DISCLAIMERS:
- the reviewer has not finished the game with 100% completion
- the game was played on the Xbox One S using the version of the game intended for United States audiences
The FPS genre is a genre that is often criticized for the relatively little innovation that it receives. Puzzle FPS games are some of the few games that bring some innovation to the genre. 2016’s SUPERHOT is one of these games. This review will judge the game on its own merits.
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Obviously the greatest appeal of SUPERHOT is the gameplay. It plays like an extremely basic FPS but with the gimmick of time moving significantly slower when the player is not making any inputs. This allows for a grabbing and throwing mechanic of essentially every object in the game to be used much more effectively than in any other game. The bullets also noticeably travel distance before hitting their target in this game, which is rare for FPS games.
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SUPERHOT involves defeating various separate missions that are reminiscent of the VR missions from the Metal Gear Solid series. These missions are generally well designed and the slow motion mechanic makes the playing game much less reliant on trial and error than other games with similar structures. At the same time there isn’t any mission that takes the mechanics of the game to new heights, which makes the game feel rather repetitive by the end despite its short length.
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Technically SUPERHOT is generally well made. While the graphics are far from impressive, they are well stylized and run essentially flawlessly on the Xbox One, which is better than most games. Overall the visuals of SUPERHOT are fitting and the game is solid on the technical side.
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The sound in this game is perfectly adequate for what the game is. The soundtrack is well made but not particularly memorable. Sound effects are about what one would expect besides some that sound off on purpose for story reasons.
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The plot of the game is delivered somewhat interestingly but it is far from being worth playing the game for. Players will stay engaged more for the gameplay than for the story.
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Paying full price for SUPERHOT is somewhat difficult to justify. The extra content beyond the main campaign won’t be appealing to the majority of players as it basically retreads the same content with slight changes, which appeals to players who love leaderboards and speedrunning more than the average gamer. Similar to how little this review is able to say about the game, there is relatively little to SUPERHOT compared to other recent games. Overall the game does not provide a particularly great value but the content that it does contain is somewhat innovative and the experience of playing it is inoffensive.
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Overall the reviewer would give the game an 8 out of 10.
