Friends vs Friends is a fun online Co-op shooter with some interesting twists.
Developed by Brainwash Gang and published by Raw Fury, Friends vs Friends is a fast-paced online PvP shooter that combines deck building and combat in a fun and exciting clash of friends. Right off the bat, you are shown an epically funny cinematic that explains how this all came to be accompanied by a beautiful song about a group of friends and a shady website.
Suddenly, all hell breaks loose and they go at it while the fun yet very catchy song plays in the background. After this wacky cinematic, you are shown user agreements that ask if the game could track data for improvements throughout the existence of the game Friends vs Friends, although if you don’t want to, you could simply not allow it after the agreements are done and dusted.
You are taken to a graphic content page where you’ll be asked if blood and dismemberment is something you would like to view or not, this gives the game some unique user-friendly qualities. Whereas if the sight of fake blood or loss of a limb upsets you, the game gives you the opportunity and option to turn it off with the option to turn them back on at a later date in your settings menu.
Entering Friends vs Friends, we start as a faceless person being auto-set to one of the many character starter skins in the game. Going into the menu, you are shown six tabs: Home, Play, Quest, Cards, Skins, and Shop. As you enter the skins tab, spike Remington is the first character you are shown, a punk-style cat with dual guns. As you move up the list, you are shown DJ Newton, a sniper with reading glasses, moving on to Duck Anderson, a laid-back duck with a gun and a peace sign. Lastly, we have Moose Salto, an agile moose with a shotgun (‘boomstick’).
Along with these skins, there are others to be unlocked as you obtain levels in the game, with the highest-level skin so far being only unlocked at level 20. As you cycle through the other tabs in your menu, you will find that you are taken to different parts of the diner. For example – If you want to change skins, you’ll be taken to the restroom to select the character you want to play with.
Although cycling through the menu is the easiest way to get around, you do have free movement as well. You’ll start your game in the parking lot of a diner that is reminiscent of diners from the 1980s called “CASH’S CORNER”. This is the physical layout of your menu where you can roam and look around this wacky diner. Entering the diner, it seems like a plain old diner but looks can be deceiving. Moving to different parts of the diner will activate prompts for quests, deck building, character selection, and a hidden gun range in what seems to be the basement of the diner, where you can purchase cards and test out guns.
What makes this Friends vs Friends different from other online co-op games is the deck-building aspect of the game. While Friends vs Friends is a battle of bullets, your weapons and items come from your deck. For example – The hand of cards you are given can provide you with different weapons and items depending on the cards you have.
Though this also depends on the character you play as they too have their own personal cards with useful effects, such as playing Moose Salto will give you a double jump in the match, whereas playing the puck-style cat, Spick, your bullets will do more damage with his personal card.
As you play and win rounds against your opponents, you will earn the in-game currency called ‘friendos’ which you can use to buy more cards at the store located at the gun range under the diner. You’ll be given the option of two packs, the basic and the gold pack. The basic only holds four cards, whereas the gold pack holds four cards, one of which is a rare card. With the basic and the gold packs, the prices change do vary between 250 friendos for the basic and 550 freindos for the gold pack.
While in combat, you start Friends vs Friends with a handgun, and you are shown what cards you have to play in this round. You’ll need to be careful though, as burning through your cards is not a good idea; save them and use them strategically, as each card in Friends vs Friends has its own effects, for example – Making the enemy move slower or changing your weapons from a handgun to as the game calls it a ‘boomstick’ (shotgun).
Being able to set up traps and boost your movement or damage using these cards in battle can do many things for the battle, whether it is to aid your partners or to slow down time. These cards are your saving grace in Friends vs Friends.
The game’s atmosphere and music are not what one would expect from an online co-op shooter with its calming tunes and fun friendly vibes, the game’s goal is to have players make friends and play with Friends. With the 1v1 and 2v2 aspects, grab your best friend or go solo facing other solo players on one of many maps, such as the theater, or the rooftops, and battle it out with friends, using your unique cards to change the tide of battle.
While in combat, the music falls away and instead gives you silence to concentrate on the battle at hand. As soon as the battle is over, you are given the calming, friendly vibes of the background music of the menu, although the music will change when you enter the diner as they have a jukebox playing music.
Sadly, you can’t change the tune that is playing, and maybe being given more tunes to choose from on the jukebox would make the jukebox a little more interesting as it is the first thing to catch the eye. That and the fish tank with some very interesting fish. Although the jukebox does add a hip-hop vibe when roaming around the diner.
Friends vs Friends is an interesting and friendly game, considering it’s all about downing your opponents in battle and claiming victory with your combo of strategically chosen cards. With the card-playing aspects of Friends vs Friends, when doing a 2v2 match, players can help each other out by playing cards that affect both teammates, such as using the card ‘energy drink’, which will give both players movement speed.
With Friend vs Friends, the battle environments have tons of great spots to hide, set up traps or just to snipe your unsuspecting enemies. Each weapon has a set amount of damage with your biggest weapon being a rocket launcher doing the most damage and your handgun doing the lowest damage.
With all this and probably more coming to Friends vs Friends, this game is one of a kind while taking on the basics of gun warfare as seen in online PvP games such as Fortnite or Valorant, minus the map size and loot boxes, while smoothly integrating deckbuilding aspects into the game. This game is a fantastically chaotic game to play with friends or solo that will keep you occupied for hours.
