Blacklight Retribution [Review]

[Dutchoper72]

Blacklight Retribution is a free 2 play first person shooter. The game is comprised of various gamemodes like the familiar Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. Newish game modes with extra challenges are Domination, King of the Hill, Kill Confirmed, Siege mode, Onslaught, Search and Destroy and finally Last Team Standing and or Man Standing. As you can see there are many game modes to chose from, each with unique objectives and some with not so unique.

Now some of you might be thinking, ?Ok this seems like a Call Of Duty Free 2 play game?. Well it is far from that my friends. Now how is Blacklight Retribution different from other shooters? Well did you know that everyone gets a wall hack module? This feature is called the HRV or Hyper Reality Visor for you tech people. Be careful though, because you are very vulnerable with HRV active. Sure you can see everything from enemy's through the wall and you can also see the weak-spots on the heavy mech, but you can not shoot while in HRV. Also make note the HRV is limited on time and has a cool-down after every use.

Wait a minute, did you say Heavy mech(Hardsuit)? Well yes I did John, you can call down a Heavy Mech suit which can fire a minigun and also a very powerful Railgun which can one shot most infantry. Well now, how do I call it down? Good question! In order to call down or get special equipment like a flamethrower or turret, you have to visit one of many depots around the map. However in order to get the good stuff, you need to get enough points. Points!?! What is this crap! Well this ?Crap? is achieved through playing the objective and or killing the enemy. They are very easy to earn, so don't worry.

The best part in my opinion for Blacklight Retribution is the fact that there are so many ways to customize your guns. Most notably are the muzzle, barrel, magazine, optic sights, stock, camouflage and weapon tag. The receiver is the gun itself, which range from Shotguns to Assault Rifles and so forth. Now you may recognize most of the options, but what is a weapon tag? Well it's an item that hangs off your gun. It can be promotion items or rare items. Think of them as key-chains that give you certain boosts.

Now what may turn people away from Blacklight Retribution is the fact that, the only way to permanently own guns is by buying them with real money. Whoa hold on there dude, you mean I have to pay money for a free 2 play game? Pfft I am out on this deal. Yes, but look at it this way. The basic tools you get are very good at killing others, even with super powered weapons. The main thing is by paying is the fact that you are stating ? Oh creators of the Blacklight Retribution, I like your game very much and offer you, the gods, this gift of money so you can continue to update this magnificent game and further approve upon thee!?. See its kinda simple. Now there is no paid subscription so that is cool. You can also buy weapon packs off of steam instead of through the in-game store. If however you refuse to pay, you can always rent the guns with gp (Free in-game currency which is earned by playing games) and extend the license...to kill.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and show them you have what it takes to conquer the battlefield!​

 

[TheAngryAardvark]

It takes a while but the shooting mechanics are solid and every attachment changes the character of the gun. Although all I do now is hip-fire spam and the second or third bullet get's a headshot instagib at close range.

Although if I remember the parts cost way too much in-game currency and were a bit pricey IRL money. @Dutchhopper I think with the ingame money you can perma buy the gun bits but the price is sky high.

 

[Dutchoper72]

Yeah the prices are a bit steep, however if you invest a lot of time and have fun, it does not seem that bad. I have however bought about $20 worth and have yet to regret it.

 

[ST0RMY]

I haven't played it in ages, but BLR is a fun game. I like the concept of a futuristic shooter and the weapon customization is awesome.

 

[CyganyZed]

So I played a bit of BL:R the other day, and the one thing I could not do was ever successfully deploy a hardsuit! Some maps don't have much open sky, so not sure where to go to deploy it.

 

[Dutchoper72]

its a bit spotted, sometimes its a small pipe overhead. I have been able to deploy a HS on every map so far.

 

[Haezl]

I just started playing this game again. It looks like the the weapons without all of the attachments are available to buy permanently with the in game currency(GP). You have to reach a certain level before a lot of it is unlocked to buy. However if you want a premade weapon you can get it on a 7 day rental. I can't say with 100% certainty, but I believe you can get everything (aside from cosmetics, and heroes) through grinding out points to spend in game.

I will be doing more playing in the next coming weeks and editing my post with updates that I come across as I learn more in depth about the game.

Edit: I played last night for several hours. As far as I can tell, it is an amazing, fast paced game with good mechanics. This game is far from a "pay to win" game. The weapons you start with are pretty competitive, so while gear helps, it comes down to skill over gear. After a few matches you can afford to rent a pre-made gun if that's what you fancy. It looks like the population of the people playing in matches was between 300 and 500 over the servers. The "recruitability" of the game seems to be promising. There are clans AND you can have your own servers if you wish. There are plenty of servers to play on and if you want you can make a server. However the customization is extremely limited. You can buy "server tokens", which allow for as much customization as you could possible need, Including admin ability. These server tokens are, however, pretty pricey in my book. But then again I have no idea what it costs in other games. The tokens go from 1hr for 25 cents to 28 days for $19.95.

 

[_Ace]

I've been playing it as well, I feel like the recoil is a bit too high on the automatic weapons. But that's just me I'm not sure what you guys think of the recoil

 

[Aniston]

Gee, I remember playing the first Blacklight, but I've never played Retribution.

 

[Dutchoper72]

I've been playing it as well, I feel like the recoil is a bit too high on the automatic weapons. But that's just me I'm not sure what you guys think of the recoil

I modded my gun to where there is little recoil

 

[Haezl]

I modded my gun to where there is little recoil

I am running the LMG-R so the recoil is awful. But I don't feel like it is unrealistic or unmanageable.

 

[Dutchoper72]

I mostly use the smg or lmg. Sometimes i use the heavy assault rifle, but all those guns have little to no recoil due to heavy modding.

I have not played in a bit so I'll probably play a bit today.

 

[Haezl]

I edited my previous post with my updates. Also I'd like to remind everyone that it is FREE to play and on STEAM. So get on there and play!

 

[Haezl]

For a game to succeed in Edge Gamers it needs to have support from members, but it also needs a large pool of potential recruits. So I found this:

http://steamcharts.com/app/209870

Take what you will from the numbers. While I think it is an amazing game, it seems as though the game is in decline.

For some comparison:
TF2 for the last 30 days had an average of 54,330.6 players and a peak of 93,749. While BLR has had an average of 443.9 and a peak of 903.

For BLR the average population in September 2012 was 1,790.0. September 2013 was 967.7. September 2014 was 452.4.