First impressions can be a killer. Everyone is guilty of judging something or someone by their initial appearance at one time or another, and sadly, this was the case for me with SUPERHOT. When the game was added to the Xbox Live Games with Gold promotion this month, I figured I would give it a go and am very glad I did. Initially, the visuals turned me off, coming across as lazy or generic, which is actually quite the opposite. If you decide to take the plunge, you’ll find the most intuitive and thoughtful shooter in years. Hell, I’d argue ever made. And I’m not saying this just because the game told me to.

The premise of the game’s story is that you receive a copy of the game from a friend in a chat room. They claim the game is best title ever, which it is. You’ll quickly be transported into the first level, which teaches you the mechanics of the game. SUPERHOT is a shooter in which time stops (or slows down in the event bullets are flying) unless you move. This elevates the title above most generic shooters on the market and makes it more of a chess game, requiring the player to pick and choose what weapon to use on what enemy in what order. Upon completion, (or failure) you can view the game in standard time making the actions appear as if you’re controlling John Wick (or Elmer Fudd if you fail). As you progress, the tools at your disposal as well as the challenges you face will increase as you travel further down the rabbit hole. The story segments that play out between these missions is intriguing and the less you know about them, the better, so we’ll leave the story at that.

The tools at your disposal are few (unless you count the huge number of “useless” items that can be thrown at enemies to knock them off guard), with a pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, katana, bat, and your fists (which require at least 3 hits to kill) as your only options. Each of the guns comes with a set number of bullets which aren’t displayed, but the weapons can be thrown as a melee weapon at any point. Hitting an enemy with a thrown item will stun or kill them in the case of the katana, which causes the enemies to drop any carried weapons, often times into your waiting hands.  Once you progress a bit through the game, you’ll also unlock the option to shift into one of the enemies, which recharges fairly quickly and can be used multiple times in the same run. This is extremely useful to dodge a bullet at the last minute or to get you out of a tricky spot.

The visuals as mentioned are a bit basic, but they’re also very complex. The environments are well rendered in shades of bluish white, with objects and weapons you can interact in black and all enemies appearing as red glass that shatter upon death. This coupled with the dos inspired story segments, menus, and loading screens really give the impression this is a homebrew game at heart. Gamers that choose to browse the dos menu will find some easter eggs as well as some hidden jokes. These small touches add to the immersion that you may be playing something you shouldn’t.

Upon completion of the story, you will unlock endless mode, which is hoard mode using the game’s standard mechanics. I found this to be the most addictive option in the game and have returned again and again to try to increase my kill count record or make videos of the John Wick-ish escapades to share on Xbox Live. While the menus are not overly clear on doing this, it is rather easy once you get the prompts down. Sadly, once they are gone, they are gone. There are only a handful of options for this mode from the start, and more are opened as your score increases. Unlike the story mode, these will place you at random starting points, with enemies spawning from multiple points swarming you. Each level poses new strategic advantages you must find, such as holding down a narrow corridor or using higher points in the map to draw gun fire from a distance. Death comes for you often, but the title never feels unfair. When you struggle it’s because you’re not using the level to your advantage.

With almost infinite replayability, SUPERHOT is not a title to be missed. Shooting carbon copy enemies in Call of Duty or Halo may be fun, but nothing in recent times has been as exhilarating as punching a red guy in the face, taking his pistol, shooting 4 of his buddies in the face, picking up one of their shotguns midair, taking out a group of 3 baddies with one blast, throwing it at the next one with an assault rifle, having his assault rifle fling forward, breaking his comrade into pieces, taking the rifle from the ground and mowing down 5 or so guys with swords and then warping to safety across the level, only to rinse and repeat until you rack up a kill streak of 88 or more.

10 out of 10

Pros

• Unique Style
• Interesting Story
• Frantic Yet Methodical Gameplay
• Loads of Replay Options

Cons

• Video Sharing Options are Vague

SUPERHOT was developed and published by the SUPERHOT Team. It launched on PC and  X1 in 2016, and on PS4 2017 for $24.99, and is currently free through the Games with Gold promotion through April 15th, 2018, on Xbox One. The game was not provided to us for review on XB1. For more on SUPERHOT, check out the game’s official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

 

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