I literally had to dust off my PS4 when I found out I’d get a review copy of Disintegration. As a mainly-PC gamer, I opted to only get the tempting exclusives for the console, but Disintegration tickled my fancy enough to be compelled to play it on the platform. When I heard there was involvement from Marcus Lehto, the co-creator of Halo, that was plenty of indication that this would be a special project.

Disintegration has quite an interesting concept: humanity hooks their brains into robots instead of their flesh and blood, only for a militant group to be dead-set on eliminating humanity. A rag-tag group of robots join a rebellion, as main character Romer pilots a hoverbike to traverse the map as he commands his squad to decimate the robotic opposition, the Rayonne. Levels are vast and spacious, never giving the player a sense of being confined.

The combat within Disintegration is absolutely the highlight of the game. Romer’s control over the bike is easy-to-learn, hard-to-master, as the emphasis on movement and interaction with squadmates means the player won’t just be focused on shooting enemies. With ample squad commands and managing the health of each member and Romer himself, each situation will leave the player fully-engaged if they want to make it out in one piece.

Unfortunately, on a standard PS4 Slim, the game doesn’t perform up to snuff for being so late in the console’s lifespan. Sub-30 framerates are the norm, as the size of the levels makes for long load times. While the environments are beautiful, it puts a hamper on the enjoyment when I feel at a disadvantage due to the game’s performance. Obviously, with a high-end PC, a PS4 Pro, or an Xbox One X, this isn’t an issue, so we can label that as a personal nitpick.

There’s a clear aim that this is a multiplayer-first, campaign-second experience, but the latter doesn’t feel like too much of an afterthought. There’s ample set-up and the cutscenes are solid, but the sections in-between missions feel fairly empty and desolate. While you can interact with your friends here and this is a step up from just a menu, it doesn’t offer much in terms of engagement.

Thankfully, the majority of the campaign is spent on missions. The long loads are warranted by missions that are all at least 30 minutes in length and truly feel like an expedition with a lot of progress made in each go. From the first mission’s initial combat encounter to its final battle, I felt like I was getting better and more in-tune with the controls, prepping for each fight and monitoring my squad’s health/ability cooldowns.

Now, is Disintegration worth the price of entry? Maybe not at launch, as the campaign is pretty linear and the early, less-than-stellar reviews indicate that it won’t have the most booming multiplayer scene that other titles do. This could be a pretty entertaining, single-player run through a week at around 20 dollars, but 50 is a lot to ask for a brief campaign and a likely-to-dwindle player base for multiplayer.

A PS4 review copy of Disintegration was provided by Private Division for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Disintegration

$49.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Perfect Level of Challenge
• Fascinating Premise
• Fun Characters

Cons

• Boring In-Between Missions
• Low Framerate
• Long Load Times