Back in November of 2019, Madfinger's competitive first-person shooter Shadowgun War Games arrived on the Play Store for pre-registration. At the tail end of January, we learned the game would be officially released on February 12th, though it would appear Madfinger hit a few snags yesterday, and so the game was released late in the day, which is probably why the official PR didn't go out until this morning. Still, Shadowgun War Games is now officially available for all to enjoy, though it currently feels unfinished despite the presence of multiple subscription passes.

Above is the trailer for Shadowgun War Games, and as you can see, the game plays like an Overwatch clone, and that appears to be by design. The thing is, all first-person shooters live and die by their shooting mechanics, and I have to say the touch controls in Shadowgun War Games don't stack up. If you enjoy title's like Call of Duty: Mobile, you're going to be disappointed with the shooting in Shadowgun War Games. The controls aren't polished enough, and so you'll often wave your gun around in the hopes that it will automatically fire at your opponent, but it's difficult to keep your gun straight, so most shots miss. There are adjustable controls in the game's menu, so some fiddling can help, but overall the controls just don't feel smooth enough. This means a bluetooth controler will be the ideal way to play the game, and from my experience allows for much more accuracy.

On top of the poor touch controls, the game is monetized rather aggressively. Madfinger has opted for a battle pass system, and guess what. There are two separate battle passes. The first battle pass will net those that subscribe some premium challenges, a seasonal XP booster, and exclusive skin, all for $9.99 every season, and these seasons appear to last for three months. The second battle pass offers many more rewards, such as even more skins, and some extra game credits, but the direct cost is a lot more difficult to figure out for this pass since it's currently on sale, and since there is no way to directly buy the exact amount of currency you need, you will have to purchase more than one gold pack from the in-game store to afford the cost. Essentially the price for the second pass comes out to around $33 (on sale, otherwise you'd have to spend $50) and is also on a three-month seasonal cycle.

And there you have it. Madfinger not only flubbed the release of Shadowgun War Games, but the title also suffers from poor controls, greedy monetization, and currently, its servers are getting hammered, so it's tough to get into a match (though more servers should be coming soon). Everything about this release screams rushed-to-market. Maybe if the devs concentrated on polishing the gameplay instead of the monetization, I'd have better things to say, but this situation perfectly sums up the current state of mobile gaming, where fun takes a backseat to developer greed.

PRESS RELEASE