Honor and Duty: Arcade Edition Review

For all the arguments of which First Person Shooter is better; Battlefield, Call of Duty, Halo, Battlefront etc, it is safe to say that these any and a plethora of other shooters are highly polished, produced and capable. There is one game which has never been on this list, and that is Strange Games’ Studios Honour and Duty: Arcade Edition. A budget WW2 shooter facing off against waves of enemies. The games title obviously comes in parody, echoing the titles of other big shooter titles but then makes no attempt to build on that parody approach. Or build any kind of personality whatsoever.

Things immediately look grim; the title screen art doesn’t stretch across the entire screen. After choosing between one of four characters, in their Team Fortress style aesthetic you are thrown into a poorly textured hell of jagged edges and defective scenery. And then it’s up to you to get some ammo, and take out the enemies. And if enemies aren’t spawning in your line of sight, they are draining your health regardless of how you move or where you go. They always seem to have an auto aim feature on you.

Gunplay, a core mechanic of any shooter here, is frustrating and nothing short of entirely bland. When the game isn’t crashing the functionality is inconsistent. Many times I would try and use knife and often, when it would stab, it would randomly shoot afterwards even though my finger was nowhere near the trigger. Animations are for the most part nowhere to be seen. To the extent that there is not even a reload animation. Textures are bland and obtrusive. The colours consist of a collection of muted colours of absolute sick. And whilst the games graphics are at best, unfinished, the performance takes a serious hit when the waves begin to increase and enemies fill the screen.

If you play for long enough, the level will change and you will be tasked with building a base yourself. However, the objective of shooting enemies doesn’t change so the change is at best superficial. New weapons and ammo can be bought as you progress and are awarded money seemingly at random moments. Not reflecting your gameplay at all. At times, you will be joined by teammates. And if you thought the AI of the enemies was bad, oh boy. At best, their purpose is useful for acting as a bullet sponge for a moment before they die.

The game also boasts online multiplayer modes, however, despite multiple attempts on multiple days in matchmaking to find a game, there was no one playing. Sad. It’s worth noting and giving credit that this game is compatible with PSVR although I can’t imagine a more hellish world to be immersed in.

This game feels like an early, and I mean early and not good mobile game which aims to gather as much money as possible. For the price of entry, It disappoints me that more and more of this kind of product is making its way onto the Playstation store.

A distinct lack of basic functionality or design make this less than a lacklustre first person shooter, but almost unplayable mess which after the frustration of simple  mechanics failing to work pushes this into entirely forgettable.

REVIEW CODE: A FREE Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.