What if I told you that the world you are experiencing isn't real. That your mind is trap inside of a prison that you can feel, taste or touch and that the world is holding you back. Okay, it's not as crazy as all that but with each mind bending level of Superhot it felt as though you were stumbling further down the rabbit hole of some grand conspiracy involving a hidden game with a simple premise. Time moves when you move.
Each level of the game plays out like some sort of action movie where players must perform insane actions in order to take out massive amounts of enemies in what appears to be mere minutes for them but it could be an eternity for you. You aren't sure why these faceless red men are continuously trying to harm you, you are only told that you should not be in this game in the first place. Also you're super hot apparently, as the end of each level rejoices in telling you. Anyways, the one thing that you do have in common with your red faced enemies is that one hit equals in your unfortunate end and the level resetting back to where you began. This means whatever method you use or they use to kill are extremely effective and it ranges from hitting, kicking, slashing and shooting until they shatter into little red triangles all over the place.
It's a rush to say the least as certain levels feature massive amounts of room and venues for players to take out their enemies, where others require quick thinking and careful maneuvering in order to succeed. While your character is not moving the screen is basically in a state of pure frozen silence as you assess the situation at hand. Bullets will inch their way closer and enemies will come in ready to do battle but just like Neo in The Matrix, you can see it all coming. Skillfully making it through levels in this manner makes it feel all the more satisfying as well and even more so with the variety of different ways the enemies can be played around with or the fun little additions the game has going for it as well.
Punching enemies backward into an oncoming train, throwing a katana and shish kabobing two enemies together or slicing bullets in half as they manage to get too close. It's crazy but it makes you think of the many different ways a given situation can be handled with the tools at your disposal. Superhot itself wouldn't give you this impression at first though as the game gives off a very minimalistic presence to it. Not much is devoted to super detailed graphics or insanely lifelike environments and there doesn't need to be for this simple idea presented here. Bad guys are red, weapons are black and everything else is an off white color. It's basic and it works as each level truly only boils down to moment to moment encounters and replayed over again at the end like a highlight real of your awesomeness.
Later levels keep things interesting by adding in more items to the equation. Better armaments like assault rifles make blazing away bullets a bit of a challenge as the burst fire will send three jutting out at a time and so with one quick side step you can be taking out multiple enemies instantly. But the biggest among these changes is the ability to body snatch enemies later on in the game. As you learn to free your mind from it's perceptions of your body you can begin to take over others and make former enemies your friends. It's a clever mechanic and plays into the games mind bending story quite well.
Underneath all the slow motion antics there is a meta-layered story taking place between each level that tries to shake players perceptions on reality. Is this really a game? Is this reality? Is my body holding me back? Is my mind in a prison waiting to be released? All this fourth wall stuff comes to mind as the story progresses, hitting myself in the head was one of the highlights as the computer system attempting to free me berated and reveled at the sheer stupidity. The home menu screen is a mind warping experience in itself too, appearing as an old school DOS system it features layers after layers of hidden software and engines to find for yourself. It also gives players the allusion of control in the game, taking away your ability to write a response in the chat or call for help, even making you dance around like a caged rat even at one point. It may be an idea that has been done before but in many ways Superhot makes it it's own.
While it is an incredible thrill to play, Superhot does suffer from some replay factors as I beat the games main storymode within a few hours and short of a few other challenge modes there wasn't a real drive to relive the experience over again. That being said, I did revel in the experience as it happened bit by bit, flashing before my eyes in a haze of gun shots and flying fists. It was like a drug I couldn't get enough of and that drug had me shouting "SUPER HOT" from the top of my lungs, not giving a crap about who heard me.
Good:
- Very unique idea for the games main drive, time moving as you do
- Challenging situations
- Blowing away enemies into tiny bits is a blast
Bad:
- Story is interesting but has been done already
- Lack of replay value
Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10
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