SUPERHOT. SUPERHOT. SUPERHOT. SUPERHOT. SUPERHOT. SUPERHOT.
I didn’t type that.
Hi [READER_NAME_HERE], you have to check out this game. It’s the most innovative shooter I’ve played in years.
What is going on here?
The system will shape you.
Before I dive deeper I need to let you all know that SUPERHOT is one of the most refreshing games in years. The game actually innovates in the generic world that first-person shooters have been stuck in for god knows how long now. Less is more and SUPERHOT takes advantage of this by creating something so simple, yet unique that we will be talking about it in the years to come. I’d love to get into the story, but with how the game is structured I would be giving away the baby with the bath water. What I can say is that you play a person online that gets a chat message from a friend telling you about this new program going by the name of superhot.exe. What makes this special is the late 80s BBS style chat and system where this whole thing takes place. Even better is that you have to type all the replies back to your friend, and while what is said is pre-determined (you just type random junk) it really helps to connect you to what is happening. You truly start to feel like you are directly involved in the game’s story and the lines between game and reality begin to blur at times while playing.
Even the game’s menu is something to explore for your benefit. It is laid out like a very early DOS operating environment done with ASCII text. You will want to dive into the various folders on the main menu that will give you a deeper look at the story, as well as some really neat extra features and mini-games. My absolute favorite part of the menu is the active chat that you can log into and watch. Never before have I sat for such a long time just reading the chat log from the members in this fake chat room. It was scary how natural it felt and how much it managed to suck me in to what was going on. Yes, SUPERHOT is very simplistic in design, but it does what it does so well that you won’t even notice.
Gameplay is where the bulk of the adventure takes place, and for something so simple, it does a lot to move the first-person shooter genre forward in delightful ways. SUPERHOT is based on and around time. You take the role of a player in a virtual(?) world whose job it is to kill all the red, geometric humanoids in each stage. The trick is that time only moves when you move. This helps to build a level of strategy never before seen in an FPS. You always start without any weapons, but you can use objects in the environment to stun enemies and take their weapons. You will die a lot, but with each retry you will find new ways to approach the situation. As the game progresses you will learn to incorporate a simple jump, but more importantly you’ll earn the skill to body swap with an enemy in play. This turns what would have been a bog-standard shooter and infuses it with a deep level of strategy rarely seen in the genre. It’s a bloody fantastic time no matter how many times you will have to replay a level.
The game’s graphics have the perfect mix of modern styling and retro PC feel. Each level is a pure white landscape dotted with black objects that let you know you can interact with them. The enemies are all “red guys” that are made up of tons of PlayStation era polygons. SUPERHOT gives off a very Mirrors Edge sort of look, and while this isn’t pushing any limits, it is the perfect fit for the game underneath. All of these sterile and clean environments contrast really well against the gritty and retro feel of the computer system that everything takes place from. Jumping back and forth really pulls you out of the experience in a necessary way that allows the player to question (alongside the player character) what the hell is going on. We have just as much information as the player we control, and because of this SUPERHOT is a hoot of a time.
Audio is limited, but it follows the less is more mantra that I have been spouting. The only vocalized sound cue is the SUPER… HOT… that will continue after every successful mission completion until you move on. It’s effective and will get stuck in your head. Hell, it is still in my head even after not having played the game for a few hours. The sound of time slowing and accelerating is really nice, and the sound for the limited weapons on hand serve their purpose. The clicks and small sound details in the main menu system also helps to flesh out the world that we are playing in.
Bu there is one big thing that really may turn off a lot of people from the game. SUPERHOT is a wonderful experience that everyone should play, but the game is currently priced at $25. That may not sound like a lot, but depending on your skill level the game’s story mode should only last you between two and three hours. I know that price and story length don’t always go hand in hand, and forcing an arbitrary length to dollar amount is a dangerous affair even at the best of times. Still, I was really bummed when it all came to an end so quick, not because I was pissed, but because the game is so good that I wanted the story to dive deeper. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s hard to really justify the $25 price tag. I would have much rather seen it start at $20 at most. When you do beat the game you get an Endless Mode, so there is some reason to keep playing, but I would have loved another hour or so of story. At the very least it can’t be said that SUPERHOT overstays its welcome.
I highly recommend SUPERHOT to everyone out there, but if you are on the fence about it you may want to wait and get it during a Steam Sale. The game may look really simple on the surface, but you’ll be surprised what you’ll find if you only dig a little deeper.
*A copy was provided for this review*
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