The game had one of the worst launches I've ever seen, the crashes, the bugs, the servers, the MM was all scuffed and that is what most of the initial bad reviews were based on. It didn't help that big streamers were playing the game and all people saw was them sitting in a MM queue for the longest time and an insane amount of crashes.


Skip forward a few months and the devs have really been listening to the community and making mostly intelligent improvements to the game, all of which are on a beta build which can be accessed by enabling beta testing on the game's properties and entering code 'therewillbebugs'. Some of the drastic changes to the new build include;

• Balance changes surrounding weapons (damage, recoil etc);
  
• Toning down the 'jumpiness' of the gameplay;
  
• Increasing overall performance (I'm getting vastly greater FPS in MU2);
  
• Better graphics;
  
• Big map overhauls to accommodate for better competitive gameplay;
  
• New gun and hitmarker sounds (you now feel like you're skull cracking players when you headshot them xd)
  
• All major bugs now ironed out;
  
• Revamped economy system.

This is all before 2 big LAN events coming up in July and September, which is great to see and it really reinforces the idea that the devs are committed to making it a good environment for competitive play.

Once the new update, known as MU2 or Major Update 2 rolls out, the game will be in a awesome state for players to start giving this game another chance. You will not believe it is the same game that was released those months ago and I am almost certain anyone who gives this game another shot will absolutely love the latest version of the game. The skill ceiling is high and new players coming to the game will find it tough if playing against players who have been playing since release, but hopefully with a enough new and returning players, that shouldn't happen as much as it does at time of writing.


The main body of players who play this game have been playing since EA release and some from the kickstarter alpha stages so some players have managed to rack up near 1K hours. As you will know if you've sunk 1K hours into a game, you are going to be pretty decent at it, so expect that from players you face. There is active cups, leagues and tournaments for the game both online and offline, with no real 'dominating' team (such as NiP back in the day), so all is to play for. Generally speaking the community is not unlike any other competitive shooter, mainly friendly with a good amount of competitive 'beef'. There is an active competitive discord[discord.gg] server and an active 'PUG' discord[discord.gg] if you are looking to play and make some friends 8D.

The main organisations you will want to be aware of if you are looking at competing are:

• B43[www.b43.gg] Twitter: @b43dot (Scene coverage and news)
  
• 6G Cups[6gcups.org] Twitter: @6G_Cups (Cups, tournaments, events and news)
  
• Gallantry Events[gallantry.gg] Twitter: @GallantryEvents (Event organiser July LAN)
  
• B44 TV[b44tv.com] Twitter: @B44_tv (News, interviews, scene updates)

If you've looked at the steam chart numbers you can see that a small amount of players are playing the game concurrently, but they are loyal and want the game to gain popularity because they know it has huge potential. This is a great platform to build on once the more 'casual' side of the game is implemented.

The development team have made a 'roadmap'[battaliongame.com] which outlines the direction in which they wish to proceed, as you can see it has all the things you would want from a game like this.

The next big step is to appeal to the casual player base and attract them to the game. This will take form in the addition of a overhauled matchmaking system, improved ranking and increased rewards (skins, account level ups etc). I think it's hard to argue that the initial loot box was pretty lack luster and there is some really nice skins coming in the new loot box they are introducing in the near future. (who doesn't love a skin or two!?)


My overall opinion of this game has been varied as each little change has come, but the latest MU2 update seems to have pretty much fixed the game to a point where is it FUN and FUNCTIONAL which is a perfect place for a competitive shooter to be at. I would recommend the game to anyone who likes games where you can grind ranks such as CS/LoL/BRs and also encourage people who tried the game at launch to come back and see if they like the changes (99% sure everyone will) - and if you left a review at launch, change it to reflect the game in its current state!

Crashes withing 5 mins of opening, not that im suprised by a company that continually neglects their PC audience.

Wonderful game, just wow very enjoy playings. +rep