Xiaomi’s Very Own Battle Royale
Survival Game is the official action game developed by Xiaomi Inc. The battle royale game features multiplayer action in a desolate but futuristic arena. Players have to battle each other until one player or a team is the last remaining standing this competitive game.
Another Entry to the Genre
The battle royale genre has been dominated by games like PubG Mobile and Fortnite Battle Royale. Their porting to mobile devices made it a fun and accessible, competitive game. China-based electronics manufacturer Xiaomi decided to venture out in the game development industry by independently developing a Xiaomi-exclusive game. The APK for this game was also released so that Android users can partake with the battle royale game.
Mobile Sci-Fi Battles
Survival Game has every elements of a standard battle royale game: Only one player or team must remain through deathmatch. Players are given incentives for logging in daily, performing various tasks and playing every day. The In-Game Store offers various items through the Supply, Shop and Season. They can select a server of their choice to either enter a very densely populated server or a lighter one. The game provides selectable characters instead of a customizable avatar. Each characters are more of a mix of sci-fi and fantasy elements compared to Western battle royale games where it’s either characterized as military based, or highly campy and stylized. Players can select a male and female human, a dwarf and a cat girl. Players can choose different game modes. The Solo Mode is for lone wolf gameplay. The Squad Mode is for team play although it is recommended to play with close friends instead of random strangers. Communication is the key for winning matches. The Elective Mode is for easier gameplay experience most especially for those with little to no experience with shooter games. Each match starts with a paradrop from a ship and it’s up to the players when to jump from the ship and deploy the parachute. Players navigate in an abandoned island filled with residential and public buildings. They can find vehicles and gather jetpack fuel for mobility. All resources scattered across the map and players must battle against each other. The arena shrinks as time passes by and a hazardous field consumes the whole map. Sometimes an area is bombarded to scare off any camping player. The battle royale has passable graphics since it has 185 MB size, but not as comparable as the visuals from the mobile port of PubG and Fortnite. There are only few grammatical lapses which are ignorable. The in-game HUD is the typical shooter genre with battle royale elements on mobile platform. The map on the upper-right hand corner indicates the location of allies, enemies and vehicles nearby. Players are notified when the arena starts to shrinks in and if they are inside the zone being bombed by the game. They are given several buttons in the screen since most shooter games require a lot of maneuvering and access to wide array of weaponries. There is a dedicated button for the camera fixing where the field of view reverts back to the default position which is facing the front. The controls are somehow stiff and requires strong internet connection for optimal performance and accurate movements. Otherwise players can opt for solo mode if they find squad mode very janky. There are some disappointing points of the game despite of its accessibility. It lacks any music during combat while it only plays a theme during the parachute drop. Their intention of immersing players with the ambient sound is not very impressive because of the theme. A sci-fi game needs futuristic sound effects. Character voices mismatch with their appearance.
Alternative Battle Royale
Survival Game is a daring attempt of Xiaomi to the gaming industry. It keeps the important aspects of battle royale, at the same time adding sci-fi elements and selectable characters to make it fresh. The game can be criticized for trying to jump in with the popularity of battle royale when observed in a more cynical perspective. Battle royale games may wane in popularity as the game industry continues to grow and break grounds on what would be the next popular genre. On the brighter side, the game is fine for those who needs a palate cleanser from the other popular battle royale game today.
