Turn up, find a gun, or other weapon, kill enemies until you win. That’s something we’ve all seen in an FPS but SUPERHOT tries to achieve something a little different. In fact it tries to achieve something very different. It’s rare to find something quite as unique as SUPERHOT, especially in a genre so rife with constantly repeated tropes. The core concept for SUPERHOT is that time stands still unless you move. Hopefully adding a load of bullets and a few enemies trying their best to kill you should create some interesting gameplay.
For the most part that’s exactly what SUPERHOT does although there were still a few moments when I found myself starting to get bored. There are only so many scenarios that can occur around the mechanic and once you’ve seen them all it becomes increasingly difficult to remain interested. There often isn’t an advanced tactic or technique you can employ to solve an area and most of the time a fix all strategy will work fine.
Essentially time will only move when you do. So you fire your gun and a bullet leaves the barrel and instantly becomes stationary, or impossibly close to it. So you will have to move around and dodge enemy bullets, and melee attacks, as your own bullets travel to their targets. It certainly takes a little getting used to but soon enough you will be firing and dodging rounds like a pro. Or at least that’s how you’ll feel. When everything goes just right it’s difficult not to have a little smile to yourself. Dodging one round, firing another, throwing your spent weapon at an enemy and then punching the last in the face just has to be satisfying.
Sadly there’s nothing much in the way of progression to keep you interested with no weapon unlocks, abilities or anything even close to customizable or upgradable. There really seems like a missed opportunity to make a much fuller game with a simple ability upgrade system. One of your abilities sees you disarming enemies with a swift elbow – why not have the range upgradeable? Almost all of the abilities could have been part of an upgrade system without interfering with the actual function of the ability and would have really helped keep me interested after the first couple of hours.
One of SUPERHOT’s biggest issues is ironically due to it’s biggest asset – the time mechanic. The first time you play it seems clever and unique but that only diminishes over time. If you remove the creativity of the mechanic from SUPERHOT you’re left with very little. But SUPERHOT has been showing off how cool it is for a very long time now and most of that initial magic has already dissipated for me. It will be the same for those of you who frequent YouTube or generally keep up-to-date with games. It would have been far better to keep the gameplay a mystery until release to give that full wow factor. It’s really like SUPERHOT has already played it’s best hand before it was actually released.
And sadly SUPERHOT has little else to fall back onto. There’s a plot that is reminiscent of something taken from an early script of the Matrix with a few overly contrived pseudo-existential dilemmas thrown in. It struck me as trying to sound clever rather than actually providing a substantial plot or characterisation. It’s fair enough to sound clever if you actually are but SUPERHOT’s plot never delves deep enough to become anything more than a last minute add on. At it’s worst it just ends up coming off as pretentious and overly self-referential. It seems like SUPERHOT thinks its story is something special but really it’s quite mediocre.
The art style is strikingly gorgeous. The severe lines, stark contrast and shattering glass effects make for a truly unique looking game. It’s a bold style that is realised confidently. It’s also another area SUPERHOT manages to distinguish itself from other titles. It’s difficult when every area is made up of only white walls and shadows to keep things interesting yet I didn’t find myself getting tired of the environments or wishing for more. For SUPERHOT to really own the art style it had to stick with the blank environments and I’m glad it did.
SUPERHOT is very conflicting for me. It’s biggest and coolest feature is also it’s biggest downfall. The time mechanic is fun to play with but it makes SUPERHOT feel too much like a tech demo for me. There are almost no elements of a full game outside of the time mechanic. Once you’ve seen that and had enough there’s nothing else left in SUPERHOT. The plot just comes off as pretentious and is far too self confident to keep you interested. SUPERHOT is a great idea that is well implemented but it doesn’t do enough to become a full game.
