Once in a while, a game will come along that will prove itself to be unique and memorable. Superhot happens to be one of those titles. A first-person shooter with time bending enforced is what makes this game something I have not seen before. To be specific, time in Superhot only takes place when you move. The concept is brilliant and worthy of exploring in detail.
The story behind Superhot involves you receiving a crack file for “superhot.exe†from a friend. As such, you end up engaging in level after level and then reverting back into a chat client to provide your feedback. It is rather interesting to approach this computer type of interface for a game like this. It confused me at first when I first started the game as I thought there was something odd going on with my cojputer. And that just makes the experience that much more unbelievable.
When you jump into any level, you have to face a number of enemies represented by an orange/red color outline. Knowing that a single hit from the enemy can kill you, you’ll want to take them down without making any drastic mistakes. As mentioned earlier, the fact that time only occurs when you move, you can plan your next step accordingly. This also makes dodging bullets easy to execute. So if you’re standing still, everything will pause in place. The faster you move, the faster the action will take place.
But there is more to it than that. You’ll want to figure out both in terms of timing and distance on the best actions to take to complete the level. Obviously you’ll want to step to the side to dodge bullets, throw objects at enemies, and take them out. Do not that there’s no reloading, which took me a while to come to terms with that. But a simple throw of an object at an armed enemy will make them drop their weapons which you can get while hovering in the air. What I like about Superhot is that there are different weapons you can end up with. So it definitely adds variety to the gameplay.
While the AI enemies seem pretty basic, the fact that there are multiple enemies within the same level will get you thinking carefully on how you wanna proceed with your attacks. Each level varies in terms of how long it can take. They can be pretty short, especially in the beginning. However as you progress further, the levels may take a few more attempts to complete successfully.
What gives Superhot its replay value is the notion that there are a few unlocks in terms of bonus modes available. Upon completion of the core levels, there is the challenge mode that allows you to revisit the levels with some additional restrictions to consider. Additionally, the endless mode gives you the opportunity to go for the highest number of kills within the arenas you’re placed in. Here, an endless number of enemies will be respawning.
Superhot’s presentation may take a minimal approach in terms of colors since everything is black and white (and shades of blue), except for the enemies which are orange/red colored. Nonetheless, the graphical details still look pretty top notch. There are a number of props and items in the levels including chairs and vehicles. The audio also takes a minimalist approach. Don’t expect to have constant music throughout the levels you play through. However, the sound effects are there and does add enough to make the whole visual-audio experience worthwhile.
Superhot is a clever and unique take on FPS. It may seem too minimalist and even shallow for some players. However, Superhot is pretty “super†in terms of its originality and gameplay.
