As I run round a corner, I come face-to-face with a man pointing a gun at me; his fingers already squeezing the trigger. In the normal course of events, my next move would be to expel the contents of my skull out the back of my head at a high velocity. But SUPERHOT does not dabble in the normal. Instead, I take a step to one side, watching as the bullet sails lazily past me. Then I stroll up to my attacker, punch him in the stomach, catch his gun as it flies past and blow his brains out.

When I watch the replay back later, it all happens in a second. The man’s in shattered pieces almost as soon as he pulls that trigger. For me though, I was a protagonist in an action film playing at half-speed. Dodging bullets was not done by frantically bending over backwards and waving my arms about. I merely walk to one side, grinning as the bullet meant for my head slams into the wall instead. This is the singular trick that SUPERHOT is built around. It may be all it has to offer but what a trick it is.

Its core mechanic is best explained by describing a level that made it from prototype to full game. You spawn at one end of a hallway and two bad guys are at the other end. Nothing moves for a moment. Then you take your first few tentative steps and as you do so, bullets begin to fly. But as soon as you stop, so do they. Everything is based around your movement. In order to reach the gun lying in the middle of the hallway, you need to inch forward, stepping to one side to avoid the shots, before lining up your own. If you stop moving, the bullets grind to a halt, Matrix-style.

It’s an incredibly smooth system. You can even dodge past shotgun spreads if you’re good enough. It’s a mechanic that allows you to set up fantastic action pieces, which are then played back in full speed in the replay. A highlight of mine being throwing a pool ball into a shotgun spray and then jumping over the bar to punch the dude in the face. There are, admittedly, an extremely limited amount of weapons (three types of firearm and around the same melee), but the system itself offers a large amount of freedom. If you run out of bullets, throw your gun at someone’s face to stun them, catch their gun as they drop it and you’re back up to speed. It turns the battlefield into a bullet-scarred puzzle. You need to move in the right direction, for the right amount of time.

It even attempts to explain it in the plot. It opens with a buddy of yours sending you superhot.exe and encouraging you to play. As you do so, it becomes apparent that it’s more than just a game and things quickly spiral out of your control. It’s not bad, honestly, and it does well to draw in the various mechanics into the storyline. Though, they’ve tried to be somewhat unique with the story by cutting away from gameplay to show text chats between you and your friend. At one point it locks you out completely, forcing you to quit and reload the game. Okay, it’s a nice touch of meta gameplay but one that does seem out of place. I’m here for the slow-mo shooting of bad dudes. Cutting me away from that did tend to grate after the first few times.

One problem with a game that’s built around a single system is that it’s going to be quite short. True enough, the main campaign of SUPERHOT takes about two hours to beat. It’s a nice story, and told in an interesting way, but it’s over before it really sinks its teeth in. There are only so many scripted scenarios you can make with this system before it feels tiresome, after all. Still, I would’ve liked the campaign levels to be a bit longer. It’s not until right at the end that they start stretching out. The bulk of your money is likely going to go towards the endless levels and challenges, though. I’ve started dropping into them for a quick jaunt in the evening. It’s the core mechanic without any flim-flam. There are guys; kill guys.

Still, one thing that struck me when I was playing the endless levels is how clinical the whole thing feels. It’s not that it doesn’t fit; the story is about your mind being inserted into a computer programme masquerading as a game so I would expect things to be paired back a bit. Indeed, the levels are all bright white, with the only colour being the bright red enemies. They look polygonal; inhuman. They shatter like glass when you hit them. That style, paired with the lack of any background music, makes the whole thing rather cold. I put my own music on in the background and it suddenly became a lot more exciting. I just think it’s crying out for a little ambiance.

It’s a shame, but it doesn’t stop the enjoyment that comes from setting up a chain of kills. They’ve taken the mechanic from the prototype and shined up until it’s near blinding. When a game leans on one mechanic, it’s at risk of being repetitive, but SUPERHOT offers enough fluidity that it never really gets old. From shooting to punching to throwing the scenery at people, there’s enough ways to kill people that it hasn’t gotten stale yet. What’s more, it brings in a ‘hotswitch’ ability, that allows you to switch places with an enemy. Good for when a hail of rifle fire is seconds from shattering you. It makes it feel like a peculiar blend of planning and improvisation, as you take the weapons you’re given and work out how to kill the entire room with them. It’s not as though you’re in a hurry, after all.

What really sold me on SUPERHOT was the presence of ‘Killstagram’, a place where you can view all of your replays. That’s what I was here for, really. Watching everything happen in Slow-mo is fun from a gameplay standpoint, but what I really wanted was to watch myself going full John Wick on the room. Throwing a katana through two people before punching their mate in the face? That’s almost worth the £18 right there. Though, nonsense aside, that price tag may be a sticking point for some with the two hour campaign length. If you’re the type to enjoy endless levels, this is your bag. Otherwise, you might be best looking elsewhere.

SUPERHOT wanted me to tell you that ‘it’s the most innovative shooter I’ve played in years’. Is it? Well, maybe it is. The core mechanic is certainly unique and SUPERHOT makes the absolute best of it. Fluid movement, accurate shooting and the ability to throw fruit at people makes for a good few hours of fun. It is, no doubt, just a one-trick pony, but it’s a pony that’s casually dodging a hail of rifle fire, before picking up a katana and throwing it into someone’s face. And that’s the best kind of pony.



Pros

-Central concept is fantastic

-Brilliantly implemented

-Lots of freedom in how you fight

-Nice story to it

-Killstagram!

-Endless mode is great



Cons

-Feels a bit too clinical at times

-Gets meta when it shouldn’t

-Very short campaign

-Limited amount of weapons



SUPERHOT

DEVELOPER: SUPERHOT TEAM

RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 25TH 2016

PLAY IT ON: WINDOWS, MAC, LINUX, XBOX ONE

PLAYED ON: WINDOWS

