Early Access Review: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online (yeah, that's the ACTUAL title) is an upcoming FPS by Nexon. This game has been in early access for a while, but the game is available for free this weekend on Steam. As a big Ghost in the Shell fan, I figured now would be a good time to check out this early-access title on Steam.

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND: THIS GAME IS IN EARLY ACCESS BETA. THIS REVIEW DOES NOT REPRESENT THE FINAL PRODUCT, ONLY WHAT IS BEING OFFERED AT THE TIME OF WRITING.

---

When I first launched the game, it was in some hideous resolution which I wasn't able to change. Strike one. In fact, I was forced to go through the entire tutorial before even seeing a menu. I couldn't turn on subtitles (less important for me, but I know for many people that's a big deal) during the cutscenes either. The game just assumes that everything will be optimal for you once you hit "play". I went through the tutorial in a pretty bad mood as a result of this.

Funnily enough, it actually doesn't look bad in this screenshot!

Graphically, the game is decent. It looks sort of like a last-gen shooter if I'm being totally honest. I actually love the look of the tutorial area, but not any of the multiplayer maps I got to play on.

Once I was finally able to up the resolution and graphical fidelity, I hopped into a game and was met with, well, not much that impressed me. The premise is that you play a member of Section 9 and fight terrorists in various FPS game modes like deathmatch and conquest. You choose an operative to play, similar to something like Dirty Bomb, and can customize that operative or unlock others through playing. Each operative comes with their own unique skill which can be activated during combat. I chose Motoko, who comes with the ability to temporarily cloak herself and become almost invisible. Pretty useful. I love the concept of the individual skills, and there's a crazy mechanic where you can actually SHARE some abilities with nearby teammates. For example, Motoko can activate her cloaking, and nearly allies can choose to copy the cloaking onto themselves. That's actually pretty innovative and I have to give the developers props for that.

Now you can't see me! Well, sort of...

There's a wide variety of guns in the game which you can unlock over time, as with other shooters in this vein. At first you're given three classes; one with an assault rifle, one with an SMG, and one with a sniper. Barebones in all aspects. The guns are different enough from one another but there's not a lot of originality or imagination going into the design. Ghost in the Shell is set in a cyberpunk future, I'd love to see some more variety and depth. And speaking of the cyberpunk future, well...

I'm on the highest possible settings here, guys!

The look of this game is fairly disjointed. You're playing as these high-tech augmented supersoldiers in what look like threadbare modern locations ripped straight out of Counter-Strike or Call of Duty. The character design is lovely, but of course no work was required in taking characters from a well-loved franchise and shoving them into this game. One thing I do like is the presence of think-tanks (Tachikomas if they're on your team) which can be brought out by a team, but they're so overpowered that the fights become laughably one-sided until it gets destroyed. There definitely needs to be some balance in that regard.

I wonder if it has a ghost...?

The gunplay itself is actually fairly decent. Getting a kill feels satisfying, and there's reasonable bullet feedback. There IS a little too much screen shake when you fire, which can make it a headache to fire automatic weapons for more than a short burst. Dying doesn't feel too bad, since every time I felt like it was my own mistake rather than some kind of RNG bullshit you might find in a game like Battlefront. It runs smoothly. I see a lot of complaints about hit detection, and maybe it was just my luck, but I never saw many of those issues. The biggest problem with the gunplay is that it's just pretty lackluster. It's smooth but empty. There's no real depth to this game at all.

This is cool! This is what the map looks like while you wait for everybody to load into the lobby

This game is full of issues, to be perfectly honest. It lacks a lot of depth. I love the Ghost in the Shell franchise, and it hurts to see its image being thrown through the mud these days. This game needs A LOT of work. It feels lazy, but I can tell by the minute details in the level design that at least SOMEBODY is trying hard. I'm sure the developers want to improve this game further, and I sincerely hope that they do.

I do not recommend this game in its current state, and I won't be playing it again without some SERIOUS mechanical and graphical overhaul. It's empty. It's a dull entry in an already over-saturated genre. This is unfortunate because I think there's actually some real potential here. If the developers read this, I really don't mean to sound harsh. I want to see hard work get rewarded, and I'm getting a feeling here that this WASN'T just some kind of cash-grab like some other reviewers believe. Unfortunately, First Assault Online needs some serious work or it will never make it off the ground come launch day.

-Justin

---

PROS

• Solid, if lackluster, gunplay
• Relatively smooth animations
• It runs well, even in its early-access state
• Not pay-to-win like other Nexon-published games
• Tachikomas and augmented abilities bring some innovation to the table
  
• Voice acting, music and sound design
  

CONS

• Lacking in depth
  
• Gets dull after a short amount of time
• Nothing setting the weapons apart from any other modern shooter
• Graphics feel dated even on highest settings
• The world feels more like a standard police-state dystopia than a true cyberpunk atmosphere
  
• Feels like just another FPS without anything to REALLY set it apart
  
• Very low replay value in current early access state
  

Small but nice details like this billboard show that SOME work has been put into the aesthetic