Snipers VS Thieves

The next multiplayer Mobile FPS since Critical Ops that’s actually playable. SvT takes an interesting approach towards team based strategy. Tilting the odds in the Thieves favor, your job as the Sniper is to use your variety of skills to take down the four enemies. As a Thief, you have you use a plethora skills to avoid being spotted and make your way to the getaway van before the police arrive.







Gameplay

Bugs, Bugs, and more Bugs……. The community has been speaking about these issues since launch but I don’t see the developers doing too much about it. I’ve experienced lag issues, clipping failure, and my least favorite "the sticky camera." The question then becomes how much does it affect the Gameplay. As a Sniper, you don’t have to deal with a sticky camera as much but unfortunately the lag when shooting more than makes up for it.At the lower levels it doesn’t take much to kill a Thief, but as they level and kills become harder these free hits make it impossible at times to finish the job. As a higher level Thief you become accustomed to dodging, if you attempt to dodge where the game clips (most obstacles), the action will either get stuck, or backtrack the movement. With limited stamina, every dodge counts at the competitive level which is why this game currently is struggling to be a Mobile Esport.

Creativity

Let’s face it.CS:GO is meta, and deviations are a plenty. SvT is nearly 17% outside the Mobile FPS curve, which is almost enough to create a new genre. The Boss dynamic resembles 2K’s “Evolve” where the Sniper is Solo against a team of individuals. If the Thieves were naturally given voice access to strategize more efficiently, the user immersion would increase. Unfortunately the lag in SvT will make voice integration nearly impossible in the near future.The use of Skills, Tools, and Upgrading is pretty standard but the variety doesn’t compensate for the lack of vision. Branding these items would not only brand the game, but add artistic flair and user experience that’s much more memorable. Do you remember Team Fortress 2….?Me neither.

Value

Pay-to-win level is over 9000! Once you’re maxed out, the current item cap will keep the game fair. You have to Pay around $150 to be competitive on both sides, but the casual experience is still worth the download. The ranking system does a good job keeping the atmosphere balanced, but a decline in users could make casual play unbearable.The grind is roughly 2 hours before you’re limited on items, after that you’re just trying to climb the ladder. Checking back every few hours to open a case is standard, but the notifications at times are ridiculous. When you have to remind a user to play, your game isn’t valuable enough.To change that, I can see a couple of options. Focus on competitive play by fixing your current issues. Introduce a coordination system for the Thieves, it could be something as simple as directional emojis or maybe an extra stage before the match starts. Giving a little more time before the match to asses the map and team items will allow a deeper strategic level. Allowing the Snipers to set traps Pre-Game and giving the Thieves a system to show routes would be an improvement. We can only wish, keeping gameplay casual might be where the developers want the game to stay. If that’s true, I’m not sure how long a community would continue to stand behind it.