Posted in: Arena Breakout, Games, Level Infinite, Mobile Games | Tagged: Arena Breakout, Level Infinite, MoreFun Studios

We Got To Preview Part Of Arena Breakout On Mobile

We suited up and moved out in a special preview event for Arena Breakout, as Level Infinite let us try the game out ahead of the beta.

Recently we got to have a very cool experience led by the team at Level Infinite as we were thrown into boot camp to play a preview of Arena Breakout. The crew behind the game at MoreFun Studios and Level Infinite decided to bring out a number of content creators and gaming journalists to Los Angeles for a special preview event as the game was in the middle of a beta period, giving us a chance to try out some of the mechanics and gameplay on mobile, while also having a real boot camp experience where they dressed us in uniforms and had a Drill Sargent give us orders throughout the day. It was an awesome experience from start to finish as we eventually went out and shot airsoft as we played like we were in the middle of a match. But getting to the heart of the matter, here's what we thought of the gameplay and our experience overall.

Before the gameplay started, the developers stressed to us that they made this game to be an amazing FPS title and not just a kid's game. Mocking some of the popular titles on the market to a degree for having dance moves and skins as their focus and not paying too much attention to the gameplay. The entire core design of this game was to provide players with an experience that was both intense and fulfilling to those who absolutely love the genre and don't need a ton of flash and flare or special cosmetics to get them to play it. After a small presentation at the start of the day, we were given mobile devices with the game pre-loaded on them and were able to immediately dive into a server setup for all of us to interact and play without any outside forces jumping in.

Right off the bat, before the matches started, we were able to go on and customize our characters and their loadout. A lot of this system reminded us of different systems we'd seen before. This very much felt like a hybrid of classic PUBG and Escape From Turkov, as we had the full range of options to change up our armor, our weapons, and our gear heading into a battle. As you can see from the images below, you're able to head in and basically deck yourself out from head-to-toe in whatever you have to take into battle. You're not going to have god-tier armor; you'll eventually pick up other stuff in the game, but the basic options here give you the ability to go from being a fast lightweight soldier to a mobile tank with slow mobility. The options for weapons will give you every real-world options, depending on what you feel like you'll need and what works best for your particular style of combat. Again, you're not getting everything you'll ever need, but enough to get you started. Plus the accessories area to give you grenades and other items has a decent closet of choices for you to be prepared for any kind of confrontation.

The Arena Breakout map that we played on was a beast unto itself. This was an expansive area that reminded us a lot of the maps we used to see in H1Z1 back when it was THE battle royale title everyone was playing. Sprawling areas of nature married with compounds and specific landmarks where you could jump into fights on a whim instead of having to wait to be picked off in the background. The game is essentially two-fold, as you're playing two different objectives at the same time. The first one is to stay alive, and the second one is to loot everything you can. This is one of the few experiences in gaming where being a loot goblin wasn't just a part of the objective; it was encouraged. The game operates a bit like a PvPvE as you'll not only have to survive against other players but against an AI system that does not care who you are or how injured you have become, they will shoot on sight. We were paying a beta version, so it isn't perfect, but the enemies have a knack for being a nuisance when you don't want them around, and they can pick you off just as well as any human player can.

Combat in itself is fun and challenging. We were playing on mobile so all of our movement and controls were dictated by our thumbs. This system feels a lot more refined than others. The closest I would liken it to is PUBG Mobile, but it definitely has its own learning curve you need to get used to. If you're not a thumbs kind of player or absolutely dread this kind of setup, you may need to wait for the PC version. This will put you to the test in more ways than one, especially trying to run and gun. When you're hit, and if you survive, you'll see damage not just to the armor but to parts of your body as well. They treat the combat like its real combat, as you should. If you're going to get shot int he arm, you should probably have damage to your arm, which they make sure you see and feel as you need to both heal yourself and replace the armor. I appreciated this aspect, even when it was annoying, because it added a sense of protection and urgency to sneaking around and taking on other players.

One of the major aspects of Arena Breakout that a lot of people forgot in the middle of shooting each other is the looting aspect. You will go through compounds and other locations, looking for items that have value to them. You'll find the very basics, like wiring and computer parts, all the way up to the expensive, such as chalices, storage drives, and just straight-up cash. All of these items you'll pocket on your own or as a team and run to the extraction point, which is where you'll essentially get picked up and be able to "cash out," so to speak, earning your way up depending on what you managed to loot. It's a cool addition to the game that forces you to strategize about how you play, and it rewards you a lot more just getting out and being the last one standing.

During our time with the game, we were thrown into a couple of different matches. One of them was me and another player as a team, taking on everyone else in the game, ala battle royale. We lasted for a while before some of the streaming pros that were brought in for the event smoked us. No shame in losing to them as we ranked pretty high in the end, honestly thinking we would have been wiped out in the first round of battles. In the second match, they paired everyone up in teams of four to do more of the shooting and looting aspect of the game, and while two of our teammates managed to take out a ton of people, I was able to sneak off to the extraction point with a nice heft of loot from a base we infiltrated and eliminated most of the AI guarding it. At no point did I think the game was too hard or too easy. Everything felt well-balanced and pretty fair as far as when targets were hit and how we managed to hold ourselves in battle. I highly recommend it if you're looking for an alternative to other titles out there as they are still doing testing on the game.

For those looking to try out Arena Breakout, the game will be holding another beta period starting on May 9th on Android. The test will be open to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, New Mexico, New Zealand, The Phillippines, the UK, the U.S., Thailand, and Türkiye.

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