#BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM HOW TO#
#BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM FREE#

In Battle Cry of Freedom you can choose which side you want to play as. The problem is that this is a game about the civil war, north and south, union vs confederacy. I had finally started to have fun playing Battle Cry of Freedom, but now we have to talk about the biggest hurdle this game has. Saving all my energy to sprint until I came to an open field, listening to teammates when they suggested all charging in, knowing all the keybinds these are the things that finally made the game fun. But on my second, or even third evening of playing, Battle Cry of Freedom was starting to come together. I struggled to have any meaningful matches in which I didn’t just die again, and again. It didn’t happen on the first night of playing.

Once I understood all of this the game started to click for me. You can not run and gun and expect to win. In fact, treating the battles like civil wars battles I’ve seen in shows typically yielded the best results. Matches that were won happened because the team moved as a group. Just like voting, one person won’t make that much of a difference. With that many people playing, the game will never be won by a single person. It was easy to find a giant match that had more than 475 people playing. I haven’t played many big battler style games, but this one boasts up to 500 players per match. Someone has to take charge and decide what the group needs to do. But as you play you watch, and listen to people.

I didn’t think of hiding behind a tree, raising my gun, then walking around the tree to fire, before going back behind the tree, kneeling down to make a smaller target, and then reload my weapon. I didn’t think to take off my bayonet so my aim would be better. Early on I found I was mostly blind shooting, because that's how I’ve played shooters before I “knew” what I was doing. A lot can, and does, happen in 20 seconds. Reloading can take up to 20 seconds with some weapons. The flow of combat is much slower than any shooter I’ve ever played hell, it has to be. I always shot in first person, and did any melee in third, making it easier to win. The game can be played in first or third person, I found a mix of the two worked best. Battle Cry of Freedom is not your typical shooter.

#BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM HOW TO#

It’s us vs them, of course, but the flow, how to be successful, you have to play to understand. While there is no hand holding about playing, there’s also no explanation of combat. I found questions other people had that I hadn’t even thought also came in handy with learning the ropes. Often when I had a question I could just type it into the chat window and someone always answered me. Luckily the community was very helpful with teaching others how to do certain tasks. The game also allows you to change classes mid-battle, but again it’s not as easy as it seems. The keybinds show me what button should be used to attack, but Battle Cry of Freedom fails to mention I need to press the X button to switch to melee mode before I can do that. But using the bayonet on my rifle was impossible. I know how to move and shoot, those don’t really change from shooter to shooter.

#BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM FREE#

Once I was in a game - music free - I intuitively understood most of the basic controls. I never put the music back on to see what else the game had to offer in that category, one loud song about freedom was enough to get an understanding of what it was trying to say. It’s completely off-putting, and I scrambled to not get immediately shot while trying to switch the music off. Some old timey, folk, country something or other is being screamed at you. The moment you get into your first game the music begins to blare. I sorted game sessions by the amount of people playing, wanting to experience the game as it was intended, a 500 player epic civil war era battle. Finding a game wasn’t an issue, but early on I had no idea what kind of battle I wanted to play in, or what the rules were. After that you’re dumped to the main menu where you can easily find a game. Battle Cry of Freedom walks you through making a character, although only giving you a few pointers, and that’s about it. The first issue was simply trying to learn to play the game. While I enjoyed the game, a number of issues prevent it from shining.

But if you can be patient with learning the ropes, then once everything clicks it’s easy to have fun. Neither is showing you how to actually play the game. If anything you could argue the graphics of the game are a turnoff for someone looking for a top notch shooter. I wasn’t drawn to Battle Cry of Freedom because of its looks.

Battle cry of freedom