Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: entertainment, games, Review, superhot, superhot team, video games

Superhot Review: It's Just That

So, there is an alternative review floating around here, that is equally as representative as my written stuff here. Simpler, for sure, but it equally conveys my feelings while also showing how effective the idea of the fiction is. I hope I can convey to you, why I actually decided to do the review quite like this by the time we get to the end here. I'm not doing it just for a goof, but because that is the genuine feeling I had after spending time with Superhot.

But, I suppose you came here because you actually wanted to read a real review about Superhot. While that's obviously a reasonable request, I almost wish I wasn't writing this, leaving the previous review as is. One, because the less you know about Superhot as a fiction, the better. And two, because after putting time into the 'story' plus the Endless and Challenge modes, (as well as the other secrets the game holds), it was more or less the sentiment I came away after putting the game down. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.

Lets back up a minute though. In case you haven't heard of Superhot, lets get you up to speed.

Superhot is a shooter, but also kind of a puzzle game. The core concept is pretty unique. It's a first person shooter, where the odds are always stacked heavily against you as a handful of guys try to murder you, giving you mere milliseconds to kill each one. The hook though and what tips the scales in your favour, is that time nearly stops when you aren't moving. This gives you time to dodge bullets, plan attacks and check your surroundings. Sound too easy? It's not. Because of the level design and the amount the game can throw at you, as well as just how it can be difficult to wrap your head around the mechanic, you're always just one wrong move from needing to restart a scenario. You have to size up situations like, should you go for that guy holding a shotgun or will this pistol suffice? Or should you just sack off all the guns and pick up the bat from the guy you just punched to death? Oh, you took too long to decide and time crawled while you looked around. Bang. You're dead. This situation is the kind predicament I got myself in constantly and it always makes you want to be a little better, making the restart button look mighty tempting each time.

This all plays out in a pretty distinct artstyle that really gives Superhot a neat texture. The core game takes place in entirely white environments, with red polygonal enemies and black weapons. It makes the world seem sterile, and monochromatic, buffing the 'feel' of title. Red guys shatter like glass when you take them out, which is always satisfying, be it a kill from your fist, a melee weapon or gun. Then, you end each level with the chant 'SUPER. HOT.' over and over again. It's a strange quirk, but it really does work its way into your brain, and is bound to be the memorable calling card of the game for a long time to come. The whole package is a lovely visual and audio mix that gives the game an identity. Hell, even the opening menus, reminiscent of retro computer interfaces, have a way about them that protrude a confidence in their design, despite their simplicity. They all come together to begin building a world Superhot wants you to buy into. Speaking of…

The story is hard to talk about without giving too much away, due of the way it tries to build a fiction around itself. There is a lot of contextual world building in the way it's framed with a lot of fourth wall breaking shenanigans going on to try and create a reality that you can buy into. It's pretty effective, creating a paranoia tinged run through the main story. However, where Superhot falls, perhaps most importantly, is in the central story mode. It's simply put, not very long. Clocking in well under two hours, if you are just here to play the story mode, you will be disappointed. There is only 30ish short levels and a story that doesn't entirely go anywhere.

However, the ideas do.

The length of the story doesn't matter so much, because Superhot is more of an idea delivery system, and while I wasn't able to get too deep into it, there is a suggestion that there could be more to find hidden in the game. If you start scrolling through the various menus in the opening screen, you'll find all kinds of weird stuff to start perusing. Again, I don't want to go in too deep here, but Superhot really does try to sell this reality and its pretty successful at creating something that feels a little unnerving. And even if it turns out there there aren't as many secrets hidden within as I suspect, it wouldn't undercut the clever work done by SUPERHOT Team that makes the game 'feel' bigger than it is.

The other reason that Superhot gets away with the criminally short story, is that in the end, it merely feels like a tutorial with world building. The real meat on the bones, and where the game will either be made or broken for you is in the Challenges and Endless Modes. Truly, Superhot is a score attack game, putting you in scenarios to rack up as many kills as possible. And Superhot has a lot of ways of shaking up its core idea. You can just go forever in Endless Mode. Or kill as many people as possible in a minute real time. Or 20 seconds in game time. Or just using Katanas. Or on Hard Mode. Or, etc. There are a lot of ways that fundamentally change the way you can go after a score, meaning you can probably find a playstyle you jive with. If you don't want to repeat content over and over again with little tweaks to the way you play or chase scores, Superhot could prove to be quite a short and empty experience indeed. However, it has gotten under my skin, much in the way Volume did last year. I want to get better scores, survive longer and find new ways to play the strong, central concept. It really is unique enough play, with enough wiggle room for variation, that you can find a way to keep it fresh.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think you would struggle to get tens of hours out of the game, but personally, I found the hooks to be deep enough to make the tail of the game much longer than the meagre story suggests. It's a real treat for the time it stays hot. [For reference, I have 6 hours in the game and I'm still planning on coming back.

One of the key drawbacks of the game though, is the animation in real time. At the end of each mission, you will see your replay played back to you in actual time. It looks pretty cool, but the animation is quite janky and never quite flows as well as the rest of the game. It isn't a dealbreaker, but it's a real shame because seeing everything connect properly with smooth character animations would really blow Superhot's look into the stratosphere. Seeing a gun just float into your hand or a punch have no 'umph' to it does hurt that 'pow' factor the game could have when sped up to real time. For now, that aspect just has to get by looking 'okay', which is a shame

That said, Superhot is a very clever twist on the first person genre with a core idea that has enough mileage to carry it over the finish line. That's good, because for you to get your value for this game, you'll have to buy into the post narrative content. The 'story' is less competent as a story and rather a framing device for the reality SUPERHOT Team are trying to sell. On those terms it's really quite cool, but if you need three act structures with characters and such, you'll feel short changed. Your enjoyment of the game will come down almost squarely on if you have fun with the endless mode and challenges. For me, I did. The bullet time focus actually gives it all a puzzle game feel, rather than just a shooter. Superhot really got into me and I've not been able to stop myself logging in every once in a while to try and better a score. While not without its faults, with the aforementioned tiny story and animation problems, Superhot is a great idea with largely great execution. If you want something with real style, ideas and a really cool gameplay loop, I encourage you to give it a try.

So, yeah. The game got to me, and for the past couple days all that has run through my head are these words:

SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.  SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.  SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.  SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.  SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.  SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.  SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.  SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.  SUPER. HOT.

Buy it if: You like the idea of getting personal bests in a game with an interesting world and a devilishly cool concept.

Avoid it if: You need a long story to pull you through.

Score: 9.0/10

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!