An Independent Review of Trending Splitgate Game

Photo by Fredrick Tendong on Unsplash

If you are into a free and trending game, this article is for you. Shooting may not be everyone’s cup of tea; however, this game offers more than shooting.

I have been interested in computer games as a developer, researcher, player, and technical reviewer for a long time. People play computer games for various reasons.

However, my primary motivation is a different form than a majority of gamers. My goal is to understand the effects of computer games on the brain. I am also interested in the technical aspects of online games.

In this post, I review a trending game called Splitgate from its unique angle.

Screen Capture from Splitgate website

Review of Splitgate Game

Considering the rewiring effect of games on the brain, my gaming friends have recommended I should try Splitgate. They believed I would like it.

Accepting the recommendation, I checked the Splitage website introducing the game with the statement:

“Rewire your brain to frag with portals. Use portals to outsmart and outplay your opponents. Flank them from behind. Use momentum to fly through the air to new locations. Or quickly flee from a dangerous position.”

The term portal has greatly interested me in my virtual and augmented reality research in emerging technology. The concept of portals in a game attracted my attention immediately.

The dictionary definition of a portal is an entrance to a new domain. However, the typical use of portals relates to the Internet, particularly the world wide web. In this context, a portal collects data from various sources and presents relevant information in a functional interface. Within the last two decades, web portals transformed into remarkable platforms supporting the digital experience of consumers.

At first glance, Splitgate was similar to Halo, which is a futuristic first-person shooter game. Halo is a military science fiction media franchise. It was created by Bungie. The franchise is developed and developed by 343 Industries and published by Xbox Game Studios. Senior Software Engineer, Leonard Holman, allows players to immerse themselves in the world of Halo.

So, if you played Halo before, you would feel déjà vu when playing Splitgate. I tried it both on my Windows machine and Xbox console. When I continued, the game had an additional feature which is a portal. It offers a first-person puzzle feature in which it took me through different scenarios requiring me to place portals to create a path to avoid obstacles and complete the course.

As a player, I travelled through multiple portals to attack, shoot opponents, and evade attacks using these portals. Frankly, as a shooting game, Splitgate looked ordinary to me.

However, the innovative use of portals intrigued my brain. I found myself in a different world. The game achieved to deceive my brain. It quickly took me from reality to a fantasy world. This transition has a unique value in brain development.

Mainly gamers look at this type of future as entertainment, but from a cognitive science angle, this switch from reality to fantasy offers a mental shift by allowing the use of both sides of the brain. Task switching, focus, and attention with fun can have a positive effect on the brain. It helps the neurotransmitters to flow with ease.

I have been using meditation to improve my focus and attention. Even though shooting games can look making an apposite effect, special effects like in this game can produce a similar effect on the brain.

When I keep my focus and attention for an extended period, I feel great relief afterwards. It must be the lubricating effects of blood flow and neurotransmitters in the brain.

My understanding from the website, Splitgate was released in early access on May 2019 on Linux and MC Windows on Steam. Even though many players showed interest, the game struggled to maintain enough players during this period. Then the company released Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Playstation 4, and 5 in July 2021.

When I checked other reviews, I found out that after two years of improvements and the release of the game on console platforms, Splitgate gained many more players. The game received more than 600,000 downloads in a week. This interest made the game trend in the charts.

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Then the technical aspect, especially from an infrastructure point of view, the game platform has attracted my attention. I noticed that this sudden demand by gamers surprised the developers of the game as they did not expect so many players to take part in the platform.

I found out that developers attempted to increase the platform server capacity to handle over 100.000 concurrent players. This approach is an excellent investment in the delivery and infrastructure of the game for a global audience.

To address the capacity issues of the overloaded servers, developers implemented a queuing system that initially had people waiting for up to 30 minutes. However, after scaling the system with more capacity, now the wait time is under a minute. This makes the players very happy.

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In addition to Halo from a shooting aspect, some gamers think the game design looks similar to Fortnite, UT, and Rocket League. The sentiment is a game that is “easy to learn” but “difficult to master”.

Splitgate comes with a couple of competitive game modes. These modes allow players to gain a rank against their friends and other players to get exclusive rewards at the end of the season.

Conclusion

Even though the game looked ordinary at first glance, combining two separate features, shooting, and portal, made the game unique.

At the end of playing a few sessions, I noticed that this was a brand-new game. Nevertheless, it intrigued me and achieved keeping me hooked for a while.

I am glad I tried it, as it was a unique experience for me. If you asked me the best part, I’d say risk-free trial. It cost me money. You can access the game from the Splitgate website as a beta user. You can also find it at the Steam store.

I hope you enjoy it as much as many online gamers do.

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