A Tactical Shooter
There is a reason why I was never invited to play Rainbow Six Siege ever again, after a training incident with a grenade.
See, I’m rubbish at tactical shooters, much preferring the more direct approach of kicking a door open and spraying bullets through the opening. Obviously, this led to conflict with my team and a swift end to my eSports career.
So, when a new tactical shooter dropped onto the doormat of TheXboxHub Towers, I was clearly in pole position to review it. Coming from VOID Interactive, and going by the incongruous name of Ready or Not, the game puts you in the shoes (or boots, I suppose) of an L.A. SWAT commander as you undertake various missions.
SWAT Commander
The story of the game is somewhat light, and basically serves as a carrier for a series of discrete missions. We are a SWAT commander, tasked with either building up a squad in single player, or taking part in missions with other living, breathing people out there in the virtual world.
Ready or Not plays as a first person shooter, and the action is viewed from your character’s viewpoint as you go through the levels. These are a real mixed bunch, with a variety of different routes through each one: one minute we are assaulting a gas station, and the next we are sneaking up the back stairs of a tower block. One thing is for sure, there is a nice mixture of places to visit.
The enemies that are confronted seem to have perfected cloning technology, as quite a lot of them are identical, which is a bit off-putting. Didn’t I just cuff your brother downstairs? Still, with a little willing suspension of disbelief, it is okay. And nicely, the camera is largely up to the task, but is confused by tight corners, clipping effortlessly through walls to show you something that is entirely useless. A few other graphical glitches pop up as well and the most memorable was my co-op partner spawning in without a gun, and shooting enemies with the power of his mind.
Sound of the game is pretty good, with decent voice acting in the briefing stages and your character having a good line in stock police phrases: “Hands up” and “Drop the weapon!” being highlights. You’ll hear this a lot more than you’d think, as the shout button is A, which in every other game ever is the interact button. Quite often I’d sneak up to a door in order to unlock it, before yelling at the top of my lungs and getting shot to pieces by the enemies on the other side of the obstacle.
Other than this, the gunfire is good, and the team chatter works really well, so a good score there.
Single Player Squads
Now, the actual gameplay, and for those who are fans of a tactical shooter, the news is great, as this does exactly what it says on the tin.
Ready or Not is split into two halves, basically, across the online and the single player realms. One of these is a lot more fun than the other. Let me explain.
The single player mode is the one that doesn’t work quite as well as it could, and this is largely down to the control system. In order to give your team orders, there are a variety of context sensitive buttons to press or hold, and radial menus where you can select what you want your team to do. The issue I had, right from the tutorial, is that trying to give my team the order to breach a door just didn’t seem to work as intended, so I ended up opening every door myself, and consequently getting shot to pieces. What’s the point of having minions if you can’t get them to take a bullet for you, eh?
Apart from this issue, the rest of the gameplay is pretty smooth, and trying to make sure your team takes the right gear on missions is quite involving – almost despite myself I started to care about what happened to my AI companions.
Multiplayer and Mayhem: Teamwork and Crossplay
On the other side of the virtual line, with cross-play on as a default, I never had any issues getting a full match with the rest of the playing public in the world, and it is here that Ready or Not shows what it could really be.
With so many paths through each level, and with multiple ways to accomplish the objectives (tear gas grenade down an air vent was a great discovery on one of the early missions), chatting with team mates (who by and large, have been a communicative bunch) leads to lots of alternative strategies. Just be aware that blazing through missions is frowned upon, as at the end of each mission, we are given a score based on how well we have stuck to the letter of the law. Shooting enemies in the head from behind without warning shouldn’t be done, and apparently they should be given the chance to surrender. The fact that they rarely do is neither here nor there!
Getting a team together, especially if you can organise to play together multiple times is a great way to spend a few hours, as Ready or Not allows the opportunity to refine any tactics – however, there is a certain amount of randomness in the setup, so enemies may not always be where you expect them!
A Fantastic Co-op Shooter That Needs a Better Solo Mode
It all means that scoring Ready or Not is a bit of a tricky one. If you are a solo player, Ready or Not is hard to recommend. Yes, there is fun to be had, but it’s in the multiplayer world where it comes alive; where the real action is.
Grab a few friends and have a go, and you won’t regret it.
Important Links
Squad Up, Make Arrests and Save Lives: Ready or Not Launches on Xbox and PlayStation – https://www.thexboxhub.com/squad-up-make-arrests-and-save-lives-ready-or-not-launches-on-xbox-and-playstation/
Download Ready or Not (through Game Pass if you like) – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/ready-or-not/9NBR63PT4FZC/0010
Enjoy the Deluxe Edition – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/ready-or-not-digital-deluxe-edition/9PGSCVZP98QG/0010
