But the game is also Platinum’s first foray into the dreaded minefield of live service and it’s… not good. Aside from the teensiest glimpses of what could’ve been, the game is a bemusing cascade of loot and stats that don’t mean all that much. The combat has its moments but is largely bleh. The story is meh. And it’s all yours for £60 - heh?!
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Successful live service games have nice, easy rhythms. They put on a spread of activities, all with rewards that feed back into the power grind. Everything you earn means something, whether that’s EXP gains or tokens you can spend at vendors or rare schematics for sick pauldrons - you get the idea. And with your stats boosted, you move onto bigger, better things that’ll grant you yet more useful stuff. You’re logging in daily because you’re itching to chase down the next reward, like a greedy little loot goblin.
This includes those story quests, the one (1) activity that I’ve encountered so far in this game. You rush through corridors and into progressively harder arenas filled with spectral suits of armour and miniature orcs wielding hammers, until you reach a boss. Occasionally there are yellow orbs to collect on your way, although I haven’t been told what these do. Beat an arena and the game will give you a rank, like Stone or Bronze or Pure Platinum, which also nets you… nothing?
Chests and bosses drop Relics, sort of like Engrams from Destiny. I know what these do! They can be cracked open for loot of various rarities: brightest colours are goodest. Thing is, even the weapons and armour that emerge from these presents don’t give you that fuzzy feeling; there’s no lip-smacking going on, no exclamations of “Jiminy Cricket! Nowthat’sa sword.” Most of the time, you’re left with gear that’s higher in Power Level but seemingly worse, with lots of red bars and arrows pointing downwards when you compare it to what you already have equipped. You stick it on anyway, because the number in the top left is bigger and you’re working off heady superstition mixed with logic that’s about as watertight as a running bath.
A damp spongeWith enemies being number sponges you’ll find wringing the life out of them saps your own energy levels too. This is unlike, say, Destiny where bosses may have colossal health bars, but the combat is so punchy and the boss so wily, that you’re constantly engaged as the sponge dries up.
Even more upsetting are the momentary flashes of Platinum brilliance that shine through. The game hits you with the occasional stunning oil-painting backdrop, draws you in with the story for a split second. Sometimes the bosses are super cool, or you’ll do an awesome last minute dodge and you’ll feel unstoppable. Somewhere, deep down, there’s a sliver of the fantastic Platinum. But it’s mired in what itthinksmakes a live service game tick and loses itself as a result.
