Preview: Switchblade (PlayStation 4)

War is the new sport in Switchblade, an arena-based 5v5 vehicle action game that combines high-octane combat with an ever-shifting selection of strategic choices. Here is a brief look with our Switchblade preview.

Pros:

• Fantastic graphics.
• 2.55GB Download size.
• Tutorial- Two tasks to take part in covering all aspects.
• Five modes- Co-op vs AI, Ranked, Quickplay, Invite and broadcaster.
• Broadcaster- Spectate games.
• Co-op vs AI- Human or AI on your side vs AI teams.
• One arena playable Iceland and one showing but not yet selectable map Monorail which looks cool.
• Daily quests with one free reroll a day.
• Customise your avatar. Basic hairstyles, clothing and emotes.
• Earn EXP, Level up your overall rank and then level up each individual vehicle.
• Five vehicle types- Scout, Fighter, Tank, Artillery, and Armoured. Each vehicle has its own unique stats and abilities.
• 15 base vehicles.
• Gameplay is MOBA like, You need to follow grunts, Takedown turrets, and cannons and destroy the enemy base first.
• Platinum trophy.
• Cash- Used to buy vehicle skins, EXP boosts and new clothes.
• When you die in the game you spawn as your avatar up on a platform and can use the shop or watch the gameplay on.
• Login daily bonus.
• Special parts of the map to earn bonus EXP.
• Clear lock-on system.
• Minimal HUD.
• In game shop to buy one-time use abilities like heal or shields etc.
• When vehicles level up you can earn skins and bonus cash.
• The game is actually very easy to get into.
• Controls are weird at first but you drive and move all on the left stick like the Warthog in Halo. It’s actually easy enough to pick up.
• Grunts will continuously spawn and go ahead to the objective.
• Death will bring up who and what killed you.
• Can zoom in to aid shooting.
• Turrets will get taken offline but won’t actually be destroyed until you take out key structures. As they don’t blow up the turrets will slowly regen health and come back to life.
• Structures like the bases will have a strong defense system that can shoot you but you cannot shoot them, Only grunts can take them out then once the core is exposed, You can join in and take it out.
• Gameshow presentation, You have the main hub where you can walk to the shop or customize areas, Vehicles will show on stands on the side.
• Loadout- You choose two vehicles to deploy with. At any time you can press triangle and a ship will come in and swap vehicles over for you. Of course, the enemy can shoot the ship down! It will respawn eventually.
• Nice map with a lot of routes and ramps to use.

Cons:

• Struggle to fill/find online matches. It will just fill in with AI eventually.
• AI is not that clever especially with things like pushing or healing.
• In-app purchases.
• Long matchmaking times.
• Limited things to spend credits on.
• In game announcer notifications are far too regular. When a base is getting attacked you get told every 30 seconds.
• Feels a bit unbalanced with some vehicle types.
• Slow pace.
• No return to spawn/base option.
• Cannot ping or use in-game shoutouts.
• Little health pickups.
• Very hard to call a ship in as the AI have laser vision on them.
• Games can last a long time even if you are dominating.
• EXP earning is slow.
• No actual lock on its just a notification pop up or if it is there it never seems to work.