THE SHOWDOWN EFFECT

After a few months of closed beta as a brothel in the Netherlands, The Showdown Effect out of the stage of tweaking to assume the status of full game, or almost. Following the tradition initiated in recent years, and a tribute to Oblivion, he was accompanied at the output of a horse armor DLC, three parts are sold five euros each. No doubt, Honda has retained his sense of humor, and their last title promises to be a merry mess. Combining 2.5D action platform and it allows eight players embodying stereotypes hero action movies of the 80s and 90s to compete online, only against all or team. However, as nice as it is on paper, early access had hinted a few technical problems affecting the pleasure of playing a few days of its inception. It is now so see if the problems mentioned in our preview were corrected or Paradox continues to leave its protected small frolicking in the wild before they stand on their feet.

ACCOUNTS AND LEGENDS

Before discussing sensitive subjects, begin by describing some of this new craze designers Magicka. If they abandon the hooded mages and their destructive spells, they do not yet seem determined to draw a line explosions, branches and sprays of blood, quite the contrary. With models like the dawn of the sixth day, Battle Royale, Taken or Lethal Weapon, the opposite would have been surprising. Sulfateuse between the shotgun and katana, how many are dying, and all the more colorful than the others. Throwing a party, we end up with jostling with seven other degenerates on admittedly small but very dense maps, full of alternate paths, secret passages and items to use for squaring the opponents of the way most class or more can stupid or both at once. At first, the possibilities are limited by our equipment base and the characters initially available, but the variety comes quickly by buying new tools and artisans carnage.

No need to panic, large transactions are all done with the game's currency, the AC. Purchases are for real money at this time that the big joke what the first DLC, and probably mostly cosmetic items in the future, although the "characters" section of the store suggests that new heroes could appear and add revelers already fee. If this is the case, hope that the next guest is not Chuck Norris, otherwise gun down completely balance the game more seriously, developers should be extremely cautious when expanding the cast if the new players ask a stamp. It would be nice to see a multiplayer title only demand an entry fee before turning into pay-to-win. For the moment, this is not the case, and simply participate in our virtual games makes you fat nest egg, you will spend in the section of unlockable items. Unlike recent FPS in which forty hours of grinding barely enough to unlock a decent telescope for the first gun, things go very quickly here. An average game easily yield 250 points, the price of raw weapons. The most expensive go up 750 points and four additional characters to acquire 1,500 each.


OFFICE OF MURDER

In a few hours, all the useful items are available and players can customize their equipment envy, all other items are summarizing additional skins for our skirt or bolt action rifle, absolutely no impact on the gameplay. This good news has unfortunately an explanation which probably disappoint some: the arsenal is a little light, as the full roster: September ranged weapons, one for melee and eight nags for use in affluent who have pre-ordered the deluxe version, only six for the less fortunate and more cautious merely the basic game after its release. A bit stingy, even if we consider only four maps available operator only two types of environments. Fortunately, the characters are very different due to their special ability. A balance kick that makes it through the screen, the other has a shield that makes him invincible for a few seconds, a third distributes grenades the plebs ... These features allow multiple game types, body to the brutal crowd control body through the fight pure distance, backed by the ability to choose his two arms without constraint.

Nothing prohibits monomaniac to lug around with a pair of swords or two rocket launchers. There will always be the latter objects to pick up the level to engage in close combat, or their fists as a last resort. The melee is as anywhere else: we turn to the opponent and knocks until death ensues, alternating with the parade to avoid ending itself as sashimi. Ranged combat, however, is more unexpected for running on a single plane Thurs Where it is usually sufficient to aim in the direction of the enemy to the touch, it is here imperative to place the crosshairs on his body so that the balls reach. Only exceptions to this rule, throwing knives face anything that comes in their path but rather a victim of poor range and the bazooka will explode the first hurdle in exchange for a cooldown rather longish and a slight delay in the ignition. Any player should find his account once the characteristics of each element firmly in mind, he uses himself an instrument or there is confronted at a party.


RULES OF FIGHT CLUB

Thanks to its arsenal and its original sighting system, The Showdown Effect shines especially in the range of movements that can offer the player. Possible acrobatics represent more than just a way to get around and even often determine the outcome of a fight. The wallruns, slides or rolls are often a good way to prevent the enemy to keep us in sight, and their control is essential to flee when our life bar flirts dangerously with nothingness. To heal, you must first escape his pursuers and hide in a corner where the walls and doors we will subtract the malicious eyes. Through a system of sightlines calculated in real time, players are unable to see what is behind an obstacle. This feature is also used to trap prey a little naive: you can lure an enemy for example, go into a room and close the door behind us before jumping on the overhanging wall and slide down slowly, until the unconscious may come. It remains only to land on his back before the charge into sections or larder prunes.

Another good point to note, the four game modes are quite original and quite fun. The Showdown mode is a classic deathmatch, which turns into last man standing after five minutes, the last survivor enjoys broad bonus score can make him win several seats on the final table. The last few seconds are usually very intense and often get real flashes of brilliance. During an Expendables game, team members appear with their equipment while others are reduced in health, are stripped of their power and recover a random weapon. To compensate, their respawn time is reduced compared to the opposite team that should of course entirely eliminate as soon as possible. A match is then divided into two winning sets in which the roles are reversed at every turn. The best idea is by far the possibility of using a set of custom parts for unclassified rules. If it bothers us that the bloodshed only operates at a distance, one could for example enhance the killing with bare hands, and why not make objects launched cause dizziness. Fourteen modifiers already included should allow anyone to make a custom part, and we hope that others will follow in quantity.


IT WILL CUT, I AM GOING IN A TUNNEL

Once again everything works pretty well on paper, with the exception of a slight lack of content and store real money that could stoke the paranoia of some rightly so, given the political Clubbing DLC already placed on Magicka. Cheerful, so we started a small part to see these promises into practice. And there is the drama, as already said in the documentary anxiety tend 80s. The nervous and precise gameplay of the title requires a stable server to express themselves fully, which is not the case at all. The participants are all connected peer to peer, true happiness when the host is a fan of ragequit, lives deep in the Larzac or suffered a crash. It's simple, it is expected to be completed about half of the parties by a disconnection. Only annoying in the case of a session as a dilettante, but frankly annoying during a ranked match. Strange that this susceptibility seizes everyone when an error interrupts in an ego contest. And even with the power of fiber pings are ridiculously high, it is almost impossible to get on players with less than 100 milliseconds of latency, the average being also rather between 150 and 200. Long it would take for our parade is taken into account, or that our jump dodge the rocket before we do not break down the four corners of the map.

In addition to netcode soggy cardboard, TSE pays above the luxury of being unstable just enough to ruin our lives. Crashes and disconnections are regular and multiplied by the lack of dedicated server result. When you do not eject the office, part of the other players suddenly disappears, and the host is a victim of these problems, the game is shortened for everyone. Still add graphics bugs that give the screen the black uniform jet, then forcing her to move in the middle of a confrontation. At other times, explosions or shadows fill the screen but less unacceptable artifacts that are a serious blow to the art direction, otherwise very nice. We should also mention the leaderboard who gives or withdraws points depending on his mood, the matchmaking classified faulty or absent pre-order bonuses for some players ... Between this title and Dungeonland Impire parts, we can not really say that Paradox begins the year 2013 under the best auspices and support all of the PC or the editor, it may well be seriously tarnished its image of the glaring lack of attention recently focused on the quality of its securities at the time of their release.