Back 4 Blood seems like it checks all the marks. Multiplayer coop, crossplay, guns, ghouls, and grabby gun action all wrapped up in a skill upgrade system that markedly feels like Magic the Gathering.
However, somewhat like magic itself, after playing Back 4 Blood, you can be left wondering if the complexity is there for a reason or not.
Take the upgrade and card system, they say it will drastically change the way each level plays, and that could be true. However, many of the upgrades are very simple and boring increases in statistics. While we can find the more energetic cards that add resurrections and other tangible features, it feels a bit been there done that.
Also of questionable quality are the gun sounds. Lacking in variety and meaningful mixing, the guns have a tendency to feel the same, their repetitive audio sounding out like someone playing the Wilhelm scream over and over in the same part of a movie.
The market isn't short on coop shooters but it is short on great ones and right now Back 4 blood feels a bit more like a mod for a prior game than it does a full fledged product.
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