NeoRussia's Review
Posted: 13 Jul 2012, 02:21
First off I would like to start of by saying who I am. I have been playing U/UT (Unreal Tournament) for I think... 6 years? And TF2 ever since it came out. Both competitively. In my opinion, that sub-genre of shooters is stale at the moment, with only I think Tribes Ascend doing well and being modern currently. Shootmania is a great concept, and several features are unique and can define the game and I have enjoyed playing the multiple game modes. There are several things that I think it can improve on though, if changed are made I could see it being the game for people who are interested in fast-paced quake-style shooters. Here are some things.
The HUD
The first thing I mention because it's the first thing a player looks at when he enters a game. First off, there needs to be a folder for HUD mods. Other then the crosshair this is the next thing that a player would want to make his own. There is another reason however, the default HUD isn't great. It does not display all the information needed in a easily visible manner. I can see it being hard to display it properly, as Shootmania has no real health or ammo values. If I could have it any way I want, I would have the ammo being in strips in a large circle around the crosshair, and the health not actually being on the screen but the crosshair changes from green to red depending on how much hp you have left. The stamina bar takes up most of the lower screen and is clearly visible, bright yellow perhaps.
Game Settings
There needs to be a way to set every setting in the game through both the launcher, ingame screen, and out of game menu. Also, a config file would really be useful for any advanced tweaks such as exact texture resolution and visibility settings and binds. A FoV slider is a must. Proper mouse acceleration is very important, if it's not done right it might as well not exist. Quake is the only game which I know that has gotten mouse accel right. Currently in the game mouse movement seems to be linked to your framerate. Since the game is in a pretty unoptimized state right now a lot of people are frustrated that it's unplayable for them. I can only get my full 120fps in duel servers on minimum settings, and keep it that was at a low resolution. Any competitive game must have players be able to have an even playing field, hardware differences make this hard but thankfully games like Quake and SC2 have low hardware requirements. Even if this makes everybody switch to using them it's better to have no effects and flat 1x1 textures like in quake rather then Shootmania having high recommended hardware for running the game.
Spectating
There NEEDS to be first person spectating. This is what Tribes Ascend originally failed at and along with replays, proper spectating tools are one of the things that make a shooter an esport.
Gameplay{/u]
Now for the meat of this review, if you can call it a review any more rather then a bunch of well-formatted suggestions. The first few problems that I noticed are the framerate and the latency. Latency problems seem to be because of server-side optimization, and for the sake of this being a beta I'm letting it slide as I'm sure it's being worked on. One interesting thing that seems to be happening is that one servers where players get high latency there is this "roller-skate" like movement. Generally you want players to have as much control as possible, this is something that I hated about QL over CPMA, the movement while jumping is way too restrictive, same with Shootmania. I hope this gets tightened up as well as general walking movement, as that seems to not have enough grip as needed too. Everything else I liked a lot. The weapons were great, the game modes were unique and amazing, the arena "pads" for healing and railgun were a great idea. The one thing I felt lacklustre was the map design. It may just be the evolving of the game itself as it's not out yet (lets not forget how horrible the first competitive Brood War maps were) but the maps seem way too open especially since the rocket launcher type weapon has little to no splash damage and can't really be used for "zoning". I feel like the rocket launcher needs to have more explosive recoil, sending the hit player in a certain direction that is easier to predict, and that the splash damage needs reworking so that it is possible to use it for zoning. Another thing, why no rocket jumping? It's worth trying as I feel along with better air control rocket jumping should improve the game a lot especially for duelling or "Jousting". Do you use the rocket to hit your enemy, or do you use it to give you a positional advantage or escape? This should also make the race-like game mode more interesting.
Thanks for reading, you can also check out my YouTube channel for gameplay and stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/NeoRussia
The HUD
The first thing I mention because it's the first thing a player looks at when he enters a game. First off, there needs to be a folder for HUD mods. Other then the crosshair this is the next thing that a player would want to make his own. There is another reason however, the default HUD isn't great. It does not display all the information needed in a easily visible manner. I can see it being hard to display it properly, as Shootmania has no real health or ammo values. If I could have it any way I want, I would have the ammo being in strips in a large circle around the crosshair, and the health not actually being on the screen but the crosshair changes from green to red depending on how much hp you have left. The stamina bar takes up most of the lower screen and is clearly visible, bright yellow perhaps.
Game Settings
There needs to be a way to set every setting in the game through both the launcher, ingame screen, and out of game menu. Also, a config file would really be useful for any advanced tweaks such as exact texture resolution and visibility settings and binds. A FoV slider is a must. Proper mouse acceleration is very important, if it's not done right it might as well not exist. Quake is the only game which I know that has gotten mouse accel right. Currently in the game mouse movement seems to be linked to your framerate. Since the game is in a pretty unoptimized state right now a lot of people are frustrated that it's unplayable for them. I can only get my full 120fps in duel servers on minimum settings, and keep it that was at a low resolution. Any competitive game must have players be able to have an even playing field, hardware differences make this hard but thankfully games like Quake and SC2 have low hardware requirements. Even if this makes everybody switch to using them it's better to have no effects and flat 1x1 textures like in quake rather then Shootmania having high recommended hardware for running the game.
Spectating
There NEEDS to be first person spectating. This is what Tribes Ascend originally failed at and along with replays, proper spectating tools are one of the things that make a shooter an esport.
Gameplay{/u]
Now for the meat of this review, if you can call it a review any more rather then a bunch of well-formatted suggestions. The first few problems that I noticed are the framerate and the latency. Latency problems seem to be because of server-side optimization, and for the sake of this being a beta I'm letting it slide as I'm sure it's being worked on. One interesting thing that seems to be happening is that one servers where players get high latency there is this "roller-skate" like movement. Generally you want players to have as much control as possible, this is something that I hated about QL over CPMA, the movement while jumping is way too restrictive, same with Shootmania. I hope this gets tightened up as well as general walking movement, as that seems to not have enough grip as needed too. Everything else I liked a lot. The weapons were great, the game modes were unique and amazing, the arena "pads" for healing and railgun were a great idea. The one thing I felt lacklustre was the map design. It may just be the evolving of the game itself as it's not out yet (lets not forget how horrible the first competitive Brood War maps were) but the maps seem way too open especially since the rocket launcher type weapon has little to no splash damage and can't really be used for "zoning". I feel like the rocket launcher needs to have more explosive recoil, sending the hit player in a certain direction that is easier to predict, and that the splash damage needs reworking so that it is possible to use it for zoning. Another thing, why no rocket jumping? It's worth trying as I feel along with better air control rocket jumping should improve the game a lot especially for duelling or "Jousting". Do you use the rocket to hit your enemy, or do you use it to give you a positional advantage or escape? This should also make the race-like game mode more interesting.
Thanks for reading, you can also check out my YouTube channel for gameplay and stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/NeoRussia
