CrossfireX Review

"Generic Counter Strike"

Campaign

February 13, 2022 at 11:20pm
By Jason Stettner

The campaign portion of the experience is divided into two segments. The first is named Operation Catalyst with the second being Spectre. The first portion was just under two hours in length whereas the second was just one hour and a half. They’re not too bad in terms of feeling as though they’re from the Call of Duty 4 era in terms of gameplay but with a modern aesthetic that is actually fairly visually pleasing.

While these do act somewhat standalone, when played together you do get an overall cohesive narrative that’s present. Both of them sort of throw you into the action, but it is neat in terms of the approach that is taken. The initial showcase is a mystery, a routine job that goes wrong and then the next one really dives into some futuristic tech and time in general. It’s hard to really describe this one deeply as going too much into it will lead to spoilers.

It’s a narrative that’s based around time, and it’s got some trademark Remedy parts that are attached to it. It was a rather short venture, but in comparison to pricing it doesn’t seem too bad. It was a fine run, the AI wasn’t too bright but I liked the presentation and set pieces that were present. It also has some neat perspective shifts, at least in the first story and that was cool to see in action.

Past that I would also quite like to see this continued with other episodic chunks like this, could be neat. The levels also feature collectibles to gather and some difficulty actions, it shouldn’t be too hard to play. A final side note is that there are no Xbox Achievements for the campaign which is odd. That doesn’t factor into my review scoring, but I thought it was something I should mention for those that care about that aspect.

Multiplayer

This aspect actually has quite some potential to it, but is severely lacking in terms of content. While the campaign is a premium experience the multiplayer is free to play. It features two distinct areas, one being modern and the other being classic. In modern you’ll have ADS (aim down sights) which is buggy at the moment and some other minor movement changes.

In classic you just hip fire so that should feel more like classic Counter Strike. There are a few modes present, but these each strangely only have a single map attached to them which is just straight up bizarre in comparison to the beta from years back. Anyways, the clear leader here is search and destroy which is present in modern or classic. It features large scale bomb planting or disarming action and it’s a delight to play.

The second modern option is based around controlling points and then shifting downwards to a new part of the map. I quite like this one, but again only a single map is draining. Following that are just classic options. That includes a zombie like mode where the stopping power and zombie strength is ridiculous.

There’s also an invisible bomb planters versus visible defenders mode which can be fun. The final mode is team deathmatch on a tiny rectangular map, bit boring. That’s the thing here, some nice visuals but just literally zero meat on the bone. You do have a battle pass with fifty tiers to work through. Outside of that you can earn in-game currency for weapon unlocking and customization which didn’t seem to bad.

Gameplay

The movement and feel of the game definitely comes across as a shooter from the late 2000’s but with a rather great looking modern aesthetic coated on top of it. At the time of writing the actual shooting aspect feels rough at times with ADS glitching out and some awkward aiming being present.

The developers have noted that this is being worked on, so in the future this aspect may be entirely different. That’s just reviewing things in the modern era, games are constantly changing. That aside, I actually like how fast opponents can get eliminated and that there is a bit of a tactical element to it. It can actually be rather fun to play. It’s just not anything too insanely ground breaking, it’s very alright and down the middle.

Since I do so much livestreaming these days I have put in some good hours, have all of the Xbox Achievements unlocked and do have more than a good grasp on it. It desperately needs more content is my biggest thing, but I do like it. It’s just again, nothing too insanely exciting. It hits the mark if you like shooters, but don’t expect too much. It does run fine, it even features two really smooth options for Xbox Series X.

That includes a 60fps quality standard mode and a 120fps performance choice too. Those frame rates can be checked from the scoreboard in multiplayer. Do keep in mind that the campaign is different instead featuring 30fps and 60fps with the former having ray tracing support. Anyways, it’s quite stylish with a sort of over the top visual aesthetic that I think looks gorgeous. If they fix up shooting, we’ve got a solid shooter here.

The Conclusion

CrossfireX is a really generic sort of shooter that feels as though it’s from the late 2000’s with the visual shine of today. I personally have found it fun, but severely lacking in terms of content. If they fix up some of the shooting mechanics and get maps out pronto this could keep me attention going forward. I do really want to criticize the amount of maps, but then again when you look at the recent competition that’s just gaming these days it seems. I enjoyed the campaign for what it was, it wasn’t some long spiraling experience but it got the job done and was enjoyable enough.

It wasn’t very deep story wise, or anything groundbreaking but was something to play. It had explosions, enemies setup like a shooting gallery and some over the top moments. With that, there were some twists in there and while forgettable it was a fine time. I’m not sure I’d revisit it, but I had fun with the story and would like to see it continued with other episodic chunks.

The multiplayer I actually do thoroughly enjoy in concept, I just wish there was more to it. It’s just so boring basically playing two maps over and over again. If I wasn’t streaming it I would have moved on prior. So this one is kind of generic, but at the same time it runs fine and presents something that is aesthetically pleasing. With some clean-up we’d have a really solid shooter here. For a fun quote, it’s high octane action bundled in one sweetly set package.

Read our Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019 Review
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CrossfireX Review on Xbox Series X
Review Code Provided by 47

Rating Overall: 5.4