Forced (2013) Gameplay Review - Steam Greenlight Game
72Welcome to my review of Forced! It took me a pretty long time to make, so I'd appreciate it if you could leave some feedback in the form of likes or comments. Enjoy!
Written review:
What's going on guys and grils? Welcome to my review of FORCED (in all caps), a new Co-Op Action RPG with a focus on puzzles, produced by BetaDwarf.
In FORCED you take the role of a slave covered in nothing but a multi-colored loincloth, until you enroll in the gladiator school where you must fight to the death and attempt to win your freedom back.
The player is assisted by Balfus, a spirit mentor who takes the role of a floating sphere. You are expected to survive through sets of trials, riddled with puzzles to solve and enemies to fight. After every set of trials, the player faces a powerful guardian, in what can be described as a boss battle. The guardians all have unique abilities, which force the player to adapt. Most of this game's challenges can only be defeated by trial and error.
Before every trial you get a choice out of four weapon sets. There's the swift spirit claws, the piercing storm bow, the devastating volcanic hammer and the amazing ice shield. All sets yield certain skills specific to that weapon. For example, when wielding the volcanic hammer the player can unleash a powerful meteor attack and when the ice shield is equipped the player can throw it at enemies.
Every trial calls for a different approach, which means that you will have to adapt to its challenges. In the trial itself, the player can press the spacebar to call Balfus (the aforementioned sphere) to their side. When Balfus passes over or through certain objects, he is infused with specific powers. You can give him healing powers for a short time, or turn him into a bomb. Obviously you will have to be really careful in handling him after he turns into a bomb, which we forgot every now and then.
Every trial offers the chance to obtain three crystals, which serve as skill points. After obtaining a certain amount of them, the player unlocks new active and passive skills, which aid in making subsequent challenges more achievable. The first crystal is simply obtained by completing the trial, while the second asks for a specific condition to be met, which calls for a more detailed approach to the trial. The last crystal obtainable in every trial requires you to beat it in a very short amount of time. All these crystals make for a very good incentive to tackle these challenges.
From my somewhat limited experience with the game, I can say that it is best enjoyed with some company and it's obvious that the developers set out with this in mind. The gameplay is perfectly adapted to at least 2 players. One player could pick the volcanic hammer and play as tank while the other shoots the enemies from a distance with a bow, or throws his shield at them. Of course it also never hurts to take a look at challenges from two perspectives. Sometimes the addition of another player can be a bit chaotic, but in a good way. For example, there was a trial for which we had to cross several laser beams while staying behind the safety of a moving shield. Sadly, I got murdered, and so did my somewhat confused co-op partner. Boom, 20 minutes down the drain. Depressing, but hilarious as well.
While the story is nothing to write home about, it gets the job done. All characters met on your journey are unique and entertaining to either listen to or murder. Forced also sports graphics that are quite impressive for an indie game. The game has a unique, almost celshaded look with a great attention to detail.
In conclusion, Forced is an awesome action RPG, and more so when played with friends. It features amazing puzzles and challenging trials for all. The story is on the weaker side, but gameplay takes a precedence over story in games like Forced. The gameplay is challenging, yet extremely satisfying when you finally come up with a killer strategy which allows you to get your hands on that crystal you've been trying to get. Definitely buy this game if you have friends that are interested in playing with you. It's worth it.
FORCED is available on Steam NOW for 15 dollars or 14 euros. If you're lazy, just click the link in the description to check it out.
Other Videos By Linus
Other Statistics
FORCED Statistics For Linus
Currently, Linus has 4,700 views for FORCED across 1 video. Less than an hour worth of FORCED videos were uploaded to his channel, making up less than 0.01% of the total overall content on Linus's YouTube channel.