Ready or Not: Boiling Point
Review
A welcome return to form for Ready or Not. Mostly...
by Dan Lenois
reviewed on PC
For those who consider Call of Duty's "No Russian" level to be disturbing, well, that's the level of intensity you can expect within every level of Ready or Not. Either you're ready to take it all in, or you're not. The game's third and newest paid DLC, Boiling Point, is no exception.
No Good Deed
Featured in the DLC's cinematic trailer, "No Good Deed" has the player confronting an armed domestic terrorist cell on what was once a heavily-crowded pier. Bodies of the dead are scattered in disorderly piles; bodies tumbled over one another from where they were gunned down. Blood pools here and there. Otherwise, there is no immediate sign of life anywhere. All the while, the bright lights and sounds of carnival games and attractions continue to operate, in the absence of any human operator.
Clearly inspired by real-world locations such as the Santa Monica pier, the visuals and map layout of this level are S-tier. The amount of immersion in each building, along each section of the walkway, is incredible. When playing through this level with a friend, we were trying to find the last remaining enemy, who had somehow evaded us. While backtracking, we found ourselves in a haunted house attraction. In almost complete darkness, we made our way down narrow corridors as cardboard monsters slid by, popped up, or dropped down on us, creating silly but effective jumpscares. In this game, you never know when a sudden movement may be just a cardboard ghost, or a real flesh-and-blood enemy.
While its layout and aesthetics are fantastic, one thing that is decidedly not is the gameplay itself. Despite the scenario being a rapid response to active armed terrorists, these terrorists apparently managed to not only gun down hundreds of people, but also set up a dozen or more gas bomb boobytraps behind seemingly every door and corner, while also ensuring that if they themselves are shot, instant gas clouds explode from their body to poison any responding strike team. Poison mechanics are never popular in any game, but they're especially tedious here.
All Gods Burn
As both my friend and I are extensively Payday 2 veterans, we found it quite funny to play out a bank heist scenario from the cops' perspective this time. While this map, "All Gods Burn", wasn't particularly interesting to look at, the variety between large, open spaces, and conversely tight corridors and small rooms, kept things more than interesting as the level progressed.
It is worth noting here, due to the aforementioned large, open rooms, where enemies can shoot down at you from cover far above, that this level exposes one of the game's overall biggest weaknesses. Enemy AI players will detect you immediately when you're within a certain range, even if you're not visually within their line of sight, even if you've not made any sound to alert them. There is often a valid "skill issue" response when you hear complaints like this, especially in games like this which have higher skill ceilings. However, the issue here isn't that the AI isn't just hard. The enemy AI is just straight-up unpredictable, which makes it harder for players to learn their behavior patterns.
As this level is designed less around smaller-scale confrontations, (aka how most of Ready or Not usually plays,) and instead more for larger shootouts, it can be easy for even more experienced players to get overwhelmed purely by the number of enemies, all opening fire with inexplicable laser-point accuracy. As a result, this level doesn't feel intimidating as much as just tedious.
A New America
Taking place in a courthouse, "A New America" takes both the best and worst of the two prior missions into one. The map is enormous, but filled with tons of vivid detail and lore, much of it tying into the overarching story, all of which which you can acknowledge or ignore as you will.
This level contains several gameplay mechanics that allow you to adapt as you play. You can find and turn off a switch to shut down all security cameras, making your team invisible to any enemies potentially watching for you. You can also trigger the fire alarm and set off the sprinklers to help cover the noise you make as your team proceeds through the corridors.
The challenge posed by enemies is somewhat better balanced here than in "All Gods Burn". There are a ton of enemies across the whole map, but most of them show up either individually or in small groups of 2-3, making gunfights quick but still deadly, if you're not careful. Certain enemies here will also wear armor, making them more resistant to gunfire. However, their fleshy bits still don't do well against grenades.
The level does contain multiple time-consuming objectives, not all of which appear at the start, so on your first playthrough you may experience some frustration at the false hope of success, before realizing that you're basically only at the half-way point. For the sake of lore, it makes sense contextually, but from a gameplay perspective, bait-and-switches like these don't feel good.
Overall:
Ready or Not: Boiling Point is a blast to experience. While there are a few minor gameplay complaints to be had, this newest paid expansion makes a strong comeback for the game compared to its predecessor. Priced at only $9.99, Boiling Point offers pretty good value for both new and existing players. Hopefully the next DLC meets, and hopefully even surpasses, the standard set here by Boiling Point.
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8.0
fun score
Pros
Visually-pleasing maps, decent objective variety, high replayability.
Cons
Dense enemy placements, unenjoyable new gameplay mechanic, and inconsistent enemy AI behavior.