PlayStation 4 Critic Reviews

Much like The Great War itself, Verdun is rough, grim and wholly unforgiving. A perpetual lesson in patience and poise which decisively punishes fools but rewards frugal armchair tacticians, Verdun makes the player work in every way that a good shooter should. Emboldened by an impassioned take on one of history’s more overlooked conflicts, Verdun’s rough appearance is not enough to detract from one of the finest shooters on PS4.

Verdun is not your average shooter, it focuses more on the realistic side of war and teamwork is a very important aspect of the game. Therefore it will most likely appeal to a different public than games like Call of Duty or Battlefield.

Slow and methodic, this clumsy shooter isn't for everyone. Those who persevere, however, will find a diamond in disguise.

While it’s far from the most attractive FPS I’ve played this year, Verdun gets its setting and tone incredibly right. There’s a moment in every match where I found myself peering out from behind cover, looking down my rifle, desperate to catch sign of any movement in a field of debris — a moment where the game completely justifies its setting and mechanics. Verdun is rough at times and only half of its modes are any good, but those special moments it offers are rare enough to deserve attention.

The game has a very different pacing to modern shooters and that’s not a bad thing.

Verdun has really good ideas, and it tries to achieve a realism most shooters discard these days, but a very poor technical side and some control issues prevent it from achieving something bigger.

It’s a refreshing change from the rest of the first-person shooters and goes to great lengths to ground itself in reality.

Not only is the lack of tutorial and unfamiliar gameplay going to scare off casual FPS fans, but the nature of the game as a large scale multiplayer experience will mean there’s not much point in playing if you can’t get a proper 16vs16 match going. If you like the idea of a historically accurate, hardcore WWI FPS, Verdun is going to be right up your alley. I’m just not sure if the PS4 port will be the best way to experience it.

Verdun captures all the action and misery of being stuck at the front in a war where the power shifts constantly and young lives are lost in a hopeless struggle. Except now you're sat on a sofa. While its more traditional modes show off its weaknesses, the main Frontlines mode seems to have captured an audience on PSN.

Verdun offers a unique experience not seen elsewhere on the PS4. It’s realistic, historically accurate and sometimes satisfying gameplay can’t make up for the fact that the game’s community is almost non-existent, gameplay is riddled with technical issues and the lack of a proper tutorial can make the game downright frustrating.