Superhot

Superhot will never win any awards for beauty, with it's red people, white backgrounds and black interactables in fact it's quite ugly in places. The sound is blips and blops but for reasons explained in it's thin plot. But it's the concept that sets it apart from the rest and is really something quite special.

In this unique first person shooter time moves immensely slowly when you are prone and only speeds up when you move or perform an action. This gives you the chance to think about your next move, look around for things to grab, weapons to pick up while new enemies spawn on a timer.

The weapons are highly minimal in that there are only a handful, and truth be told the game has very little content including a very short storymode but honestly it didn't "Need" more.

The levels are fun, addictive and as I mentioned highly original and a joy to play. The wrap around however between stages is quite migraine inducing and really ruined much of the experience for me.

Because of it's concept Superhot overcomes its flaws and is a really enjoyable title but I find myself hoping this is just the start of a potentially amazing franchise. If they iron out this games issues, add a bit more content and pad the game out the next should be even better.

The Good

The concept is genius

Very addictive

The Bad

Very little actual content

Not enough enemy/weapon variety

The wrap around is awful

Things I learnt from this game:

The mind is software

I am being watched

Obey

Passed 2 times (the first was in the epic game, handed out), and did not regret it at all! The game is truly unique in its kind. Yes, it does not have a plot, goals, just kill red men, but how! Although about the thought that we are shoved here, it was reflected in me. At first I thought the game was from our developers, by the name of the author (Pyotr) and I realized how well they localized it, that it seemed to me that only our person could not submit the text so dryly, but it turned out to be Poles! Anyway, well done, support the game so far! 6 years have passed! Superhot At an opportunity, I would look at what the creators have done in 6 years (superhot 2) Basically, "Great game, I haven't played it yet. You should play it too."

Hi, you have to try this. It's the most innovative shooter in years. What? As far as I can tell you're legally obligated to put that in your review. With the cringey meme out of the way, I want to acknowledge that while it is a slight overstatement, they're not as wrong about it as you might think. This does borrow elements from elsewhere. Bullet Time from the Max Payne trilogy, dumping empty firearms from Kane and Lynch Dog Days, and probably others.

And yet it overall feels fresh. I don't know anything quite like this. This manages to be very quick and easy to learn, and deceptively complex. There is no HUD, you can only carry one weapon at a time so if you're not seeing one in your hands that means you don't have one, there is no reloading, everyone dies from one bullet, and when you aren't moving, anything else either isn't or it's only going extremely slowly.

The stylized graphics help you focus and give this a unique look. You can immediately tell what something is just from the one solid color covering it at a glance. Let's go through them. White? Impassable, don't bother trying to go through it. Red? Enemy, they'll keep trying to put you down until you take them out.

Black? It's something you can use to hurt others(and all of these are quite breakable, and can be destroyed or caught in midair, and considering that foes will release their grip on them, sending them flying or falling, this is extremely convenient for you), so it's either melee or a gun, you can tell which from the shape, either can be thrown(though the physics for that basically make up my one criticism because they are not quite dependable), and once the clip is empty that's what you'll want to do.

All of this is important to keep in mind, and it almost immediately becomes second nature. I've seen others say that this was the first time that they felt like they were in a Hollywood movie shootout, and I 100% agree. This could so easily make you feel overpowered, since you have so much control over the flow of time, or the opposite, since ultimately you can lose very suddenly, sometimes even if you are tremendously careful. But it strikes a perfect balance between the two.

Levels take you through all kinds of different areas. A bar, an office building, an alley, a subway station with a moving train, etc. Early on you might find yourself thinking that these feel completely separate from one another. When you complete one, you immediately find yourself in the new one afterwards. There is no connective tissue. This is purposeful, and you will come to suppose why.

Over the course of this a number of questions are raised. While I can only speak for myself, I was completely satisfied with the answers, both in quantity and level of detail, and I will not be explaining that further because it is simply something you've got to see for yourself.

There is a wonderful meta element to the storytelling. This opens with you receiving the game itself. The menu is made to appear like a classic pre-windows operating system. This does not have cutscenes and anytime where and you have control stripped away from you, you are made painfully aware that that is what is happening. It does not break format.

After a while, you find yourself wondering if there is any plot here because it seems so random. And then the character you play as literally types that in chat, to the person that sent you Superhot! It even prompts you to write something, though you can't actually choose what comes out. And then it goes and points that out.

This explores some extremely important and relevant themes that I will not give away. The conclusion is pitch perfect. After a while you may realize where it's going, and it has that Grecian tragedy thing going on, where you are powerless to stop the obvious negative outcome to at least part of this. My jaw dropped more than once due to this.

It frustrates me to see some user reviewers say that it is bad that this does not let you affect the ending you get. I think it's time to admit that we've gotten spoiled on that. Don't get me wrong. I love when I get to choose how one of these comes to a close. It is something that I can hardly get enough of in stuff like the Deus Ex franchise and some of the Kyle Katarn titles.

With that said, it is not something that works for every entry in this medium, and we should not treat it as something that we are owed. I definitely think it would have been wrong for this. On the other hand, I do appreciate those who say that it is pretentious. I will not argue that point, honestly probably I'm just the sort of person for whom that works. This does not mean that it is wrong if you are not.

Some say that this is too brief. I would argue it is appropriate. It is long enough that it makes an impact, short enough that it does not overstay its welcome. I might have felt my money was wasted if I paid full price for this. Not sure how much that says though, because that tends to be the case when I don't get something severely discounted, as was the case with this.

I respect those who simply do not get into the unlockables. Those being the self explanatory Endless and the Challenge modes. Both at least partially take place in the same environments as before. The latter features various rule sets that completely change the experience. I love it, I get why others do not. Violence is PG13 because you don't see blood or gore, rather, only crystals instead. Strongly recommended. 8/10.

Superhot VR is a splendid awe-inspiring blend of the Matrix and John Wick. Dodging bullets in slow-mo in VR makes you feel legendary. This thought only is more then enough to make this game your next PSVR must-buy.

There isn't much of a story to go on in Superhot VR. You're inside a run-down apartment room with the only source of light being your monitors and you are forced to go through a series of trails to "prove your dedication." You also know nothing of your main protagonist either, adding a sense of mystery in the game. However after the 3 hour campaign, I was still just as uncertain of why these bizarre events were happening. It would of been very useful to understand our protagonist and why he's doing these tests. But hopefully this is covered up in the original Superhot.

However, the gameplay is the main star of the show in Superhot VR. You stay in the same spot all the time in Superhot VR, but like in the original version of the game, time only moves when you move, which I find to be a very entertaining game mechanic as it makes you feel like a god but also makes you alert and more careful because even though enemies die in a single hit, so do you. Physically moving your body and head in VR to pick up weapons with the required move controllers and dodging bullets or slicing them in half using a knife and watching red glass heads explode in slow-mo feels incredible and makes Superhot VR a reference quality transfer to virtual reality. But like virtual reality itself, it's got to be seen to be believed. I haven't played normal Superhot yet, but after playing Superhot VR, I'm not sure I want to. But the gameplay does have flaws on the PSVR. Since Superhot VR is a game where you have to move around a lot, tracking with the PlayStation Camera can go haywire at the worst possible moments, resulting in some frustrating deaths. In addition to this, throwing objects in VR can be hit or miss when your using your hands and checkpoint are quite far apart from each other meaning if you die at the very last part of a segment, you will be forced to play that segment again from the beginning, which can also get frustrating, especially if the tracking is at fault. However, due to the amazing gameplay I can look past these flaws and still have a blast.

Superhot VR also has a unique look to it as well. All the environments you'll be fighting in are all white but enemies are a red colour and everything you can pick up and use as a weapon are in black. This art style is very effective because I was never confused on what was a weapon or enemy and what wasn't which is really useful in a game where a split second of indecision can cost you your life. There are a wide array of weapons at your disposal, from wine bottles to shotguns. Smart players will probably grab a weapon such as a gun or knife and a shield like a saucepan to block incoming shots, adding a new level of tactic. However, white, red and black colours do look kind of muted on the PlayStation VR which is likely to be expected due to the PlayStation VR's limited graphical process. I've played this game on the standard PS4 so I'm not sure as to how it looks on the PS4 Pro.

Sound is also used really well. The 3D audio in VR allows you to recognise exactly where shots are coming from, making playing with headphones a must. Hearing the unknown announcer say the words "Super... Hot" at a checkpoint feels well earned after a tense encounter as the words constantly pop up to where you look.

There's also a lot to challenge yourself to once you finish story mode. There are a wide range of challenges from speed runs, hardcore, headshots only, completing the game without dying, endless and of course, playing story mode again. However, I wished that there was a way to exit the story mode at any time and that I didn't have to complete the story mode just to get my choice in what I played. The modes are all labelled on these big memory cards on your desk which are kinda of tricky to see in such a dark room and you physically pick them up to put them into your computer. However, I wished I could put my choices down again instead of having to insert them into the computer to let them go and change my mind by inserting the card I wanted. I could drop things easily when I was playing, why couldn't I do it here? Despite all these shortcomings, I found Superhot VR to be one of the best purchases I've ever made for my PlayStation VR. At just £20, I think you get more then your money's worth as Superhot VR's challenging additional modes will keep you coming back for more. This game is an absolutely must if you own a PlayStation VR! 9/10

If computer intelligence were sophisticated enough to make their own decisions, what would computers be capable of unleashing upon humanity? Would they simulate a reality in which we are enslaved, perhaps unwittingly, to prolong their existence? That is what security hacker Neo discovered in The Matrix. At present, cybercriminals can write and distribute code with the intent of sabotaging hardware or stealing valuable data. Superhot takes the meaning of malware to a new level, or so it seems, where, as the story goes, a friend sends by network a supposedly leaked copy of a new game, superhot.exe, to your (in real life) computer, which is an old DOS machine as indicated by the menus. Little are you aware that you will become sucked into the game the same way as your friend, literally.

Of course, Superhot is not malware (nor related to the film), but the story considers the real-life you to have one installed on your DOS computer in the form of superhot.exe. "Malware" might not be the best word to describe the software in the story, but it is ... something. The first-person shooter is a collection of levels set in seemingly unrelated but familiar scenarios, from buildings and transport to bars and alleys, all in a simulation where everything is made of concrete in the middle of a white void. In each scenario are red glass figures intent on killing you. It takes only one hit to do just that, but what sets this shooter apart from the others is that time only moves when you move; it slows down to bullet time when you stop to analyze your surroundings before speeding back up to real time (sound familiar?). Granted, you might not have the same abilities to manipulate the simulation as Neo, but it's close enough. Most of the time, you start a level without any weapon other than your fists. You must find one lying somewhere or steal it from your enemy by stunning it. Stunning is done by punching the enemy or throwing an object at it, which, depending on the scenario, includes a bottle, electrical equipment, and office items. Stunning an enemy three times in quick succession has the same killing effect as shooting it once. All the objects in the game, including the weapons, are made of black glass and can be shattered in obvious ways. Adding to your troubles, the three firearms you can pick up: a pistol, a shotgun, and an automatic rifle, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, all have limited ammo, so, once exhausted, you may as well throw them at an armed red guy, stunning it and stealing the weapon it drops.

The world of Superhot is rather mysterious, where locales are formed orderly before they disorganize into nothingness the farther one travels from the arena. There is no real story regarding or prelude precipitating why red guys want to kill you in the game or what your aims are besides killing them first. Far more enigmatic is that something, referring to itself as "the System", is tracking your presence, warning you about the intent of superhot.exe as you dive deeper into the simulation, at least figuratively, and slowly submit to the matrix. My giveaways of the plot - which focus on the premise - end here, but you can second-guess how the story will unfold and what further resemblances to the movie you will spot. To add to its lore, every level comes with a secret in the form of a terminal, which you can then use to unravel hidden facts about superhot.exe and the System. At the end of each level, you are rewarded a replay of your last playthrough entirely in real time. It's cool rewatching it since everything actually goes so fast that it would be almost impossible to beat the game if not for the ability to slow down time to dodge bullets as the player calculates their next move, and even cooler since the game encourages us to consider uploading clips that we think are worthy of other people's time with a few button presses, just as I have. The developers were considerate in how they animated and programmed the red guys. Although they cannot jump, pick up throwable items, or discard their weapons like the player character, they can do everything else. The player can tell when an enemy is getting ready to fire their pistol as they raise it at eye level. When they are not scripted to stand still or move from point to point, they are free to roam around the arena and pick up a weapon. They sometimes aim their guns in front of the player, anticipating that they will step in the projectiles' way. When they do, they are shown to point their guns slightly away from the player, allowing the player to know which way to dodge. When an enemy is shot in the limb or head, that part of the body shatters like glass before the entire thing fragments as it collapses to the ground, and its body can still be shot and further shattered, so you had better conserve your ammo and shoot a live target you intend to kill instead of a new shard of glass blocking it.

Bullets and pellets leave behind temporary red trails so that they do not look like nearly invisible black dots. Besides guns and throwable objects, there are also weapons with which you whack your opponents, the best of which being the katana. It swings very fast, easily hacks enemies in half like butter, and can even slice airborne bullets. Gun projectiles are also capable of colliding with each other, but the katana is the surest, coolest means of defending yourself. Eventually, you are granted the hotswitching ability, which you use to leave your body and assume control of one of an enemy by pointing your crosshair at it and pressing the hotswitch button. When activated, it is made unavailable for a few seconds in real time before it can be used again, but it is a very strategic means of escaping danger. I have used it a lot when I needed to avert my demise but still wanted to keep my weapon. To do that, I would throw my weapon at an enemy, hotswitch into its body, and grab the weapon I just threw. If I needed that enemy's weapon instead, I would stun it and then hotswitch into it since hotswitching forces the body to discard and destroy what it was carrying at the time the player switched into it. This type of game appeals to players who do not expect fast-paced action, which is perfectly fine with me because I am one of those players. However, after you complete its levels, you are encouraged to play it again within a time limit. Beating campaign unlocks challenges, featuring the same levels but with a handful of different gameplay variations, including the ones with the time limit, all harder or much harder than campaign. There is even a challenge mode where the levels must be beaten within a time limit in real time, so players looking for some fast-paced action are not totally left out. Beating campaign mode also unlocks endless mode, where the goal is to destroy as many enemies as possible before being destroyed. This mode also has three variations: destroying 20 enemies as fast as possible in real time, destroying as many as possible within a 20-second limit, and doing the same thing within a 60-second real-time limit. In every case, your personal bests are recorded, incentivizing you to replay them. Because of those game modes, your play time does not last just three hours. I estimate that you would spend at least fifteen hours before you lose interest, which justifies its initial $24.99 price tag.

Back in the game's DOS prompt, you have other nice extras to look at, including a text-based mini-game about chopping up a tree on the correct side quickly, which actually isn't half bad. Other than that, once its campaign is beaten, Superhot encourages us to share it with friends and family with the message "Superhot is the most innovative shooter I've played in years!" Unfortunately, I have to turn down the opportunity of declaring it. I am not saying that it is not an innovative shooter, not by a long shot; it approached the FPS genre in ways no shooter in recent memory had done before. However, I think it was too soft on innovation. The basic gameplay consists of killing enemies, dodging sideways, taking cover, and finding weapons, and given the room for all the possibilities that can arise out of the player's powers, and the various strategies needed to survive, I am left a little unsatisfied and thinking I have not seen everything. I thought some of the challenges were also a little too easy. Granted, I had to adjust my strategy for some of the harder levels, but other than that, it ends up being more or less the same. Once you know your strategy, you stick to that strategy, and it undermines the game's important element of strategic thinking, rendering it a generic shooter.

VERDICT: Reluctantly, I cannot call Superhot the most innovative shooter in years, even though it is original. As much as I want this strategy-heavy shooter to be, the developers seem to have missed pushing its innovation in such a way as to force players to get creative in their strategy, and it need not be accomplished by adding more variety, just by rearranging the level structures a bit. Then again, it coming from an independent studio who priced it at medium, I could have asked for something much worse, and I must not be overtly judgemental. Superhot is the shooter that comes closest to playing like Neo from The Matrix, and even if you have never seen the movie, you at least have not heard of a shooter in years before it that comes close to giving the player such powers within a virtual setting. It should inspire other studios to develop shooters exploring the concept of time, including time manipulation.