Back 4 Blood Review (Lord Of War)
It's Not Easy To Like Back 4 Blood
(no worth full price, buy during sales)
Where RNG Is Lord and Fail the Beginning
My first impressions were solely positive: juicy picture, gore, familiar run/survive/reach the exit.
There's plenty of content e.g. roughly 10 missions per each campaign, a long journey to make!
Moreover, you can select one of many playable characters and enhance your experience with buffs (in-game cards).
Unfortunately, the game will do the same. Its AI keeps adding ominous cards i.e. armoured enemies, oxygen starvation, burning zombies and many alike. Imaging how annoying it is to die instantaneously from an unlucky hit that sent you overboard, because the game activated elite zombies or a roaming boss, who now block the only escape route during infinite assault. What initially looked like a cool feature, quickly turned into a frustrating mechanic.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3182353553
May the Rare Loot Shine Upon Us
B4B has random drops and weapon attachments! Common, rare, epic, legendary - all that jazz. Higher rarity means better damage. Plus each level has card spawns, where you can add (buy) a random card for your current campaign.
However. You're kind of glued to one weapon/playstyle type, because of the cards which you put into your deck. That means that any sweet high damage gun is of little use for a melee build. That explosive hammer is fun and joy, but you have invested into a sniper build... Let a sigh out and continue checking other crates and boxes.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3182354876
Sinister Fields of the Defiled Ridden Kingdom
Let's talk levels?
Act 5 and Act 6 are my favourites. Even though these had the least maps (6 & 5 respectively), I replayed them more. They had more traps, new dangers, cool museum exhibition, pushing the cart with explosives, detonating houses, travelling through tv news building and then surviving fierce onslaught.
Don't get me wrong, original campaigns have memorable episodes too: defending a pub with jukebox, firing up a cannon (with a possibility to kill a boss with it!) and that boss fight, which somehow was a lot easier than previous acts.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3173483546
And then there are hidden lairs - ridden hives. Randomly spawning entrances leading to meaty caves with skulls to find (and later trade for cosmetic or cards) and get out alive. Shorter than a usual mission, but fun to explore and shoot hordes within.
Back 4 Blood is a nice game, but it might take a long time to grow on you. Certain limitations and game-mechanics will frustrate, so be ready to sharpen pve skills and avoid playing with cross-play.