FREE FIRE REVIEW: A Battle Royale for Low End Devices

Ok, what do you remember? I remember holding a contempt for online games, I remember finally trying out bullet force but the incessant updates pissed me off, I remember trying out rules of survival but the gameplay not as smooth as my expectations. Then I remember the "saviour" pubg with it's well deserved hype.. For some reason, it wasn't working on my phone despite a seemingly average phone specifications. One last shot and it was FREE FIRE which was introduced to me days ago. Fortunately for me, everything worked perfectly fine and I am here to give my thoughts. Stay put.

All images used are screenshots from my mobile

Yeah, I know you probably are familiar with online multiplayer games by now. Shoot and Kill memo that has won the heart of game lovers over the years. Just recently, pubg raised the bar and set a precedent with its TPS (Third person shooter) game. This was greeted with a lot more reception even more than the developers envisaged. Now we just have to sit and relax while other games follow suit; speaking of which Free Fire comes in with an openly acknowledged and publicized inspiration from PUBG, you would expect something similar. I didn't get to play PUBG so I can't juxtapose them at the moment and weigh the differences, advantages of one over the other and disadvantages.

FREE FIRE

This is a game that was launched late January this year and it looks like it garnered much traction behind the scenes. It has a whooping 50 million downloads on the google playstore, says much about its overall performance. And speaking of performance, it has absolutely no lag and the frame rate is same for "all devices". Probably the more reason it has more downloads on the google playstore; it's support for low end phones.

On launching the game, you have to login or register via Facebook or other modes after which you have to choose between three servers then you are logged in. What greets you are offers, like crate of exclusive clothes for your diamond or money. Even the mother's day outfit is available for purchase but the prices are not so cheap and you really have to work for it. You also get daily login rewards which ends in 7 days days - Armor crates, Gold, Diary scraps, leg pockets, silver loot crates, gold x250, Beige leather jacket.

Hackers are a major concern in almost all online multiplayer games and in the announcement tab is the anti-hack notice; warning users who use third party apps to gain unfair advantage and goes further to state its ban of over 60000 accounts and devices who engaged in malpractices. This goes a long way in reassuring users of their commitment to fairplay and a sense of relief. The next tab is the events tab that rewards users on successful completion of "not so herculean" tasks. The weekend challenge rewards you for completing 1 (match), 3, 5 matches. First purchase rewards you for purchasing a diamond and cumulative login as the name implies, rewards you for cumulative logins that span up to 30 days.

Newbies are supported and encourage with daily incentives. I got a beautiful top after my day 2 and I am to get a more appealing parachute after 7 days. The tutorial aims for a smooth integration of Newbies into the game with a concise and precise game guide. In the settings, the music volume, sound effects, voice can be adjusted. The graphics can also be set to ultra and the brightness subsequently increased. The sensitivity (camera) and controls are equally customizable.

Unlike other multiplayer games, Free fire allows only a maximum of 50 players. In the solo mode, you get matched with other players around the world and dropped on a spot for a countdown of 40 second, then the game loads and you are dropped off an aircraft on an island.Now unlike other battle royals with the regular skydives, you actually skate your way down until you are close enough to use the parachute. If you can't open the parachute,it automatically opens at a programmed range so there's no "death from the fall".

I know you are probably familiar with this but I'd just go along, you run towards buildings wherein lies different weapons (From guns to cutlass), vests, helmets, ammo and all. What I like most about this game is not substituting graphics quality for performance. There's a healthy balance between everything. You can prone, jump, dock, aim (as per the gun). If an enemy is killed, you can equip all the player's eqipped items. You can not spectate in the solo mode, only in the "DUO $ SQUAD" which also allows the voice chat.

The duo and squad mode allows you to choose between teaming up with another player as a duo or with a whole squad. It also displays your facebook friends and displays their status (online or offline) and you have the opportunity to invite more friends to the game. If you choose the duo mode, you get matchmade with a player but a squad pairs you with a team. Your level increases as you participate in matches. You automatically spectate your teammate(s) once dead until you decide to quit the show but consequently, all rewards will be forfeited and character eliminated, if it is a ranked match, you lose your rank. The voice chat allows you to communicate with your team mates, you can enable/disable your recorder and you can also enable/disable the audio (I.e you won't be able to hear other players). The ranked match is available only to level 5 players and up.

The store is mainly for customization, acquiring clothes, shoes and characters and like I said earlier, for diamonds or dollars (in game currency). You can also get crates of different kinds. The vault is where you equip items that are purchased or earned. While the collection allows you to manage your banner, avatar, backpack and lootbox.

This game is quite popular bur it is still riddled with some bugs. Talk about the endless run that sometimes happen when you want to get into a building, players floating in air before deployment, "magically" coming back to the parachute after landing among others. I sense an update.

It only goes for 257 mb, Apk only and it has no obb file. It can be downloaded on the google playstore or on their official website. I'll continue to dig deep into this game overtime.

Phone: Infinix Hot 5
Ram: 2GB
Rom: 16gb
GPU: Mali T400

Until next time
Happy Gaming