There are times when you try to get the ball rolling and for some reason nothing seems to be falling into place. For Xfield Paintball 3, sadly that is the case which is unfortunate because the game has potential to do big things. It’s not too often that you come across a certified paintball title since so much of the sports genre is saturated with many of the more popular sports such as soccer, football and basketball. Xfield Paintball 3 tries to fit snugly into all of that but it gets overpowered not by the other titles, but suffers from its own internal issues that plague the game. If you’re a die hard fan of paintball then XField Paintball 3 is most certainly the right choice for you, but in the state that it’s currently in it’ll need more juice to keep those devoted fans interested for the long term.

The devs have been working tirelessly to ensure the game is running at full speed, and so we tip our hats off to them for at least making a conscious effort and not just giving up. As far as what to expect though, well to be quite frank not much since the game seems to still be under development, despite being a full paid title on Steam. The game promises a lot of great features but many of them can’t be accessed and you’re left with a bare bones $30 title that doesn’t provide any merit. If and when you actually do find a game to play against other players the game suffers severely with lag, and sometimes crashes even with the most recent update implemented. We’ll cover more in detail down below in the gameplay section, but for the most part XField Paintball 3 seems to have run out of ammo and needs help fast.

Without being too harsh on the game XField Paintball 3, as stated earlier, does come with promising features such as a Tournament mode for players to dive into, along with the online multiplayer side of it all which sadly is the part that’s suffering the most. If there was a single player mode and that was an issue then it wouldn’t be much of a hassle, but when the most integral part of your title is severely lacking and often runs into problems for most players, then it cripples the experience overall. Waiting times for a match could go as long as 5-10 minutes, after which the game kicks you out and you have to search all over again. After numerous attempts we decided to just hop into the warehouse stage that was available just to test out the controls and such. Running around and walking felt very robotic and very contrived at times, further prompting us to leave the game because things just didn’t feel fluid. The music also wasn’t very fitting as it was random hip hop by a random artist whose lyrics really had nothing to do with paintball whatsoever.

Despite running at max settings the game struggled to keep up when we were lucky enough to get into a match with someone from the Discord server, so that once again was a major shot in the arm. The devs have promised to make future changes to ensure the game runs smoothly but to be frank, there’s already a sour taste in the mouths of those who’ve tried it (or purchased it) and unless you’re totally willing to wait it out it’s just a waste. The game struggled in its closed beta phase and after launch those same problems reappeared to haunt everyone. If the game were a lot cheaper then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, but paying 30 dollars for an unfinished game seems a bit farfetched. I’m not one to really be too critical on titles because let’s face it, creating a video game isn’t easy and requires hours upon hours to fix a plethora of bugs that could potentially ruin the game. Be that as it may, the team had plenty of time to iron out the issues before its May 30th release but it still came out of the gates carrying a heavy burden and sadly that’s what killed the vibe.

XField Paintball 3 tried to deliver on its promises but everytime it tried, server issues would rear its ugly face and force the team to close the game down to make additional changes. By the time that was all over most of the players had already put their paintball guns on the shelves and went home. To be honest if all they did was implement more single player features like maybe a training mode, or some mini games of that sort, then perhaps things wouldn’t feel so bad. However, since most of the game takes place online and that’s where all the problems occur, the game is pretty much unplayable. Things just felt very bland from the get go and pair that with sloppy controls, server issues and a severe lack of single player options to redeem itself, XField Paintball 3 is a game we sadly can’t recommend.

In the end XField Paintball 3 had a lot going for it, great modes like Terrain Editor, sponsors from major paintball companies, and the sheer fact that it’s a paintball game. As we stated earlier there aren’t any paintball games out there to help breathe life into that scene, and XField Paintball 3 could’ve been that very game to help garner some attention. Sadly no one in this day and age is willing to dish out 30 dollars for a game that isn’t complete, unless of course you’re a total die hard fan and really want to see the game prevail. However for the casual gamer who’s just looking for a quick little 1v1 to let off some steam, you’ve lost them because well there’s really no way to have a 1v1 without either waiting a very long time, or hopping on the Discord server and pray someone lives in your region. Given the time the team has had to fix these problems there really should be no excuse for how things turned out. With updates in the pipeline as stated by the devs, we can only hope that they can somehow dig themselves out of the hole and really turn the game around full swing. Until that happens however the game is pretty much a 30 dollar beta test.

We wish all the best to the XField Paintball SAS team and hope they can iron out all the kinks. In the end we didn’t really get to have much fun with the game because nothing felt complete, and whatever was available lacked both in quality and performance. We hope that you found our review to be resourceful and insightful, and your purchase decision to be a lot easier. Be sure to follow us on Twitter to know when we go live on Honey’s Gaming, but also to check out all the latest information on upcoming games and more. Follow us also on Twitch.tv/Honeysgaming to catch us live, playing all of the latest titles from your favorite developers! With only 3 days left on our gaming giveaway, be sure to enter fast and have a chance to win some great games!

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