I'm standing on the rooftop of a multistory building in The Finals, deep within some futuristic interpretation of Las Vegas. Against an ever-depleting timer, I'm trying to reach a lockbox full of cash in the casino floor below which, all going to plan, I'll then carry across this war-torn battleground towards a vault while my team-mates provide cover.
The thing is, I've misread the mini-map, and I'm dozens of meters higher than I'm supposed to be. My comrades, battered and bruised, are posted behind cover at ground-level, throwing everything they have at the opposition's defenses in a bid to slouch closer towards our goal. I swap my over-the-shoulder RPG for a hefty sledgehammer and do what I do best: brute strength by way of white-knuckled melee blows to the asphalt beneath my feet.
In an explosion of shattered debris and plumes of dust, my hammer blows the casino roof wide open. Like dominos, the crumbling concrete smashes the floor below, which smashes the floor below that; which smashes the floor below that again. In a flash, I'm now on the ground, dazed and disoriented, but within touching distance of the lockbox. I take two steps towards it, lunge forward, before a point-blank shotgun blast decorates the wall with my brains.
After that, waiting 30 seconds to respawn feels like an absolute eternity – because The Finals is so much fun, and its destruction physics are the best I've ever seen.
The beginnings
Admittedly, it doesn't feel like all that much has changed since I last sampled Embark Studios' latest venture, but that's not a bad thing by any stretch. When I took the then most recent beta for a spin back in March, I couldn't believe how impressive the three-person squad shooter's destruction physics were, and how quickly, and drastically, they could change the course of any four-team deathmatch. The Finals is the work of ex-Battlefield and Battlefront veterans, and while I was skeptical at first about their desire to "push environmental dynamism, destruction, and player freedom to the limits," and their assertions that they'd "unlocked a developer's holy grail", I was quickly won over by the game's server-side destruction out on the field.
That remains the case today – a fact galvanized by sampling a different, more sophisticated map this time around. Having played last time among the soaring skyscrapers of Seoul, and then the narrow thoroughfares of Monaca on the banks of the French Riviera, Las Vegas poses a different challenge. The rules of very much the same – The Finals is a dystopian Hunger Games-meets-Smash TV game show where contestants must steal, protect and deposit money boxes; fighting and killing opposing teams in their quest for fame and fortune – but this slant on Sin City balances tight spaces with wide-open battlegrounds to great effect. One minute you might be sniping enemies from a nest, the next you might be blasting them up close with a 12-gauge, and the next again you might be testing the structural integrity of a roof with a sledgehammer.
Success in all of this is measured by the amount of cash you manage to squirrel away before the clock hits zero. Enterprising bounty hunters will seek out the spoils from the outset, whereas opportunist pirates might wait till the dying seconds to snatch glory from the jaws of defeat. Written down, this might sound pretty cut-and-dry for any squad-based shooter worth its salt, but where The Finals shines is in its least predictable moments, of which there are plenty. In fact, I don't think it's unfair to say The Finals is predicated on unpredictability – be that when players smash through walls in a bid to steal your cash; when weather effects, such as visibility-skewing sandstorms, completely transform the complexion of levels; or when angry brutes burst through the roof above.
"The Finals already boasts an impressive wealth of cosmetics and weapons designed to suit all three of its build types, and the inevitably varied and idiosyncratic playstyles of its players"
Through all of this, it's The Finals' incidental moments in the throes of unbridled chaos that I've enjoyed most so far. There is an element of deception to just how breakable the game's environments are, granted – in the same way something like, say, Baldur's Gate 3 perpetuates the illusion of unlimited choice by conveniently directing its most interesting interactions into your line of sight, The Finals will often marshal you towards highly-destructible pitfalls and plateaus – but when the outcome is so blooming satisfying, I'm not sure that clever sleight of hand matters much at all.
As per its big announcement at The Game Awards 2023, The Finals is now live – meaning our latest taste of the free-to-play squad shooter is, in essence, its final build. Similar to any live-service game of this nature, Embark Studios promises to support the game from hereon in tandem with its community's needs. And while the true strength and depth of that community will only become clear over time, I will say that The Finals already boasts an impressive wealth of cosmetics and weapons designed to suit all three of its build types, and the inevitably varied and idiosyncratic playstyles of its players.
Will we still be talking about The Finals in a year's time, two years' time, three years' time or more? That also remains to be seen, but on the sheer thrill served by its sophisticated destruction features alone, it's got the best chance to stand head and shoulders above the crowd. That is, until you smash it down a few levels with a sledgehammer.
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