SUPERHOT review

Exceptional

by Graham Kaletsky

Time moves only when you do.

Super.

What if an FPS played like a turn-based puzzle game? Superhot set out to answer this question, and made it work. Every encounter is deadly - everything dies in one hit, including you. So you need to use the stopped-time ability wisely, as well as everything in your environment, to choreograph a ballet of movement and violence in slow motion.

 Hot.

You walk into a room, see enemies raise their guns to fire. You strafe out of the way, grab a bottle from a counter, and throw it at one of the enemies. It disintegrates into jagged red polygons against the stark white background.

Super.

Punch the enemy nearest to you, grab his gun from mid-air, shoot another enemy, then duck behind a pillar as a hail of bullets narrowly fly past your ear.

Hot.

Quickly check around - you see the tell-tale glow of new enemies spawning in. More fodder to kill. You move, you shoot, your gun clicks - it's empty. No reloading in this game, but you can always throw the empty gun for another kill.

Super. 

After a couple of minutes, the last enemy dies and the scene fades - you're done.

Hot.

You can watch the replay, if you like - they're not as flashy as I'd hoped but it's fun to see your movements in real time. Then it's onto the next mission - a new arena, new enemy placements, new weapons to use, another dance routine of death and violence.

Super. Hot. Super. Hot.

It's a gimmick that just about stays fresh enough for the game's runtime - albeit only just. But it's fun while it lasts, and well worth playing. The game's aesthetics carry it perhaps more than anything else - crunchy DOS-styled menus leading into clean white environments, black objects, and red enemies. Bullets fly with distinctive red trails - for a game played in slow motion, a lot of care is taken to ensure the arenas are clear, bright, and readable.

The levels aren't always as sophisticated or fluid as I'd like - more than once I found myself wiggling side-to-side purely to advance time, so that an enemy spawner closet would finally spit out the last goon and allow me to finish the level. Or occasionally I would die to the game choosing to spawn new enemies behind me, where I couldn't see them - and the game gives you no warning that this has happened unless you see the spawn room glowing. Being thrown back to the start of a level after several minutes working through it in slow-motion helps tire out the central gimmick faster than it needs to, especially when death feels unfair - rightly or wrongly.

Nonetheless, Superhot is a curiosity well worth exploring, so I'd recommend it if you can find it on sale.

"Superhot" is very ... Different. A Special One in the FPS field, if you will. While his genre brothers and – Sisters try to catch players ' attention on a noisy, brachial, at times dull or whistle-fast way, "Superhot" Goes completely in the opposite Direction. Permanent itchy Fingers on the Trigger and overhitting Reflexes don't take you any further here, on the Contrary, it is the pure (and well considered) movement that decides on Success or Defeat. Every step, every Shot, every Action accelerates the Action in an abstract-held VR world in which time without Intervention only moves ultra-slowly, while Red-crystal opponents make the (Over) life difficult for Us. Not understood a Word? Okay, I'll go into that in a moment. Bloss, when asked what "Superhot" should be so "super" or even "hot," I have no Answer to that myself. :-B Via Chat, an Internet acquaintance gives us the Game "Superhot." And we play it, of course. Want to see more after each hosted Level. But then another Person hacks into our private chat and threatens us with Consequences if we don't let go of "Superhot." We don't give any more to touch before the Game ... And ultimately do. Because we can't help it ... Difficult to describe the very cryptically held story more precisely, but from the Point of view of the idea it is not so bad at all and ends with a surprising Bang, so much is said. But it is really important, it is not really important, it is certain: There are 32 Levels in which we simply have to break down all the opponents facing us – all red-colored, faceless Types – into crystal fragments. Although, SO just doesn't, because "Superhot" doesn't work like ordinary Shooters, and yet we look at it just like that, the Screen death with 99.9% is likely. Every freshly started level runs in super slomotion, even if we just stop. Let us, however, set ourselves in motion that Time and so do our Enemies. With Careful observation and Skillful Maneuvers, one has to find the most tactically promising Way and use the Time Manipulation for your own Benefit. We can blow our red Counterpart away with bare Fists, blow away with Firearms or carve it out with sharp-edged katana sword. Since these virtual Traffic Lights are not defenceless and know how to deal with the same weapons, it will once again be a Corner of trickier to keep the Enemies at a Distance and at the same time slowly dodge passing Projectiles. In Addition, any Weapon – Exceeds Katana – can only be used a few Times due to heavily limited ammunition. When the Balls are used up, you have to think about it instantly. Do I Go to the next Weapon even though the Guys have me in The Crossfire? Am I Trying my Luck and raising the Weapon out of my Hand to the next? Do I grab any Object and dust my target opponent with a targeted throw? Since no Level is similar to the other and the Freedom of Movement is sometimes more, sometimes less limited, the Player has to completely switch to any new Situation or Opponent wave. Especially in later Levels these are sometimes very skimpy boxes, the restart button is guaranteed not to be boring. But all in all, "Superhot" is served quite quickly, because with at most 2 To 3 hours, the story mode is decidedly supershort ... Well, you can laugh later. * g * After that, you can let off steam at any unlocked single level at will, trying out alternative Modes (E.g. for Bests, Permadeauts or endless arenas). Whether this is just as motivated in the Long run, I leave it open ... "Superhot" not only has an innovative Game approach, but also a very independent And memorable Graphic style. Brightly lit, texture-free, clinical-pure white Environments, along with the red guys and the black weapon/throwing objects – a very garish color Contrast in an artificial VR world. The Soundscape, on the other hand, is not Able to set any special Accents. Musical sound Is omitted, the few action sound effects are correctly reproduced in alternating Pitches (depending on the Slowing or Slowing down) depending on the pace of the game. Conclusion: "Superhot" can boast of enriching the FPS genre with fresh gameplay impulses, because a similarly slow yet as demanding shooter as this one can't be found a second Time At the Moment. However, the Fact that you get an extremely meagre scope of the game for around 20 Euros has to be taken into account.