‘Radical Heights’ is More ‘Fortnite’ Than ‘PUBG’

Radical Heights hit Steam this week, and you might be wondering whether it’s worth checking out. A new, free Battle Royale game from Boss Key Productions, it’s definitely more Fortnite than PUBG — but it borrows from both along the way (while doing its own thing).

Inauspicious Beginnings

Radical Heights has a familiar story right off the bat. Cliff Bleszinski attached, years spent in development of a game with some interesting ideas, an underwhelming launch, and then a pivot into the Battle Royale genre. What does that sound like?

Hey is that the real Cliffy B tweeting about Fortnite six years ago?

It’s true, the Gears of War creator was attached to Fortnite years ago, before leaving to create Boss Key Productions — whose game Lawbreakers was less popular than hating the new God of War. With that in mind, Boss Key pivoted into the Battle Royale genre with Radical Heights, the Poochie to PUBG and Fortnite‘s Itchy and Scratchy.

You may have seen it being played by the likes of Shroud or DrDisrespect — it’s hard to say they’re fans, but they seemed to have some fun in it.

Reaching New Heights

Radical Heights plays off the Battle Royale concept as a game show, with your player trying to win prize money while also being the last person standing. With that in mind, it has obnoxious announcers yelling, jingly music refrains at full volume, and a host of other game show conceits.

It’s a bit annoying, but amusing if you’re in the mood for it, and it sets the scene quite well — this is not supposed to be a serious Battle Royale game. If you read our showdown between Fortnite and PUBG, you might remember we said we prefer Fortnite when we don’t care too much about winning — Radical Heights falls firmly in that category.

In BR games, knowledge is more important than gear in terms of winning. Radical Heights will deafen you at critical moments to introduce some game show element you probably don’t care about. The upside is that your opponents can’t hear anything either.

Played in third person, you are dumped into the world of Radical Heights without being given a choice of where to jump. It’s an interesting change-up. Instead, you are thrust into the air, dive-bombing at the ground, and you make the best of the situation from there. We don’t hate it, but it’s definitely an extra layer of RNG (random number generation) which changes your odds of winning.

Win Fabulous Prizes!

After landing, you loot — so far, so BR — running through houses and grabbing whatever you can as you go. Again, like Fortnite, you don’t have a complicated inventory system — just six slots you can fill with weapons or items.

It twists this by restricting you early on — at the start of the game you have one weapon slot and one equipment slot, and you can only get extras by taking them off other players. It’s a clever way to incentivise conflict — if there’s a second gun you really want to take with you, you’ll have to find someone to shoot.

Wrapped presents are scattered about, and these can contain random loot — it’s a good idea to secure an area before you open one though, because they play a fanfare when opened. If you hear the trumpet blow nearby, then you know a player is there, and they just got some loot — you might as well have a look right?

There are other loot spaces as well, designed to make a lot of noise while handing out good weapons or cash. A very blatant risk/reward situation. The loot itself follows Fortnite‘s rarity system, which itself borrows from other loot games. From worst to best it goes White -> Green -> Blue -> Purple -> Gold.

With the third-person focus, the running and gunning, and the cartoony visuals, it’s clear that Fortnite was the big inspiration here. But there are some PUBG elements as well. You can aim down sights in Radical Heights, meaning you can actually shoot where you’re aiming first time.

You don’t put attachments on guns, but you can get scopes by finding Blue rarity or better weapons. There are armour pieces — helmet and vest — much like in PUBG, and both can be damaged individually. There’s a bike that handles like absolute trash, which is clearly in homage to PUBG, even if Radical Heights uses a BMX instead of a motorbike.

The idea has been to take the best from the two titans of the Battle Royale scene and to meld them into one fast-paced, action packed adventure. But it’s actually the pacing that lets Radical Heights down the most (well that and the wacky bugs). The game doesn’t use a circle until the final moments of the game — instead it blocks out grid squares and forces players into close contact through that.

This isn’t the worst idea, although you definitely feel more screwed by the RNG when the only available grid is hundreds of metres away. But Radical Heights has a habit of not closing off grids fast enough.

We’ve had many games where there have been less than ten players alive. In Fortnite or PUBG this usually means everyone is inside of 100m of one another. But in Radical Heights, there are still a dozen grid squares that are safe. It means that whoever the final circle lands closest to will have the advantage, as they can quickly find the best cover while everyone else still has hundreds of metres to traverse.

The upside is that when you win, the game plays Joe Esposito’s “You’re the Best” which is the best. Both Fortnite and PUBG could learn a lot from this.

Of course, it’s still in Early Access, and Boss Key seems enthusiastic about making changes — it might switch things up down the track. Radical Heights clearly learned at the Fortnite school of Battle Royale, and it borrows all the right hardcore elements it needs to appeal to PUBG fans if it needs to as well.

But it’s not as polished or refined as either of those games yet, and it has a long road ahead before it gets there. If you’re a fan of the genre, it’s worth checking out, but if Fortnite still scratches that high-octane, arcadey Battle Royale itch for you, it’s worth waiting to see how it develops further.