For the past couple of years, the game Superhot has been a warm prospect on the indie front. It’s a first person action game that moves at the same tempo as the player. If you move at a slow speed, everything goes in slow-motion. But if you run, everything goes at a faster pace. It all depends on how you want to go, and how you use this ability to survive each stage, which fills up with enemies. The game has been a big hit on other platforms, and, last month, it made its surprise debut on the Nintendo Switch. So how does it hold up on the platform? Well, as you might guess, it’s left a burning hole in our wallets.
The game starts out simply enough, with a few tutorial levels to get you used to the system. You start out by learning how it works through trial and error. Should you get hit by a bullet or an enemy, you end up failing and have to start the stage again. But it’s through this that you learn how the game works, and eventually get that “perfect run” going, taking down opponents and moving on to the next stage. For good measure, you’re treated to a normal-speed replay that makes you look like Neo from The Matrix, on an invincible run as you take down adversaries.
Superhot gives you all kinds of moves, including the ability to grab guns from enemies and throw them at them, and fire shots to make them shatter. You can also swing weapons and even your fists to bring them down to size, though, with some armed ones, you may want to be careful. It’s all about tactics here, as one hit could easily send you right back to the beginning.
Challenge is definitely what Superhot is all about. It won’t be long until you run into that one stage that sends you off into a cursing fit. Fortunately, the game isn’t impossible, and you’ll soon figure out that “aha!” solution that will have you on your merry little way to the next area. Unfortunately, the game’s campaign is a bit on the short side, with only so many stages to go through before it all comes to a close.
Fortunately, there’s enough meat on these bones to enjoy. That’s mainly due to Superhot Team’s devotion to the gameplay. It’s great fun to play, as you master certain moves and take down multiple adversaries in one fell swoop. What’s more, the speed techniques can be used to your advantage, whether you want to go slow or fast. It’s really cool, especially in the later stages when you’re dodging multiple bullets at a time.
The art style works very well on the Switch, too. The frame rate is just about right on the portable screen, and it looks nice on the big-screen as well. There are minor performance issues here and there, but nothing that gets in the way of how the game holds up. The sound is good, too, with little mutterings of “Super…hot!” and sound effects that really lend to the atmosphere.
For those of you looking for something different from a first-person adventure game, or just itching to get some strategy along with your action, Superhot will definitely fit the bill. It is on the short side, and its difficulty may not be for everyone in some cases, but its gameplay and presentation have their heart in the right place; and the sheer addictiveness of getting through each stage is something else, even with as long as the game’s been out. It’s nice to see that Superhot hasn’t cooled down since its release, and continues to be a hot release on the Switch front.
Okay, that’s enough temperature jokes, yeah? Go get it.
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