Preview: FRENZIES
When the first trailer for FRENZIES dropped, the bright and colorful look, the fun and frantic looking gun play with elements of FRACKED and Synapse and those awesome onesies had me excited for this shooter. Leading up to the release of early access, I have had chance to join a number sessions. So, what did I make of FRENZIES?
Release Date: October 10th 2024 (Early Access)
Developer: Near Light
Publisher: nDream
Price: Free
Previewed On: Meta Quest 3
* Access Provided For Preview *
The aforementioned trailer sold perfectly on what to expect in the game, this a fast placed and frantic online PVP shooter. Which is going to mix some well known iconic game modes and some more unconventional game modes, solo and team-based rounds.
However, before you enter the game lobby for your rounds you will get the chance to customise your characters with a choice of a number digital LED masks, onesies, gloves and shoes. Then you can go over to your weapon station and also modify the skins on your guns. Allowing you get creative with mix and matching items or going with a solid look. I was impressed with the amount of customisation options already available – but, hopefully overtime more will be added for people to either unlock or purchase as DLC, as it works towards leaving early access.
You are able to take two weapons in with you, which can be switched on each death. You can mix and match any of the weapons, so maybe your style is dual-wielding two sub-machine guns or maybe an assault rifle and shot-gun is more your taste – the game allows for any combination. With how fast paced the game is and the size of the arenas means, all shooting is done from the hip with cross-hairs on the screen being used to aim. This approach makes sense because, what makes the game so much fun is the frantic and fast paced shooting in the smaller arenas – taking me back to games like Unreal Tournament but a bit less gruesome.
As mentioned the game brings some games modes that are iconic in the shooter space like free for all, team death-match and a mode that plays like Domination its about holding the points or capturing all three. Then in brings in some more unconventional modes like, one where you need to catch and hold onto a pig to score points and one where you need to get your team the other teams dance floor – with these two being my favorite modes. Add to these other modes that are available and you will get plenty of variety.
FRENZIES takes all the fast paced action and fuses it with nDreams’ gun play from FRACKED and Synapse, which has won awards. This means although the gameplay is fast paced maybe, you can get an advantage from using only one weapon and grabbing parts of maps and pull yourself in and out of cover, to get an advantage in that way – I have seen this used effectively in the play sessions I have had, showing it works well despite the pace of the game.
Where the game might shy away from the gruesome element with not having blood or anything (which makes sense given the design and overall look of the game), it does allow for some fun and trolling interactions. It does this with having so many hand gestures mapped to the controllers, and the amount is really impressive. So, maybe you want to give some the middle finger after killing them or back in the lobby once the game is over… go ahead.
Over my time playing the play test of FRENZIES there has been a number of updates that have taken on-board feedback that has been provided and continued to take feedback throughout. The time I have played it, it has left me very excited for the release and it reaching a wider playerbase. With the fast and frantic pace of the gun play, the mix of known and new game modes, customisation and the crazy amount of hand gestures allowing you to interact in fun and trolling ways with other players, FRENZIES has what it takes to become a popular VR shooter.