Paladins – A Hero Shooter for the Switch Generation
I’ll be honest here, I’ve been playing Paladins for quite a while now
I’ve been deep in Hi Rez’s take on the hero shooter since the closed beta on the PS4, which eventually turned into purchasing of the founder’s pack as I liked it so much.
So was I excited when I discovered that it was coming to Nintendo Switch …. oh very much yes ?
So much so that instead of waiting for it to go Free 2 Play later this year I parted with some hard earned and grabbed the founder’s pack.
What was waiting for me on the other side of the purchase button and a 5.6GB download was exactly what I hoped for.
The same Paladins experience that I’d come to know and love on the PS4 but with the ability to drop it into my bag and take it with me … meaning lunch time shooter sessions for me thanks to an available wifi connection ?
Yes it is an online only game, there’s no offline component to this at all not even a training mode, so although you can take it with you thanks to the Switch’s hybrid nature it’s not going to be a lot of use to you unless you can get a decent wifi signal.
This means playing a quick session on the train or bus isn’t going to be an option but it does mean that grabbing a game when you’re not in front of your main TV is a possibility. A spot of deathmatch in the garden on a sunny evening, why thank you .. or how about a spot of siege whilst waiting for dinner to cook in the kitchen, don’t mind if I do.
What this means is I’m playing it even more, so much so that unlike the PS4 version where I just had fun playing the matches on the Switch I’ve bought a battle pass and I’m actively working my way through the levels to unlock more goodies.
Why ? Well thanks to the Switch I have more time to play it, the PS4 is tied to the TV which I don’t always have access too but the Switch that’s a different matter.
Hang on, I hear you cry, the screen size must be a problem when you’re playing in table top or handheld mode surely ?
The answer to that would be a very resounding no. There’s no issues seeing what’s going on or where things are coming from at all when using the Switch undocked. Everything looks crisp and clear, with no problems based on the size of the screen.
Of course there’s going to be a difference when comparing it to the full output on a TV via HDMI but you’ll have to go looking for it and more importantly it doesn’t detract from the pace or the enjoyment of the game at all.
When docked it plays just a nicely as it’s Playstation and Xbox counterparts, especially when using a pro-controller
The big question though is should you wait for the F2P launch or stump up the cash and get the founder’s pack ?
Well this depends on how much you think you’re going to want to shift characters, with only a small subset of the heroes available to the F2P masses on a rotating basis, if you like variety and have a favorite then you may want to drop the dime.
You don’t need the founders pack to buy the battle passes, just real world money, to unlock the items that you earn through playtime. You do get access though to all the heroes and any future heroes that they release along with a couple of extras in the way of skins.
As a fan of variety and the game I was happy to part with the cash and support the Hi-Rez guys and I’ve not had cause to regret my decision at all. In fact a recent patch dropped the event content for ‘Rise of Furia’ into the game as well, so now I’m stuck into that too.
What I will say is this … if you’re a Switch owner and a fan of shooters you should in some way get hold of this game.