The Finals Review: Is It Worth Your Time?

The Finals is a game that has garnered much attention and praise since its release in December 2023, with some media outlets even going as far as to say this game may be the next COD killer. The gameplay looked promising enough at first glance, and with such high praise given to it I had no choice, but to jump in and see if this game was worth all of the hype. 

This article will serve as my official review of The Finals. My goal here is to provide you with as much detail as I can about the game, while also providing you with my honest thoughts. At the end of this review, I’ll provide you with my personal opinion on whether or not this game is worth your time. 

Let’s get started! 

What Is The Finals? 

The Finals is a team-based, free-to-play shooter, that puts four three-player teams against each other in a combat-centered game show. It’s currently playable on PlayStation 5, PC via Steam, and Xbox Series X and S. For this review, I played The Finals using my Xbox Series X. 

How Was It? 

The Finals is competitive, fun, and addicting and I enjoyed playing this game overall, but there are times this game can become a bit of a grind especially if you are solo queuing. This is a very team-based game, where the lead can change at almost any time throughout the match, and this in my opinion is one of the reasons The Finals is so addicting. 

This game looks good at first glance, especially in 4K. I enjoyed its vibrant colors and the overall look and aesthetic of this game. Just about everything on the map is destructible and this adds both a fun and strategic element to the game. So if players are hiding behind a wall or in a building it’s no problem as there are a variety of different methods you can use to destroy the entire building if you’re feeling so inclined. 

In one match, the enemy team was cashing out in a building above us, and I got the idea of grabbing explosive canisters and blowing up the floor beneath them. This caught the enemy team off guard, and we were able to easily wipe them and deposit for the win. This is just an example, but there are a variety of different ways to play The Finals. 

The Modes 

Currently, there are only three game modes, Quick Cash, where you and two teammates will compete against two other teams. Each team must open vaults, grab a cash box, and deposit it at one of the several locations on the map. The team with the most cash at the end of the game will be declared the winner. 

Next is Bank it, in this mode four three-player teams will compete with each other to deposit cash at various places on the map. The difference here is cash can be gained in a variety of ways, you can either obtain it by defeating opponents or opening a vault, but most often you’ll be using a combination of the two methods. 

Lastly, there are tournaments, and these are relatively similar to the Quick Cash mode, but with a slightly different spin. Respawn penalties are much greater if your entire team dies, and only the top 2 teams will advance to the next round. 

The Gameplay

I had fun with all of these game modes, but my favorites were Bank It, and the Tournaments. These game modes can be fun, but also can feel like a bit of a grind as I mentioned earlier. Your team can be winning, and one bad decision from either you or your teammate can mean the difference between winning and losing. For example, in Bank It you can see how much cash players will have on hand, and you may have a teammate with $20,000 on hand, which can be a game-winning amount of money. If your teammate decides to run out and challenge two teams on their own instead of running to a deposit location, they are almost gifting the other team the win in a way. 

There is also the possibility that the enemy team could be running to the same deposit location as you, which means if you lose these battles you also gifted the enemy team the win. 

This game is much better with friends in my opinion, as you can strategize and plan what you are doing. If you choose to play this game solo, my advice is to stay with your team as much as possible try to play off of your teammates, and understand that screaming at your monitor won’t make them play any better. 

But even with these complaints that I have, I enjoyed these modes overall but I recommend this game to those that at least have one other friend to play with. If you’re solo queuing, maybe skip this game for now until they add more modes. 

Character Builds 

There are currently three character builds that you can choose from. Each build has its strengths, weaknesses, and abilities. Each build has a variety of different weapons and gadgets to unlock, and choosing them wisely can make a huge difference in your gameplay experience. The Light Build is the smallest of the three build classes. Light Builds are faster, and offer a couple of really cool abilities, and gadgets you can use. My favorite here is the ability to cloak yourself for a brief amount of time and I enjoyed using the SMG. 

The Medium Build is my personal favorite, and I like to play support in these types of games. So I like having the ability to quickly revive, and heal my teammates. Spawning in a jumpad is also pretty handy as this can help our team gain a strategic position or it can be used to unexpectedly bounce enemies away from you. I also like to throw explosives, or gas off of these jump pads, because they go much farther than if you were to throw them yourself. 

Lastly, there is the Heavy Build. This build provides you with slightly more health, and you can choose to spawn in a shield to protect your teammates from gunfire or use your strength to break down walls and buildings. 

I enjoyed my time with each of these builds, but my personal favorites were the Light and Medium Builds. But keep in mind these just happen to fit my playstyle more, so I encourage you to spend some time with each one and unlock their abilities and weapons to see which one you enjoy the most. 

What I Didn’t Like

I’ve talked about many aspects of The Finals so far and even shared what I’ve enjoyed about it throughout, but now it’s time to talk about a few of the things I didn’t like about this game. The first is the lack of modes. I realize The Finals is a fairly recent release so I do expect the game to add and build upon the foundation it’s set, but it needs to add more modes at least some type of team deathmatch variant.

My reasoning behind this is that this game can feel like such a grind especially if it’s been some time since your last win. You can tell many players get frustrated because they’ll leave the game mid-way through. In one game, both of my teammates left so I had to complete the rest of the match solo. In such a team-oriented game, this can be a problem. Adding some differing game modes, and maybe some that cater more to those that are solo queuing might allow some players to enjoy the game a bit more. 

Character Customization and the Battle pass 

I’m giving the game a pass here since it is fairly new, but the customization is pretty much a joke at this point. There are different items that you can unlock for free, but most will require you to pay. Now they are fairly priced in my opinion, but there isn’t a huge variety or at least there aren’t any items cool enough that make me want to spend money on them. I did buy the Battlepass for this review, and it’s also a grind to get anything good. Compared to other games like Overwatch, Fortnite, Apex Legends, and just about any other game now that has this model, The Finals system is severely lacking. 

But again, I’m hoping this will change because, in its current state, The Finals customization might as well not even be there. Although I do give the developers props for adding a cool cat companion that I can have on my shoulder. 

The heavy build characters just look weird in my opinion, but I guess that’s just the artistic style this game has decided to go with. You may have to play around with the different faces, skin tones, and body types of your build to get the perfect look. Hopefully, the developers will build on this so we can make our characters stand out from the rest. 

Final Thoughts 

The Finals is a very solid game, but it does feel like it’s lacking in many areas. It’s a solid title that you can hop in and enjoy. There is a ton of potential with this game, but I feel like it will need much more if it ever has plans of being the next COD killer, and to keep players coming back. I’ve decided to give The Finals a rating of 8 out of 10. I went back and forth between and a 7 or 8, but chose this final score due to how much fun I’ve been having. 

Despite its flaws, The Finals is enjoyable. Let’s just hope the development team can add some new modes, revamp the Battlepass, and provide us with a new shooter that rivals some of the greats out there.