I loved play Eliminator on FH4. I know its not for everyone but I found it to be pretty entertaining - especially once you figured out the finer points. Unfortunately, whilst the game mode remains largely untouched for FH5 (aside from some apparent “balancing”), the sheer scale and detail of the map makes it far less fun.
For starters, the size of the map, or to be more specific the size of the starting arena is massive compared to FH4. I’ve been in 50-player games and seen no one for over a minute, maybe two; chasing the arrows on the map. Doesn’t sound like a long time but driving endlessly trying to find people just isn’t fun. In FH4, going a minute without an encounter was a long time. In FH5 it seems the norm. The FH4 tactic stalking the edges just doesn’t work until mid-late game. If you want Head-to-Heads you have to spawn more centrally, which then removes your tactical advantage of choosing the direction of the H2H.
The terrain: The mountain - La Gran Caldera - and its lower reaches dominates almost a quarter of the map. Head-to-heads which send you up the mountain can become a long slog of painful climbs as you assess which corners to cut and which hills to climb. I have a pretty good win rate on H2H on the mountain, but its still not fun pushing a L1-3 car up those hills. There was nothing like than in FH4, unless you ended up on Glen Rannoch end game, but by then you had a high level vehicle so you were at least going faster than 20 mph. Imagine if half your FH4 Eliminators had to encompass Glen Rannoch.
To add to the terrain issues, the sheer amount of detail/obstacles prevents tactical driving from paying off. Sure, it’s more realistic and pretty then FH4, but now you don’t just have to worry about trees. There’s little clusters of rocks hidden behind bushes. Piles of wood and other stuff obscured by the jungle. If you’re in a low-tier car, you can no longer rely on better driving through forested areas to even the playing field against higher-tier cars. You can get the drop on them, and then lose half your speed on a fallen log that you have no chance of seeing. The amount of detail introduces so much variability it amounts to a game of chance.
Last but not least is the choice of starter car. The VW is a poor performer compared to the Mini. It feels heavier, less nimble and prone to oversteer. I get it’s more appropriate to the setting, but the car’s characteristics combined with the above issues make it much harder to challenge above your level.
Now you might say “just spawn hear the car drops!” and you’re right. I’ve seen plenty of Level 7 cars within the first couple of minutes. There’s purple smoke as far as the eye can see. I would say there’s too many car drops. It’s just a free-for-all on car drops instead of racing, in a bid to get to Level 7 or higher.
The approach to getting the “Heads Up” achievement in FH4 was “challenge early, challenge often”. Know the area you’re in, and know when and when not to challenge. Keep an eye on the notifications to see what others are getting so you’re aware of the profile of your opponents out there."
A lot of that is infeasible in FH5, or much more reliant on luck. The size of the map makes it harder to find people. The terrain leads to less chance of upsetting H2Hs between cars of different tiers, and the abundance of car drops places too much emphasis over car drops rather than H2H being the primary means of upgrading your car. The amount of Level 7-10 notifications within early stages of the games in FH5 is unreal.
I honestly feel that playing the “Heads Up” method gave an amount of depth to Eliminator that few appreciated. Once I chased that achievement in FH4 it opened up a whole new way of playing. Much more enjoyable and less one-dimensional. I fear much of the opportunity to play this way is gone, and with it most of the depth in this game mode. It now feels more like the game most detractors say it is.
I know the game is still new, and I’m happy to be proven wrong (I hope I’m wrong), but so many factors seem to run counter to the H2H race dynamic I just can’t find it enjoyable.
