After nearly two years of PC exclusivity, VOID Interactive’sReady or Notis finally arriving on consoles to fill a very specific shooter niche. In many ways,Ready or Notis about as close as we’ll ever get to a legitimate follow-up to Sierra’s belovedSWAT 4, and it does a commendable job of replicating the tactical tension and strategic depth of that 20-year-old classic while featuring some impressive visuals and AI that make playing alone almost as fun as joining a co-op squad. Having put dozens of hours intoReady or Noton PC, I went into the console version looking to spot differences that might put it at a disadvantage. To VOID Interactive’s credit, the studio has done an incredible job translating the complex keyboard and mouse control scheme to a standard game pad, but there are some other noteworthy changes to be less excited about.
Ahead ofReady or Not’s console launch,VOID Interactivetook to the game’s Steam page to provide an update about incoming content changes to provide parity between the game’s PC and console versions, which caused a massive review bombing campaign for fears of “censorship” somehow taking something away from the gritty realism of the experience. While these content changes didn’t immediately jump out at me as being incredibly noticeable, and will likely completely unphase the players who are new to the game for its console release, there’s no denying thatReady or Not’s console versions lack two things that immediately make the PC version the superior experience: higher-end performance and mod support.
Still,Ready or Notis a very unique kind of shooter that we simply don’t see enough of anymore. We used to be flush with options for slower-paced tactical shooters, but those days are far behind us. Anyone who spent a considerable amount of time inTom Clancy’s Rainbow Sixor the aforementionedSWATfranchiseswill feel right at home inReady or Not, and the ability to play in both solo and multiplayer with a surprisingly competent AI means that players can hop in and hone their skills on their own before joining up with a squad for the co-op mode where the game truly shines.
Ready or Not is Still the Best Spiritual Successor to Classics Like SWAT 4
Going intoReady or Notexpecting it to beCall of Dutywith tactical law enforcement officers (LEO) is a surefire way to have a very bad time, and the game goes to great lengths to reward players who strike a careful balance between swift response and cautious observation. Many of the game’s 18 main missions feature similar objectives — stop all suspects and bring order to chaos, rescue all civilians, secure evidence, etc. — but there’s the occasional wrinkle thrown in that causes you to stop and rethink your strategy just when you’ve settled into a comfortable rhythm of stacking doors, breaching and clearing, and neutralizing threats.
At its core,Ready or Notis more about squad management and leadership than firing from the hip, though you will have plenty of opportunities to engage with its satisfyinglyrealistic gunplay. It’s essential to listen to each mission’s briefing before deployment, checking out the map to discover what might be the most optimal point of entry, and equipping both yourself and your squad with the right ordinance and deployables to match both the map layouts and the mission’s objectives. For shooter fans who love strategy and planning,Ready or Notsuccessfully melds them with a slower-paced FPS in an incredibly satisfying way, and it’s still one of the best modern tactical shooters on the market. That much remains true in its console release.
Just like in the PC version, players have the option of going it alone with an AI-controlled squad in Commando mode (whatReady or Notcalls single-player), or joining up with others in quick-play or campaigns as part of a co-op squad. BecauseReady or Notcan require some serious coordination, teamwork, and communication to achieveS-rankon a mission, it’s usually better to play with a dedicated group than to join up with randoms. Unfortunately, multiplayer servers were not active as part of the review window, which meant that I wasn’t able to test out the state ofReady or Not’s multiplayer functionality on console.
How Ready or Not’s Controls Have Changed for the Console Version
Being relegated to single-player wasn’t nearly as bad as it might sound for agame likeReady or Not, and that’s mostly thanks to the title’s very intuitive standard control scheme and impressive AI squadmates. Having played roughly 60 hours ofReady or Noton PC, I was nervous about how the game’s fairly in-depth mouse and keyboard controls might translate to a standard game pad, but any trepidation on my part was completely unfounded.Ready or Notrelegates most control of a player’s AI squad to the controller’s shoulder buttons, which in practice feels similar to the PC version’s use of the mouse wheel to select teams and issue commands.
By pressing the R2/RT button, players will bring up a radial menu that allows them to issue a command to their teammates for just about every contingency. You can split teams into their red and blue two-man squads or command all your allies as the cohesive gold team, queue up commands and execute them simultaneously, and issue quick pivots when the situation calls for it all by hitting the trigger and using the analog stick to rotate to the appropriate option. By default, the radial wheel feels a bit stiff to use, but changing the selection setting to “simplified” made it so that commanding my squad was smooth and responsive. Every death I experienced in my replay ofReady or Not’s missions(and there were a lot) was entirely due to my miscalculation, not difficulty adjusting to the new control scheme instead of using my preferred mouse and keyboard.
Addressing the Content Changes and Performance Differences Between Ready or Not’s PC and Console Versions
Of course, not all is sunny in the fictional city of Los Sueños whereReady or Nottakes place, and there are some areas where the game’s console version struggles to match up to its PC counterpart. Addressing the elephant in the room, the scrubbing ofgraphic content fromReady or Notto prepare it for a console release seems to have rubbed the game’s very dedicated PC fanbase the wrong way, and VOID Interactive’s decision to have the console and PC versions be identical has only further damaged player goodwill toward the game. That said, other than one mission in particular, in which sensitive material is a focal point of one of the mission’s objectives and tied to one ofReady or Not’s larger narrative threads, the differences were negligible.
What’s more disappointing is the lack of mod support inReady or Not’s console release, which has been one of the title’s saving graces on PC. As anyone who’s playedReady or Notcan attest, the game’s enemy AI can be diabolically accurate and aggressive, with a single shot being all it takes to derail a mission after an otherwise near-perfect deployment.Ready or Not’s modding communityhas done some great work to make the enemy AI more manageable and improve the game’s already impressive visuals, and it seems like a missed opportunity not to have the console version of the game offer mod support.
Ready or Notfeatures 18 missions that each vary in length, complexity, and difficulty, and many of them are connected as part of its overarching narrative. It’s an often gritty and disheartening look at both society’s criminal element and the flaws in the system that failed them, and it asks the player to confront some uncomfortable and violent truths about justice and morality. There’s some randomization in enemy placements and opportunities to take different routes through each of the game’s maps, but once you’ve played these levels the first time, the only real incentive to replay is to chase the coveted S-rank.
For those who countTom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2andSWAT 4among some of the best tactical shooters around, playingReady or Notfeels like riding a bike. Even with the adjustment of going from PC to console,Ready or Notstill shoots to the top of the list oftactical shootersavailable on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S, because there’s simply not much else on the market like it.
