Alas it is clear that the game hasn’t yet been fully optimized. Within a window of 3 hours, the game crashed completely to desktop twice. Not exactly a fully stable build but after noticing a number of people complaining about frames-per-second issues which have seemingly now been fixed it is looking hopeful. The spawn system also could be slightly altered with it being blindingly obvious where the enemy team will next appear from. This being said, it is not in front of you or in sight of any players on your team.
As aforementioned, Rekoil draws from a mod background and this is regrettably noticeable when it comes to the title’s graphics. The visuals are dreadful for a genre which has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years. Even on maximum settings, the game fails to live up to the adequate standards set by Counter Strike Global Offensive released back in 2012. Games are not all about graphics and it doesn’t hold Rekoil back too much but it would have been nice for the title to be a bit more eye catching than it is.
A number of players have had a few complaints about the title but not many are things that can’t be altered. Bugs are already been squashed and there has already clearly been improvement made. Some issues such as field of view (FOV) settings can actually be altered yet some gamers clearly haven’t been bothered to go into the options menu to find out before writing the game off.
On the whole the game sounds are spot on. The guns sound relatively powerful and the flooring sounds different underfoot. Sneaking slowing while crouched nicely muffles the step noises which is a great touch. The issue with the sound actually comes from there not being enough ambient noise around the maps. Walking past in game items occasionally sounds eerily quiet. Going hand in hand with the visuals this just cements the presentation as the most under polished section of the title.
Rekoil is not a AAA title and it is clear that the developer hasn’t had a AAA title budget to work with. What the team has managed to do is create a fun and extremely fast paces first person shooter which is enjoyable to play. It takes some time to get used to, which many put some gamers off, and the presentation lets the game down but it offers solid gameplay mechanics: something that is often overlooked. The game has plenty of potential and could be even better with the ability the community has to provide new content for the game. The community is relatively small and must grow for Rekoil to be a must have game.
[Editor’s Note: Rekoil was reviewed on the PC. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]