READY OR NOT: Game Review

Words by Jose Alvarez

First-person shooters have always been my bread and butter since I started online gaming. Arcade-style shooters such as Fortnite, Overwatch, and Call of Duty have always caught the eyes of gamers. Some shooters are more complex and require strategy (think Rainbow Six or Total Conflict). Blending strategy with FPS, especially with today’s games, seems like mixing oil and water—but would that be the case in Ready or Not?

You play the David “Judge” Beaumont, a leader of a police tactical unit, and your goal is to wipe out criminals by any means necessary in the fictional city of Los Sueños. Much like in real life, it is actually better to arrest the criminals than go in with guns blazing — and even more so given the reputation hit that law enforcement around the world has taken in recent years.

There is an insane amount of customization in this game as well — along with a wide array of firearms and other equipment, you can use tactical gear to ensure maximum (or minimum) bloodshed. For example, you can consider granular stats such as fire rate, bullet penetration, and ammunition caliber before going into a mission. While better guns will make you a force to be reckoned with, you also have to consider collateral damage, such as hostages and, of course, capturing your target alive.

I tried the single-player Commander Mode and was immediately disappointed. While video game AI has improved over the years, it seems to have taken a drastically huge step back in Ready or Not. If the objective is to not kill your target, for instance, the AI is more likely to kill than not kill. Your enemies are no exception either—in one instance, they might do next to nothing, but in another, they’ll resemble John Wick levels of accuracy and danger. Therefore, always be prepared for some sort of shenanigans from your allies or enemies.

There are 18 missions available as of this writing. Many of them are supposed to mirror real-life situations and, in some cases, mirror real-life events. There are levels taking place in a nightclub and on a college campus, which were the sites of rather significant tragic events in real life that garnered considerable international attention. Many critics have slammed VOID Interactive for including these levels in a game, but politics and tragedy aside, these levels are rather intriguing if you ignore the awful AI.

You can also play with your friends in co-op mode, which makes the experience better. You’ll need to do more intricate planning than the average shooter, but at least you’re working together with actual people to achieve an objective rather than relying on the unpredictable AI. For example, using non-lethal means such as tasering or using beanbag rounds can get you greater rewards. You can also choose various tactics that might come at a price—for instance, heavier armor for lower movement speed, which can let you take more damage.

Another realistic aspect of the game that I enjoyed was the upkeep of morale for your squad. You can send your own units to therapy so they don’t quit. Given that mental health often takes a backseat to physical health in the real world, I like that Ready or Not has this feature, and might ever-so-slightly redeem the very issues that VOID Interactive makes light of in this game—if it wasn’t for the fact that you can just easily replace those officers.

Overall, Ready or Not puts you in the shoes of a SWAT team, but it doesn’t really give a realistic deep dive into what it’s like to be the long arm of the law if you’re playing alone. This means that you should try diving in with your friends to see what lies ahead. It’s a decent game to add to your library if you can brush aside some of the real-world issues regarding law enforcement — after all, the point of playing video games, in my opinion, is to escape the harsh realities of the real world.