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By Aeth Finch

What if there were a casually competitive FPS game that everyone can enjoy, no matter the skill level? Friends Vs Friends steps up to take the party aspect into a semi-competitive space.

Releasing a casual shooter is a pretty bold move because one of the most active competitive game spaces comprises the world of hard core, first person shooter games. These are difficult games where speed and accuracy and winning at all cost is key. Hard core efforts like Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 continue to maintain a strong fan base and they show no sign of stopping due to their wide variety of expression of skill. 

Friends Vs Friends is different. It’s an FPS that’s based on, to put it simply, fighting friends. The game’s art style is one that is colorful and cartoonish, with each character having a unique design based on an animal. Characters like Moose Salto, who moves swiftly with their double jump, Duck Anderson with his healing power, and Ribberto Mullington, who copies what passive your opponent has, give the game personality and lovability. Maps are small and bright, without being too compact. They’re designed in a way to keep the action between players fast and close, making every fight feel personal.

The music adds to the clubby energy brought throughout with upbeat electronic tracks that keep the pace high, while sound effects for card activations, weapon shots, and funny voice lines enhance the game’s charm. Although there isn’t a true, compelling story in the game, the world feels alive through its art style and the quirky characters, which makes it easy to jump in and just have fun.

Whether it be in 1v1s or 3v3s or Free For Alls, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Where it stands out compared to other games within its genre is the main core mechanic – the deck system. Before you play a match, you select a character and build a deck containing a minimum of 25 cards. But there’s a maximum cost limit based on the strength of the cards. 

That choice is all about leveling the playing field. This maximum cost limit prevents overpowered cards from being the only ones in the deck. The character you bring determines the passive you get throughout the entire match. Some are simple, with you getting an extra jump or an extra card in your hand. Others can be more chaotic, with effects like copying your opponent’s passive, or even stealing one of their cards.

These cards have a variety of effects, from those you know like using a grenade or making a small wall to the unexpected draw of making your opponent’s heads larger, or shrinking everyone. With over 100 cards, there is a very large variety of what you and your opponents can bring. The game is played in rounds in a Best of 5 format, with each round having cards drawn randomly for each player from the deck they made. Because of the random draw, sometimes you might get your good cards at the start, and not have them for later. But you can always save your cards by not using them, as they carry over into the next round.

The way you unlock cards is pretty simple as well. You play to earn currency to buy packs. No microtransactions to unlock cards faster or level up quicker are hawked, not even for anything cosmetic. Everyone progresses at the same pace, and everyone can unlock the same things, leaving a truly even playing field. 

While I do like this and fully support it, it can take a very long time to unlock all the cards, especially the packs that contain more rarer cards and cost more of the currency. Alongside this, duplicates have you level up your already owned card, rather than giving currency back, which feels slightly unfair. However, with the amount of variety the cards bring, it’s a thrill to try out anything new you get. This compelling loop is what kept me playing for a good while. 

Friends Vs Friends is a uniquely casual-competitive game that uses its unseen combination of FPS and card games to stand out above the rest in its genre. And for only $10, I can confidently recommend it for everyone. Because of the console release and cross-play being in the game now, it’s one of the best times to hop in. Just watch out for the sniper and big head combo. They’re killer.

Circle intern Aeth Finch is a senior at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn.

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