If there’s a genre that’s characterized by boom and bust, it’s that of online shooters. For every success like Call of Duty, Halo, or Apex Legends, at least a dozen others seem to come along and disappear without much spark, then fade away again. There are plenty of great competitive shooters in gaming, but what makes them stand out? After a few dozen hours, I’m beginning to understand how The Finals answers these questions: with style inspired by great game shows and a brilliantly destructible playground.

If the 1987 film Running Man had been a 3v3v3 shootout, it would have looked a lot like The Final. You and two teammates face off against other three-person teams in a virtual game show, competing to see who can win enough money first before time runs out. The bold color palette combined with two sports-style live commentators gives the game a feeling of American gladiator excess, the kind of thing people in the ’80s thought was the future of sports. This strikes a nice balance between not taking itself too seriously without becoming a complete joke or annoying.

There are currently two main modes. The first, Quick Cash, has each team compete to collect a safe full of coins and deposit it at a specific point on the map. As a result, all three teams tend to bleed at the point. Collect. This keeps the action moving along very effectively, and because progress doesn’t reset when you receive a deposit, rounds move at a steady pace, completely avoiding momentum-killing deadlocks.

Meanwhile, the “Bank It” mode focuses a bit more on direct PvP combat, but these are also pretty decentralized. Here, each player carries around a virtual bag of coins, which they collect from vaults on the map or by eliminating enemies. The on-the-fly strategy of having to get a kill in a second and deposit the next loot before all is lost is exciting, and eliminating someone right in front of the bank to get all the coins you can deposit is a lot of fun.

Both modes are well designed in their own right and generally very entertaining. However, the fact that The Finals’ choices are limited to just these two is a red flag. If the player base grows tired of this type of game and has no other options, it’s entirely possible that users will abandon it in the not-too-distant future. While I didn’t find this to be an issue while I was playing, it is a potential problem for the long-term health of this community that we hope to address with a new mode in a future update.

After playing a few games, you’ll unlock the Tournament, and this is where the competitive spirit of the Finals really comes into its own. In the primary Tournament mode, you’ll play a modified version of Cashout against the other seven teams in your group. You’ll play two simultaneous matches of four teams, with the top two from each match moving on to the second round. The top two teams from that game will then compete in a 3v3 head-to-head match to determine the overall winner. It does a great job of combining the high stakes of real competition with enough fast, satisfying rounds to give you that “just one more game” feeling after each tournament. There is also a ranked version where players can move up the leagues based on their performance.

There are three different weight classes to choose from for your character, each of which plays completely differently. His lightweight build favors agility, trading in his grappling hook for stopping power to reach high and far-flung areas quickly, for example. His medium build makes him an all-rounder, with support abilities such as a healing beam. Finally, he has a heavy build that seems straight out of Rainbow Six: Siege, as he dominates the battlefield with his heavy weaponry or smashes through walls like a juggernaut.

Before each game, you are free to choose a loadout that can have a huge impact on the battlefield if used correctly. There are standard options like frag grenades and mobile cover. These are proven options that work exactly as you would expect. But they are barely noticeable if you instead drop a jump pad that launches you high into the air or a slime grenade that can seal off large rooms with an expanding bubble. Some options are universal, like the pyro grenade, while others are exclusive to certain classes, like the mid-build defibrillator that instantly revives downed teammates.

But these choices are being undermined as balance issues are currently raising concerns. Heavy tanks tend to be ubiquitous in competitive modes, and when you look at their massive health and high damage output, it’s easy to see why. Certain weapons like flamethrowers, grenade launchers, and swords seem to be a big part of players’ arsenals from what I’ve seen. Hopefully future updates will make up for this, but as it stands, light builds with, say, semi-auto battle rifles are really struggling to keep up with the rest of the meta, which is a shame.

After playing a few games, you’ll unlock the Tournament, and this is where the competitive spirit of the Finals really comes into its own. In the primary Tournament mode, you’ll play a modified version of Cashout against the other seven teams in your group. You’ll play two simultaneous matches of four teams, with the top two from each match moving on to the second round. The top two teams from that game will then compete in a 3v3 head-to-head match to determine the overall winner. It does a great job of combining the high stakes of real competition with enough fast, satisfying rounds to give you that “just one more game” feeling after each tournament. There is also a ranked version where players can move up the leagues based on their performance.

There are three different weight classes to choose from for your character, each of which plays completely differently. His lightweight build favors agility, trading in his grappling hook for stopping power to reach high and far-flung areas quickly, for example. His medium build makes him an all-rounder, with support abilities such as a healing beam. Finally, he has a heavy build that seems straight out of Rainbow Six: Siege, as he dominates the battlefield with his heavy weaponry or smashes through walls like a juggernaut.

Before each game, you are free to choose a loadout that can have a huge impact on the battlefield if used correctly. There are standard options like frag grenades and mobile cover. These are proven options that work exactly as you would expect. But they are barely noticeable if you instead drop a jump pad that launches you high into the air or a slime grenade that can seal off large rooms with an expanding bubble. Some options are universal, like the pyro grenade, while others are exclusive to certain classes, like the mid-build defibrillator that instantly revives downed teammates.

But these choices are being undermined as balance issues are currently raising concerns. Heavy tanks tend to be ubiquitous in competitive modes, and when you look at their massive health and high damage output, it’s easy to see why. Certain weapons like flamethrowers, grenade launchers, and swords seem to be a big part of players’ arsenals from what I’ve seen. Hopefully future updates will make up for this, but as it stands, light builds with, say, semi-auto battle rifles are really struggling to keep up with the rest of the meta, which is a shame.

Each character archetype also has a set of cosmetics that can be unlocked through XP progression or by spending real money. There’s a pretty solid selection out of the box, but the time it takes to unlock the nice-looking items (without taking out your wallet) needs to be heavily optimized. After 20 hours, all I could afford was a fanny pack and some tights for one character. That makes pimping an entire team seem like a pipe dream.

This slow progression also applies to VR, where the in-game “money” you earn while playing allows you to unlock non-cosmetic things like different abilities, weapons, gadgets, etc. I understand there needs to be a balance between getting everything too quickly, which can ruin the fun of progression, and taking too long to acquire items, but at the moment the Final leans a little too much towards the latter. It’s hard to try out builds when all the parts for each character are perfected after dozens of hours of matching.

Multibucks are a paid premium currency, and the cosmetics that can only be purchased with Multibucks have the right mix of things that are unique enough to be considered, but not necessary for those who don’t want to spend money. These are by far the most eye-catching items, and include things like the Elvis-themed jumpsuit from the paid Battle Pass and gold skins for weapons that can be purchased outright. Importantly, there are no pay-to-win options, as nothing exclusive to Multibucks provides a competitive advantage, especially since VR can only be earned by playing. Also, none of the premium stuff is essential, except for the tinfoil-hat-wearing Conspiracy Kitten that can ride on your shoulder and join the fight. This one’s too sweet to pass up.

The destructibility of each level is the true star of Finals. You can of course enter rooms through doors and windows, but even the less obvious route of crashing straight through the ceiling is an exciting way to surprise an unsuspecting team, and you haven’t really played Finals until you’ve blasted a hole to the floor above to steal a safe, and the safe has fallen right before your eyes. At the end of an exciting game, the battlefield is often littered with rubble from which entire buildings begin to collapse.

There’s a lot more to this system than just cool rubble and makeshift doors, because the strategic impact is huge. One map is set atop skyscrapers connected by a bridge in the sky, and I sat there speechless the first time I saw my team destroy the bridge where it met the building, sending the whole thing crashing to the ground. A split-second decision to jump or slide off the rubble as the buildings around you collapse can mean the difference between winning or losing a gunfight, creating unforgettable moments. It was the amount of rubble we had to excavate to get there that stopped the other team from stealing the bank and winning, like when our whole team was dead and we were the only ones standing in the final seconds of the match.

There’s a lot more to this system than just cool rubble and improvised doors, because the strategic impact is huge. One map is set on top of high-rise buildings connected by a bridge in the sky, and I sat in shock the first time I saw my team destroy the part where the bridge meets the building, and the whole thing crash to the ground. A split-second decision to jump or slide down under the rubble as the surrounding buildings collapse can make the difference between winning or losing a gunfight and creating unforgettable moments. Like when your whole team dies in the last seconds of a match, and another team dies. You just couldn’t win anymore because of the amount of rubble you had to dig up to take the bench and win.

If you don’t have many friends to share these victories with, single player matchmaking is quick and easy. And the one-button ping system makes it easy to communicate with random people without having to use a microphone. Since it doesn’t make sense to ignore the target and go for the kill directly, your teammates tend to focus on the task, and solo play is very beneficial. But it has one obvious weakness. In the matches where I didn’t make it to a full team of three or someone dropped out midway, people were rarely brought onto the team to fill in the positions. It’s very disheartening to be alone in a match and realize you have no chance to win and no reason to ask for help.

The quality of teammates you get is always down to luck. This is a big reason why The Finals (like most team-based shooters) is always better when you know people. It’s a lot of fun to coordinate attacks with friends, or to capture banks and defend them with mines or defenses. Collaboration is also a big advantage. A flamethrower-armed Heavy supported by a Medium’s healing beam can devastate an entire team, and the strategic element of choosing complementary builds and kits is very exciting. When someone dies, they’re left with an action figure that can be used to revive them; picking it up and finding a safe place to return it is not only fun but useful. (It was also useful that cross-play and progression allowed me to jump between different friends on PC and Xbox Series X without missing anything.)

Verdict

Final stands out among the crowd thanks to its fast-paced action, great environmental destruction, and game show/squad shooter atmosphere. The way you fly around the battlefield with a grappling hook or sprint through buildings as the Hulk is mixed with strict objective-based modes, which is a refreshing change. There are currently concerns that there are only two of these modes in total, and it feels like some tweaking is needed to both the game balance and the overall reward economy. But these are minor criticisms compared to the incredibly fun and breathtaking sight of buildings collapsing around you.