FORCED: Slightly Better Edition

FORCED: Slightly Better Edition. Forced is a challenging one- to four-player co-op arcade action RPG with puzzle and tactical elements. You are cast as slaves in the toughest fantasy gladiator school of them all, condemned to fight to the death, all the while attempting to win your freedom. I got FORCED as it come out with the OST. Is there anything new in the FORCED Slightly Better Deluxe Edition Content? The Deluxe edition hasn't changed, except for the fact that the FORCED game you get in it has been upgraded to the Slightly Better Edition. So essentially you'll still be getting; -FORCED Original Soundtrack - two entire albums with both the music that made it into the game and the stuff that was scrapped along the way -A 140-page (!).

ReviewIan Howarth

1. For Forced: Slightly Better Edition on the PlayStation 4, GameFAQs has 20 cheat codes and secrets, 20 trophies, and 6 critic reviews.
2. Forced is a challenging one- to four-player co-op arcade action RPG with puzzle and tactical elements. You are cast as slaves in the toughest fantasy gladiator school of them all, condemned to fight to the death, all the while attempting to win your freedom.

Almost two years ago a game called Forced was released on Steam – a labour of love from a team of passionate yet financially struggling developers that did everything they could to see their dream game happen. No, really, I mean everything they could – here’s the full story. Now, after moving on to equally challenging sequel Forced: Eternal Arenas that is currently on Kickstarter – which looks to cross-breed Hearthstone and Forced by merging arena and card combat mechanics – the original title has been released on the PS4. Along with some updates.

If you’ve never heard of/played Forced it’s a unique puzzle/action combat game that splits each stage up into a ‘trial’. There are 4 playable characters – Defensive shield wielder, Ranged archer, Strong hammer warrior, and Rogue dagger user. Each of the 25 trials (including boss fights) have 3 objectives – Complete the trial, Complete a challenge within the trial, and a Time trial. Accomplishing each of these goals yields a crystal, which unlock more active and passive skills. This isn’t per-character and the crystals aren’t to spend as you might expect. Instead, they are permanent upgrades that basically improving the player by unlocking more for you to tackle harder challenges with. Any other player, whether online or offline, are given the same amount of crystals than the host, balancing everyone’s ‘levels’.

A lot of the game and teamwork mechanics revolve around your spirit mentor, Balfus, who is your guide through the trials. Learning to control Balfus by calling him to your character’s current position, or having him follow you as you move around is essential for success, especially when you need to bounce him between a group of players. Throughout the game there are a number of reasons to use Balfus such as activating buff shrines, destroying enemy spawners and other evil forces, and breaking out of enemy attacks that pin players down. Mastering this control is a must and is part of the unique charm of Forced because fighting off incoming swarms of enemies whilst controlling the orb is no easy feat. In fact, the difficulty of Forced is one of its major selling points.

At first look the modular arena levels seem like they allow players to jump in and out of a game quickly but that is absolutely not the case. Some levels require sheer mastery and absolute precision to best, especially some of the later challenges and time trials which I can’t even imagine completing. Forced is not for casual players. As mentioned in my previous review it is extremely challenging, requiring great focus and constant team communication. A new splash screen that warns players about the difficulty has even been added in the new update, with which I completely agree. You should try to play with 3 or 4 players because any less and you will be begging for mercy. This game is soul-crushing.

About the latest update – with the exception of a few survival maps being added I’d say ‘Slightly Better Edition’ delivers exactly that. Not much more than a basic update – it is free after all. Although, Forced was already a great title, so these additions are nothing but icing on the cake. The big thing was getting the game moved over to consoles, which sounds like a great idea in theory as consoles are well known as ‘couch gaming’ machines, making the co-operative multiplayer focused gameplay much more accessible. Unfortunately though, the port does come with one major deficiency – constant frame drops when too much is going on. They are frequent and harsh, which does not help when playing such a difficult title. It can often be the ruin of a long and arduous trial, which only frustrates players. I sincerely hope this flaw is temporary and a fix gets patched in because right now I feel some missions have become almost unplayable and that was with only 2 players on-screen, not the intended 4.

Either way, Forced is still a cool game that I will always go back to when I’m craving a challenge with a couple of friends. The basic yet complex combat mixed with puzzle mechanics and heavy reliance on team members shines like the world’s most difficult team-building exercise and I personally can’t wait to see what their latest work brings. I know I’ll be backing them on Kickstarter.

Forced is a single-player and co-opaction role-playing game developed by BetaDwarf, released in October 2013 for Windows, OS X and Linux through the Steam platform as well as Wii U. It is about gladiators fighting for their freedom in a fantasy arena where they are assisted by a spirit-like character called Balfus. Gameplay consists of selecting a weapon class and abilities to combat the various enemies of each arena, while solving puzzles using the help of Balfus. BetaDwarf was formed by a small group of students in 2011, who began developing the game in an unused classroom in Aalborg University – Copenhagen, Denmark. They were removed months later and launched a successful Kickstarter campaign involving an Imgur picture which documented their progress. Forced received moderate to favorable reviews with most critics praising its competitive gameplay and puzzle-system. The game's weak plot, technical glitches and excess difficulty were the negative highlights. It won the Level Up 2013 Intel award and BetaDwarf received the Danish Developer Of The Year (2013) for it.

Gameplay[edit]

Forced is an action role-playing game^[2] having a top-down view for up to four players in the combat arena. Players have to select a weapon, which has 16 unlockable abilities each, similar to a character class. Though single player mode is also available, the game is mostly about cooperative gameplay by selecting a weapon class and abilities which complement the other players', while combating demons of various sizes and solving environmental puzzles—using a will-o-wisp-like companion called Balfus the Spirit Mentor.^[3]

There are four weapon classes: the Storm Bow, the Volcanic Hammer, the Spirit Knives, and the Frost Shield;^[4] each have the tactical roles of a long range attacker, slow melee attacker, fast melee attacker and a tank respectively. The active and passive abilities available for each class allow some form of customization.^[2] The weapon class and selected abilities (which also have cooldowns) can be changed before the start of any arena level. Lazors download free. Each player must choose a different weapon class. Balfus can be made to interact with the environment's spiritual plane by ordering him to activate or trigger props like healing pedestals or set off a stunning blast from traps.^[3][5] He can travel with the characters, float in space or can be called to their location.^[6] Good positioning and communication will help the players use Balfus efficiently; the need to do this while facing waves of enemies, makes the game more challenging.^[2]

Gems are rewarded after the completion of each arena trial. They can be used to enhance the weapons by unlocking more ability slots and new abilities at regular intervals. Each trial contains three gems as a reward. The first requires completion, the second is a specific challenge and the third is a time trial. If the arena boss is too difficult, it is possible to complete all these challenges to earn extra gems. Forced has a Mark Combat System,^[7] where weapons cause marks on the enemies. A greater number of marks causes certain abilities to have better effects, thus making it more effective to hit a group of enemies a few times before using an ability, rather than using it at the start. Though the difficulty increases in proportion to the number of players and sharing Balfus needs communication between them, multiplayer is easier and lets the player focus on specific abilities and tactical roles instead of being forced to cover every possibility in single player; also, if a player dies, the trial can be completed as long as another survives till the end.^[5]

Plot[edit]

Forced Slightly Better Edition Classes

The players are cast as slaves who are forced to fight in a fantasy gladiator arena, which is the reason for the game title.^[3] The slaves are from a village where people are bred solely to be gladiators and fight for the pleasure of demon types to win their freedom. The players have the help of Balfus, a Spirit Mentor, and need to overcome the challenges and defeat the guardians of each arena. Spirit Mentors guide gladiators through the arena and Balfus is revealed to have done so for previous dead gladiators before the player. Balfus remains the source of drama since the protagonists are silent throughout the game and the antagonists do not go beyond taunting them.^[5]

In their first arena fight, they defeat the guardian called 'Wrathhoof', who refuses to accept defeat to let them pass to the next arena. Despite Balfus' warning that this would be against the rules, Wrathhoof continues to attack the players who then kill him. The players and Balfus try to keep this murder of a guardian a secret and embark to the next arena, where the next guardian Slarth, discovers what they did. Slarth and the next guardian Graw are revealed to be former gladiators themselves and Balfus, their mentor. The players then defeat and kill Slarth. On killing Graw, Balfus decides to end this gladiator event by killing the remaining guardian Mordar and the final guardian called 'The Master'.

Development[edit]

Forced uses the Unity engine.^[8] BetaDwarf was formed by a small group of students in 2010, who moved into an unused classroom in Aalborg University – Copenhagen, Denmark and began developing the game. After seven months, the university discovered them when a lecturer accidentally walked into the room.^[8] They were removed and made a successful Kickstarter campaign involving a picture on Imgur, which described their progress as a team; they were then able to set up their office in Copenhagen.^[8][9] Steffen Kabbelgaard, Game Director and CEO of BetaDwarf, credited the 1996 videogame Crash Bandicoot as an inspiration for the campaigns and gem rewards in Forced.^[8] A demo of the game was available in the 2013 Gamescom and PAX Prime.^[7] A beta version of Forced was initially released on Steam Early Access for Windows, OS X and Linux in the same year. Its full release was on October 24, 2013 which was also for Wii U.^[2] On March 19, 2014, BetaDwarf announced that the game would be available on Xbox One.^[10]

Reception[edit]

Forced won the Level Up 2013 Intel award and BetaDwarf received the Danish Developer Of The Year at the 2013 Spilprisen game awards held by the Danish Producers Association.^[7][15] It received moderate to favorable reviews. Brittany Vincent of Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4/5, calling it 'a gleeful return to form for cooperative play.'^[4]Jim Rossignol from Rock, Paper, Shotgun called it a 'competently produced game' but said that it 'simply lacks flair, and combined with the slightly awkward mechanics in co-op play, means it never feels wholly convincing.'^[3] Lena LeRay from IndieGames.com felt the voice acting was mediocre and acknowledged the lack of depth in the plot but said that the 'engaging gameplay' compensated for it.^[2] Bob Richardson from RPGFan also highlighted these issues in addition to various technical glitches in multiplayer.^[6] Richardson praised the gameplay, the puzzle system and the skill customization, giving the game 80% rating.^[6] He said, 'Forced is purely an intrinsic experience: defeat is the result of lack of cooperation and skill, and victory is directly related to teamwork, communication, and aptitude.'^[6]

Zach Welhouse from RPGamer gave it a 3/5 calling the combat 'complex and rewarding' and multiplayer 'a good balance of tactics and adrenaline.'^[5] He also praised the music, Balfus's character and called the puzzle-solving system 'unique' but noted the bare plot and game difficulty as its negative highlights.^[5] Welhouse commented, 'The sheer number of ways to die makes it difficult to tell how much of Forced is unfair and how much is a series of lessons in avoiding dangerous situations to unlock a new ability is a compelling system for squeezing the most effort out of a player.'^[5] Jason Venter from GameSpot, gave it 5/10 and said, 'It's a challenging game with built-in reasons to revisit familiar areas, but it's also too demanding for its own good, and the results are more frustrating than satisfying.'^[13] Mike Gunn from NZGamer.com gave it 8.6/10 and said, 'Such a simple game, but one with a lot of tactical and strategic depth.'^[14]

References[edit]

1. ^'FORCED: Slightly Better Edition on Steam'. Store.steampowered.com. 2013-10-24. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
2. ^ ^abcdeLeRay, Lena (October 3, 2013). 'Forced forces mighty fine co-op play'. IndieGames.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-07. Retrieved 2014-06-24.
3. ^ ^abcdRossignol, Jim (November 1, 2013). 'Wot I Think: Forced'. Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
4. ^ ^abcVincent, Brittany (September 11, 2013). 'Review: Forced'. Hardcore Gamer. Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
5. ^ ^abcdefgWelhouse, Zach. 'FORCED - Staff Review'. RPGamer. Archived from the original on 2014-02-09. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
6. ^ ^abcdeRichardson, Bob (September 18, 2013). 'Forced'. RPGFan. Archived from the original on 2014-02-09. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
7. ^ ^abc'Award-winning Indie Forced Headed to Gamescom, PAX Prime'. Gamasutra. August 15, 2013. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
8. ^ ^abcdWhitehead, Thomas (October 19, 2013). 'Interview: BetaDwarf On Humble Beginnings, Bringing FORCED to the Wii U eShop and Working with Nintendo'. Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 2014-04-04. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
9. ^Forced Out, But Forging Ahead – The Incredible Story of BetaDwarf, retrieved from GameFront, October 4, 2013
10. ^'The gladiators of action-RPG sleeper hit, FORCED, are coming to Xbox One!'. MCV. March 19, 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-28.
11. ^'FORCED for PC'. GameRankings.com. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
12. ^'Forced for PC'. Metacritic. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
13. ^ ^abVenter, Jason (October 31, 2013). 'A missed connection'. Gamespot. Retrieved 2014-06-28.
14. ^ ^abGunn, Mike (November 11, 2013). 'Forced'. NZGamer.com. Retrieved 2014-06-28.
15. ^'Region Specific profile: BetaDwarf'. Edge. August 4, 2013. Retrieved 2014-06-30.

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External links[edit]

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• 'How we lived together for 3 years while making FORCED', by Steffen Kabbelgaard (CEO of BetaDwarf) on Gamasutra blogs, with the Imgur picture which began their Kickstarter campaign

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