally different class skills permitting for slower or quicker play, relying on how gamers select to have interaction (i.e. extra straight or extra reserved). Every class additionally has totally different motion capabilities and therapeutic skills that guarantee match pacing stays constant all through.
So the issue in Harmony, a minimum of on this preview model, is that it takes little items from video games like Halo and Future and mixes them collectively in a method that doesn’t fairly come collectively for me as of but. Harmony truly makes use of the identical kind of dodge animation from Future that pulls you out in third particular person. Whereas I appreciated this ingredient in Future, in Harmony it doesn’t fairly work as a result of there’s a brief-but-noticeable delay between your enter of the dodge and the precise deployment. This could make or break your life since timing is every thing in aggressive play and a single hesitation, or simulated hesitation by means of the delayed enter, can punish you enormously.
Sony says there will probably be six complete maps at launch, so maybe a number of the recreation modes will really feel higher paced and optimized on the others when unfold out. However the way in which issues stand at present, most maps felt very oddly misshapen. Some lanes have been too lengthy or large and barely noticed rotations whereas the second lane in one other map would simply really feel fully too small and trigger extended crew fights resulting from its claustrophobic measurement.
Harmony touts its aggressive nature and fast-paced fights. I like all of that however discovered that the competitiveness dangers being unwelcoming to new gamers making an attempt to be taught the sport as a result of a lot of the recreation modes are single-life-focused.
It’s essential to notice that even in case you are an unbelievable participant, Harmony will not be a recreation that permits for a lot of 1v2 fights to be gained. Not like a recreation of Apex or Halo the place you possibly can probably outsmart your opponents and win in 1v2 eventualities, Harmony is so closely a crew recreation that you simply’re not capable of succeed in the event you’re by yourself. Whereas this is the purpose of crew FPS video games, it’s fairly punishing for modes like Trophy Hunt the place you’re inspired to go off and get kills for the target.
Another excuse these lopsided matchups are not possible to win is the truth that every character in Harmony has their very own well being pool and hitbox. This may be tremendous if these characters had your conventional courses, however Harmony doesn’t make the most of your typical class system. Normally, every class has their very own well being stats that you may count on every character in that label to have.
Having a look at Overwatch, as an example, most Tanks have a base well being of anyplace from about 525 to 700 (with combos of shields or armor in recreation for particular characters which have them like DVA and Reinhardt). In Harmony, it was extremely troublesome to inform what precisely the well being pool was for any of the courses since nothing was actually fairly established with their system.
For instance, 1-Off is a cute robotic who sucks up trash and is most undoubtedly a tank character along with his large physique and clunky motion and hard-hitting weaponry who has 300 well being. Nonetheless, Teo, who is actually a DPS that performs like your conventional floor soldier-like character with no tank qualities, has 220 well being as a Harmony Ranger class. However Roka, one other character who is actually a DPS, is assessed as a Hang-out and has 170 well being.
What these non-traditional courses imply is extraordinarily complicated. Within the preview, we weren’t given particulars on every class and what the phrases imply, nevertheless it all appears a bit arbitrary when the well being swimming pools and injury numbers range a lot, inflicting a good additional division of recreation balancing.
Overwatch additionally makes use of the system of making certain there’s a roster for the quantity of characters allowed from every class. Harmony at present doesn’t make the most of a mechanic like that and permits gamers to make use of no matter characters they need, since these class programs will not be conventional. Whereas that is enjoyable in idea, in my transient expertise enjoying a aggressive recreation like Harmony, it doesn’t pan out too effectively.
Another excuse Harmony is so closely a team-based recreation is that every character has their very own working velocity and injury output. It could possibly be argued that that is an extension of the dearth of clear courses, however I did wish to give attention to this as its personal balancing difficulty. The DPS on characters is fairly essential because you’re allowed to have a crew of no matter characters you need.
There have been some undoubtedly “overpowered” characters within the preview construct that you simply actually did want in your crew in the event you needed to win, particularly in Trophy Hunt. Let’s take a look at the rocket launcher Freegunner, Roka.
She’s capable of deal 43 injury with direct hits whereas firing quickly and establishing her lock-on goal nearly immediately. After having performed some watch backs, it appears there’s no actual reply to what the gap of Roka’s splash injury is and the way a lot it does persistently. To date I’ve seen it hit from a good distance for 12 injury, then additionally hit for 27 injury nearer to the goal. Roka additionally has eight complete rockets to make use of earlier than she has to reload so these numbers add up.
Evaluating this to Overwatch’s Pharah, one other rocket-launcher-wielding character, she solely does 40 injury to an enemy when it’s a direct hit, together with her splash injury being about half that. She additionally solely has six rockets earlier than having to reload and doesn’t have any skills for lock on hearth.
Clearly evaluating these two video games head-to-head isn’t honest to both, nevertheless it’s essential to notice the distinction between balancing. It’s fully potential that with time, Harmony will be capable to get a greater grasp for a way its balancing ought to be maintained. However the way in which it stands at present, I’m involved for the extra informal gamers’ expertise and common approachability.
The choice to play crossplay with PC and PS5 will probably be out there at launch which is sweet information for gamers like me who’ve buddies on each platforms, nevertheless it’s a little bit of a double-edged sword. The preview construct I performed showcased heavy intention help on controllers. It was most noticeable on Roka, the rocket launcher character, since her weapon locks-on. I might discover myself having to actually rip the thumbstick away to get her to show away from the closest enemy that I didn’t even wish to goal.
The opposite characters I performed didn’t characteristic practically as aggressive intention help, however I might really feel the magnetization there, which was a bit irritating and regarding contemplating the choice for crossplay can be enabled at launch. Whereas sure, you possibly can argue that on PC you are able to do extra speedy motion changes on the fly, the ever-ongoing battle between controller intention help versus keyboard and mouse motion appears to simply be aggravated right here.
Happily, there are nonetheless a few months to go till Harmony’s launch – nonetheless a good little bit of time for the balancing and tweaking of each side of the sport that at all times occurs at this stage of the event course of. Fingers crossed Harmony is ready to tighten up its floaty controls and deal with its character balancing earlier than it drops on August 24 for PS5 and PC.