Game information
Genre: action, platformer
Platforms: PC, Mac
Developer/Publisher: Arrowhead Game Studios/Paradox Interactive
Full game release date: March 5, 2013
Beta release date: January 31, 2013
How to get into beta: pre-order the game
Preface
Arrowhead became famous for its amazing game Magicka. The latter, in turn, is famous for no less amazing bugs. Magicka turned out to be an innovative game, with a good sense of humor and generally funny. Multiplayer was very important for the game, or rather it was the main feature, after the spell system, but this is where Arrowhead miscalculated. As soon as you were about to play with your friends in co-op, you were immediately attacked… no, not goblins and orcs, but bugs and other errors. And instead of fixing all this with patches, Arrowhead pushed paid DLC with new buggy maps. Of course, sometimes it was possible to play, but this was not enough, well, in general, the game was terribly unfinished.
So why did I start so far away. Yes, because the main fear about Showdown was that the game would repeat the fate of Magick. Therefore, I didn’t miss the announcement of The Showdown effect, but I quickly forgot about the game. But then on Steam I saw that you can pre-order the game and get a beta version. My friends and I bought The Showdown effect 4-Pack and went to beta. There were several reasons for the purchase. The first thing is that according to the trailer the game looked quite cheerful, and for myself I immediately realized that I had never seen anything like it before.
2nd, this is a https://katsuwincasino.co.uk/ rather modest price of 200 rubles, and for a 4-Pack you can save another 200 rubles. In general, we bought the game and immediately rushed into battle!
Game description
The Showdown effect is 2.5D action platformer inspired by films of the 80s and 90s. The cards here act as arenas for a bloodbath between characters. The beta version features 5 heroes and each has its own super ability. For example, become invulnerable for a couple of seconds or throw a flask of poison at the enemy so that he cannot escape from you, etc.d. You can customize your character as you wish, because the clothes that you buy with the money you earn in the game can be worn on any character. There are also many types of weapons in the game. A separate plus is that for each type of weapon there are also skins, which you also buy for in-game currency. Skins not only change the type of weapon, but also its damage, number of rounds, reload speed and the like, that is, in essence, you are acquiring a new weapon. You can also pick up weapons scattered around the map: stools, bottles, swords, etc.
Own opinion
Showdown is incredibly dynamic and doesn’t let you sit still. I’ve never seen anything like this before. Not in terms of dynamics, but the game itself… for me it was like a breath of fresh air. Crazy shootouts, tackles, flying axes, severed heads. It all looks juicy and new. For myself, I missed projects like Mark of the ninja and Shank, but I saw these games and Showdown is somewhat reminiscent of them. The game modes are also nice.
Showdown – main game mode. Defmatch, where everyone is for himself. You have no one to rely on, and sometimes you get frags while you are reloading. Towards the end of the match, there comes, let’s say, the climax, when the points received for each kill are increased and here you will have to show tactics. Sit back and strike from the shadows or rush into the thick of the battle and get more frags in the hope of becoming a leader.
Team Elimination – team-on-team battle. With each kill of an enemy, the respawn of your enemies increases, and you need to kill them all until not a single one is left alive. This mode depends only on the coherence of the team and the ability to work together.
Expendables – also a team-on-team battle, but in a different style. One team plays in a normal role, that is, when they are killed, the respawn of the members of that team increases and they play as their standard characters. The other team acts as, as I call them, “inquisitors”. They are given a random weapon, their HP is reduced (by 40%-50%), but their respawn is instant. Their task is to quickly kill the entire enemy team. The “defenders” need to kill as many inquisitors as possible. After the teams change places. The one who kills more inquisitors wins. For the defenders, the main thing here, of course, is tactics and ingenuity, but for the Inquisition, team coherence.
One Man Army “or alone in the field is a warrior”. In general, from the title it is clear what the essence is. A bunch of inquisitors are chasing one player, and he, in turn, must get as many frags as possible. As soon as the defender is killed, a new one takes his place. Sort of king of the hill. But the reins of power pass not to the one who killed him, but in turn.
These are all the game modes for now, but let me remind you that this is a beta, so this may not be everything. For example, at first there were only two in beta: Showdown and Team Elimination. Afterwards, others were added with patches.
In general, the game gives positive emotions, especially in a good company of friends. For me, all this was completely new, so my joy from the game knew no bounds, until the last patch on February 15th. He brought a new map, weapons and mode to the game, but also bugs. Yes, they were in other packs, but they were corrected quite quickly, which could not but rejoice. Now (at the time of writing article 18.2.2013) they were never fixed. The game crashes quite often, optimization is lame, and so on.
Result: The Showdown effect turned out to be a cool toy, where there was enough room for both hurricane action on serious cabbage soup and good humor. The game turned out to be, if not 5 points, then 4.5 for sure, but Arrowhead’s bugs and reputation are alarming. With the release of Showdown, everything may change, do not forget, this is a review of the BETA version.
Preliminary grade: 4/5