Described by many as the Counter-Strike killer, Valorant aims devilishly high, and with such ambitions, we were very eager to see if its gunplay could stand the comparison. It is clear that the Riot Games game was largely inspired by the Valve Software title by borrowing many mechanics, unfortunately without necessarily being a real success each time. First of all, there are 2 teams of 5 players who will oppose each other to plant a bomb, exactly like in the "de_" maps of the famous Half-Life mod. Here called "Spike" (except when a message tells you that the "Bomb" is in place), the explosive device must be armed in dedicated areas specially marked on the map. In short, so far, nothing exotic. During each round, the attackers have 40 minutes to plant the bomb, which is shorter than in CS, thus requiring more action and fewer sequences where we plant the tent while waiting for the adversary points his muzzle.
For the moment, three maps are available (Bind, Haven and Split), and are based on a classic model with two bomb-sites and three lanes to go from one spawn to another. There are, however, some exceptions, and some rather welcome new features, such as the teleporters on the Bind map. The latter, one-way, allow you to move extremely quickly, but make a crazy noise when you use them. Finally, the Haven map, even if it remains classic, offers 3 bomb-sites and a much larger surface. However, the latter is not really more favorable to the offensive team despite what one might have thought. So far, each map seems fairly well balanced, and we haven't noticed that one side has an advantage over the other. To win, the defending team must defuse the Spike, or kill all opponents, while the attackers must blast the Spike, or eliminate the defenders.
COUNTER-STRIKE 1.7 ?
Borrowing from CS does not stop there, since we will also find a system for purchasing weapons at the start of each round. 30 seconds are thus dedicated to shopping, in order to crack the money duly acquired during the previous round. Again, a victory is worth a lot, while a bounty is offered for each kill you make. The money will be spent on weapons (17 in total, with assault rifles, smg, pump, sniper or even machine gun), shield (light or heavy) and finally on charges for the skills of our hero. In short, leaving Counter-Strike we are not really out of place. However, some mechanics didn't really have the expected impact. Indeed the economic system is rather generous, and we are rarely on the street to buy equipment. Unless our team gets thrashed over and over again, we'll never need to go to war with the dirtiest (and cheapest) weapons in the game. In fact, the money flows freely, and unless you want to buy an AWP (here called Operator, it is the most powerful sniper rifle in the game, and the most expensive weapon) in each round, the economic crisis does not really lie in wait for us. In the worst case, the game includes an intelligent system that allows you to ask teammates to buy us a weapon. It is then enough for the rich to open the shop, and satisfy the desires of their teammates with a single click. There is therefore no longer any need to struggle to beg via the chat as in Counter-Strike. But overall, this system lacks impact in the game, and we do not find (or extremely rarely) the need to have to sacrifice rounds to save, as often happens on CS.
If Valorant is clearly more demanding than the average in terms of shooting, it remains much easier to approach than Counter-Strike, with weapons whose recoil is sometimes almost non-existent.
When you're in the game, the differences with Valve's FPS are even greater. If Valorant is clearly more demanding than the average in terms of shooting, it remains much easier to approach than Counter-Strike, with weapons whose recoil is sometimes almost non-existent. Of course, you lose precision if you shoot on the move, but the fact of having to limit the rate of fire of an automatic weapon is a much less essential problem here. Moreover, the emphasis is not so much on the accuracy of the shot, since each weapon has very specific statistics, and it is thus not possible to be able to kill anyone, with any weapon. , with a single shot to the head, as is the case with Valve. Most weapons also have an iron sight, which allows you to aim along the weapon, which is a feature only available on scoped weapons at Valve. This touch of modernity also makes aiming easier, and greatly stabilizes most weapons which then become more accurate. In addition, there is no grenade, flash, smoke, explosive or incendiary, the skills of the heroes now taking care of all this.
WE CAN BE HEROES
Because yes, Valorant is actually eyeing a lot more on the Overwatch side, with 10 heroes with specific abilities, but sometimes with similar roles. In reality, these heroes all belong to one of the 4 classes available, namely Duelists (attackers optimized for frag), Initiators (which facilitate entry into a defended area, and allow the enemy to be detected), Sentinels (who watch the rear guard, and support their teammates), and Controllers (who can block sightlines and fragment the battlefield). We could hear that Valorant was going to be aimed at pure and hard shooters, and that it would be possible to be a hit without dealing with the powers of the heroes. This is largely untrue, as character abilities are essential to victory in addition to often being extremely powerful. To give you an idea, Sova, an initiator, has a bow that sends radar arrows (which reveals the position of enemies to your whole team), a drone to go scouting, arrows causing a electric arc, and a special attack that offers 3 arrows capable of piercing all walls. As you have understood, there is absolutely no question of depriving yourself of this kind of decisive advantage. It is also specified that the basic power is generally regenerated over time, that two others must be recharged via the shop, while the special attack is obtained by picking up orbs on the ground, or by accumulating frags (a much like in COD).
If Valorant looks like a knockoff of Counter-Strike for its shooter side, it seems to have been largely inspired by Overwatch for the heroes.
If Valorant looks like a knockoff of Counter-Strike for its shooter side, it seems to have been largely inspired by Overwatch for the heroes. Indeed, Sova, whom we have just described to you, is furiously reminiscent of Hanzo. Even more disturbingly, Omen looks like two drops of water to Reaper, and the two can teleport via a dark cloud. Incidentally, Omen's attack is called "From the Darkness" in VO, which is exactly the punchline Reaper pulls out after teleporting into Blizzard's game. In short, between inspiration and homage, we once again have the impression of playing a fraudulent copy of Overwatch. Moreover, if Blizzard has largely taken care of the lore behind each character, by giving them their own personalities, none of this exists in Valorant. As you have understood, Riot's latest game is therefore unlikely to bury the games from which it draws a lot of inspiration, and the real question now is whether it will be able to make its mark thanks to its many qualities. For now, and despite the limited number of maps, the game is working pretty well and we're having fun, which is the main thing. Moreover, when you come across a team that takes advantage of the many tools to communicate, and that plays together, you get a hell of a start. Still, when everyone goes to their own corner, the experience becomes much less fun. Where CS offers a "casual" mode with 10 Vs 10 games where you can play a little for your apple, Valorant currently only offers one mode tailored for the competitive game. Another criticism, for now when a member of the team disconnects from the match, it will have to be finished at 4 Vs 5, a bonus of 700cr per round being supposed to compensate for the loss. This is clearly insufficient, and we would have loved to have a bot controllable by a player killed like in CS:GO, or a usable life.
A CONCRETE TECHNIQUE
However, we have to give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and we must admit that Riot has done a hell of a job on Valorant. It's simple, we've already seen many games finished in a much worse state than this beta, which frankly gives us the impression of a finished game that was produced quite well, and this, on many points. First of all, know that the technique is irreproachable. Thanks to its fairly low-detail cartoon graphics, the game runs smoothly, even if your PC is an infamous completely rinsed merguez. The netcode is flawless, and the servers are sending wood (aside from opening day, where many glitches occurred), with no connection issues to note, and no noticeable latency. In the Paris region, and with a rather honest fiber, we almost never had to deal with a double-digit ping, which is a nice performance. The most competitive players will therefore be reassured, no technical fault is present, and only our negative skill, as well as our mollusk reflexes, were to blame when we were eliminated. Better, the anti-cheat system also seems to be on point, since we only doubted a player once on the many games played (admit that a guy who spends more than 60 frags on a game played in 17 rounds is suspect). Better, you can also unlock the heroes by playing, and the use of the credit card seems limited to weapon skins, or pure and hard cosmetics. We approve of this choice.
