But hey, player numbers aside, is Concord actually fun and compelling as a competitive online shooter? Well, kind of. Sometimes, everything clicks and results in something that might just have the juice needed to grow and evolve, but the true moments of joy are just far too rare. At launch, there are 16 characters, 12 maps, and 6 modes in three totally separate playlists.
My personal theory? At some point, Concord was something else entirely, and it eventually got downsized into a by-the-numbers PvP shooter. The determined plan of having weekly high-quality cutscenes only reinforces that idea. In any case, Concord is competent enough as a hero shooter. However, I also agree with the sentiment that some characters who are meant to be more agile can often feel clunkier or heavier than they should, which is a shame, as gunplay is pretty damn solid across the board.
Haptic feedback is great but not overdone, and I found myself sticking with it instead of disabling it right away like in recent Call of Duty entries. Maps, while visually stunning in most cases, are also a mixed bag. Some feel just right for the 5v5 size of battles and have arena-like layouts that work well, while others come across as remnants of old co-op maps reworked into PvP scenarios that are too big and lead to stray allies and enemies wandering aimlessly around.
Given the development time, Concord often feels disjointed in spite of all the polish. This has nothing to do with whatever garbage the worst people we know are spewing out. Ultimately, most Freegunners end up looking like aliens and humans that wandered into a cheap outer space thrift shop and came out wearing whatever.
A lot of work and care clearly went into them, but it feels like the whole thing was steamrolled by external input and market research based on information that last was relevant in like Performance and graphics on PS5 are head-scratchers, too. All these little flaws pile up the more you play Concord. A part of me wants it to find its audience and improve, but this is looking like another Suicide Squad situation.
