Paladins

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Players: 10 Team Competitive (Online)

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Review:

(Note: This game is no longer available on Nintendo Switch)

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES MICROTRANSACTIONS AND LOOTBOXES

Paladins is a Free-to-Play team-based online-focused First-Person Shooter released on multiple platforms including the Nintendo Switch in 2018. It has garnered countless comparisons to Overwatch both for its similar style and its similar gameplay, with a focus on a slightly-cartoony world with a diverse cast of colorful characters. I’ll just tell you now, I’m going to be comparing this game to Overwatch a lot, so buckle in, folks. Anyway, while Paladins doesn’t have the same big-name recognition that Overwatch does, it has something else going in its favor – it’s free. Well, mostly.

Players will have free access to a limited number of the dozens of heroes the game has to offer, and must either complete in-game goals or plunk down real cash to earn in-game currency to acquire the remaining heroes. Having said that, players are free to try out all of the heroes in the game’s practice mode so they can hone in on the ones they like the best, and if they don’t want to be nickeled and dimed, they can opt to make a one-time $30 purchase to unlock all current and future heroes. However, regardless of how they go about unlocking heroes, there are also additional aesthetic elements like skins and emotes that must be acquired through lootboxes, much like in Overwatch. So adding it all up, when it comes to sheer value, the two games are mostly on par, with Paladins having a slight edge in that players have the option to earn hero unlocks instead of paying for them, and if they pay for it that payment is $10 less than the cost of Overwatch.

Visually, Paladins looks very good, although there are definitely places where sacrifices have been made to fit the game on the Switch. The Switch version of the game plays in dynamic 900p resolution in docked mode (often going down to 720p with occasional dips even lower) with a rock-solid 60FPS framerate (twice what Overwatch offers), with portable mode dropping to a dynamic 720p resolution (sometimes going down to a nasty 327p) but keeping the 60FPS framerates (thanks to Digital Foundry for the numbers). Also, you can definitely see some ugly texture resolutions in some places too, as well as occasional instances of texture pop-in, and lower-quality lighting and shadows. As much as these hits to the resolution and texture quality are disappointing, being able to play this game in a silky-smooth 60FPS feels worth the tradeoff, and it’s actually pretty impressive that the game looks this good on the Switch.

A part of the reason it’s so impressive is that Paladins, much like Overwatch, has a gorgeous, expressive design style that really shines through the game. While I would still give the crown to Overwatch when it comes to how instantly iconic and memorable that game’s characters are, Paladins is no slouch there either, with a huge variety of unique characters, each with absolutely superb animation. If you just got a Nintendo Switch and want a showpiece game for zero dollars, Paladins would make for a decent choice.

When it comes to the gameplay, Paladins is an excellent First-Person Shooter, but here’s where I have to start giving the edge to Overwatch. While Paladins has a wide variety of characters, their abilities don’t feel as imaginative as the cast of Overwatch. And I tended to find that with most characters, it was difficult to deliver enough damage to be lethal on my own, and the constant waiting for abilities to recharge was a bit annoying – there were definitely some characters that were exceptions for me, but it’s disappointing to feel like I’m being funneled into only one of a few characters due to my tastes.

However, I do make one caveat when it comes to gameplay – customizability. Players can outfit each of their characters with a pretty sizable number of character-specific tweaks to personalize how that character plays, meaning that one player’s Viktor can play drastically differently than another player’s Viktor (for example), and players are encouraged to create their own loadouts, even given the ability to put points into each unique skill so they can get the balance juuuuuust right. These skills and abilities are all either available at the start or unlockable only through gameplay, meaning that the only element of this game that is arguably “pay-to-win” is its character unlocks.

When it comes to the Nintendo Switch version’s unique game elements, I have good news and bad news. On the plus side, Paladins allows for optional gyroscopic motion control, something I know many players see as a staple in First-Person Shooters on the Switch. Also on the good side, I have to say that the online play in this game went off without a hitch. I don’t recall experiencing a single moment of lag or noticeable latency issues – like the framerates, everything about this game felt silky-smooth and fluid to me, and the Nintendo Switch version of the game supports optional cross-play, ensuring that game lobbies have plenty of players. However, on the bad side, while I was playing this game to review it, it crashed on me about a half-dozen times throughout my playtime, forcing me to exit to the Nintendo Switch Home screen. Thankfully, this was always in menus, and never ruined a match for me, but it was still an annoyance.

Okay, so in the end, the big question is… is Paladins better than Overwatch? Wellll… no. Ultimately, I give the edge to Overwatch for its more imaginative and memorable characters, and the way weaponry in Overwatch just feels overall more effective. However, I should note that the difference between these two is not as great as you may think – Paladins is still a very good-looking game that plays like a dream on the Switch, the ability to customize your characters’ abilities to your liking is wonderful, and Paladins is a better deal than Overwatch if you decide you want to buy the characters, and in the meantime you can try it out for free. If you’re looking for a great online First-Person Shooter to play on your Nintendo Switch, you should absolutely download this game – this is an excellent entry in the genre and it costs you nothing to try it out.

tl;dr – Paladins is a Free-to-Play online-focused team-based First-Person Shooter with a heavy emphasis on its wide cast of memorable and unique characters with different abilities, comparable to Overwatch. This is an excellent port of a fantastic game, and while I still slightly prefer Overwatch, Paladins has a lot going in its favor, such as its silky-smooth 60FPS framerates and its customizable loadouts. If you’re looking for a great online First-Person Shooter on the Nintendo Switch, you should definitely give this game a try.

Grade: A-

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