For Honor: PS4 Review

For Honor: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Ubisoft

A knight, a samurai and a viking all walk into a conflict.

Sounds like the start of a Monty Python sketch, right?
Well, it's actually the premise of Ubisoft's new multiplayer game, a clash of the titans as it were.

Real-time countering is a skill to master and is vital, no matter which faction you choose to play. 

Whether you're Viking, Knight or Samurai, if you can't defend then you're gone. It's a skill that takes a little time to get your head around but it's terribly important during the ongoing combat.

Talking of which, the plot loosely revolves around the world having been shattered by an earthquake and different factions fighting for resources afterwards. As ever, world-changing means that groups spring up - and allying yourself to one of these is the way forward.

The opening video is nothing short of spectacular. Fighting through the ages is demonstrated by the world changing around the characters and it's very wonderfully executed, a sort of age-old conflict given a graphical new spin.

Offering 1 v 1 duelling, 2 vs 2 or 4 v 4 and many others, the combat element is as mentioned the most important part of the game. And it's fluid, brutal and if you've not mastered what you need to, likely to signal an end to your time in the world before you've even realised what's going on.

The full on brawling where zones are captured are ones that will require tactics - gaining a zone collects you points, but losing that zone and then dying in said zone deducts them. It's a smart touch to ensure one side never romps home with the prizes but it does make the counting down clock a major enemy to your march to victory.

Hack and slash may be a major part of the conflict and contest, but it also needs a lot of skill to help you through and to ensure you don't become a cropper unnecessarily. With 12 heroes across the board and 3 different factions to ally yourself to, the game's scope is evident.

And there are plenty of online battling options as well to keep you in control and amused. From Dominion to Duel, there's more than enough to engage, even if the online system drops off from time to time.

It's the reactive combat which is the major thrust of For Honor and it's this which sets its lofty ambitions apart from everything else.

While the game's online world is really where it'll thrive and where your enthusiasm will go after an average Story mode - and it's here you'll lose hours playing For Your Own Honor and rewards.