SPRAWL zero

great fps with a mix of old school graphics with modern gameplay awesome soundtrack too

[h1]Pros:[/h1] * [b]Easily one of the Best Shooters in Years [/b]: The art of the simple but action packed shooter has felt missing from my life for ages. I cannot remember the last one I played. SPRAWL zero was clearly made with a ton of love for that era of the game industry, an era where all you needed was a ton of grunge textures and some punchy guns to shoot while you hop around. * [b] Combat Loop (excluding later half) is a Ton of Fun [/b]: The opening three/four hours of the game feel so good it is insane. High speed punchy combat where you use slow motion, bullet shielding, and super charged punches inbetween combat sliding between enemies and using telekinetic throws of environmental objects and empty guns to keep your path of destruction smooth. You can’t retain weapons or reload them, so instead you throw them at your enemies like a heavy rock. It’s powerful in a way that I haven’t felt powerful in a shooter in god knows how long, reminiscent of the sort of tools that a game like F.E.A.R gives you. * [b] Dystopian Grunge World with Clear Influences and Eyecandy[/b]: Half Life is the easiest example of this game’s clear influences, but really you could put a bulletin board together of 2000’s shooters and throw a dart and you’d see similarities. It’s a love letter to the period of grunge shooters. The maps are gorgeous in this game and there are so many highlights to choose from. I’m a big fan of the raining segments visually, because it felt so reminiscent of Blade Runner, but the presentation of the underground segments was handled very well. * [b] Kickass Soundtrack by Revel[/b]: The drum & bass, trance and electronic music combo is genuinely nuts, the amount of pure raw talent in this soundtrack is phenomenal. It reminds me fondly of NeoTokyo and early 2000s Newgrounds music in the most complimentary way possible, and it escalates and deescalates at the perfect times with a mixture of holy chanting and synths. It’s going to be added to my personal playlists for sure if it ends up on Spotify. * [b] Not a Single Flawed Gun or Enemy Design [/b]: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ are the weapons in Sprawl cool. They all feel powerful and punchy, with entirely unique identities that are immediately distinct from one another. There were so many moments where I picked up a new gun, shot it, and immediately pogged over the sick things that weapon did. They’re very distinctive despite having clear references to other dystopian sci-fi which is an achievement to be sure. * [b] Playtime and Unlockables[/b]: At a modest 5 hours, I found ~1/4 of all collectibles. There are a surprising number of secrets, honestly, considering how tight the map design felt. Collecting these collectibles allows you to unlock challenges to apply to a new run, and completion of specific challenges unlocks old school fun cheats. That, combined with a NG+ system, means that a dedicated player could easily triple their time in SPRAWL zero. [h1]Cons:[/h1] * [b] Later Half Misses the Point of Why The Game is Fun[/b]: I completely get the narrative purpose of the super soldiers being inherently stronger than the rebels, and that you’d have more difficulty against your faction who has better equipment to combat you. But… It’s very telling that all of the game’s best clips come from the first three hours of the game. I started out having an absolute BLAST, having to keep momentum going to avoid staying in one place for damage, able to keep the flow of combat going because even with how disposable weapons felt you were always getting health and useful weapons in the heat of a fight. In the later half, the game seems VERY harshly tuned against the playstyle to where often times segments required me to slow WAY down, using a corner or wall to avoid meaty damage. Why? Well, Weapon damage worsens against most enemies, and enemies start requiring very specific abilities before they can be properly damaged. It really feels like the game got in its own head about difficulty, and overcomplicated the loop that was already fun enough to carry the entire game. The end result is that the later half of the game is a slog that feels extremely unsatisfying given how satisfying the first half felt. I can’t help but think of games like F.E.A.R or Half Life 2, both of which offer comparable power fantasies yet never let that power fantasy be diminished for long. It just feels entirely at ends with the core gameplay that I fell in love with in the opening hours. * [b] Playground Vs. Puzzle Combat Design[/b]: In connection to the last point, I think a part of the reason the combat slows down is a fundamental difference in how encounters are designed. Early encounters feel like a playground – you’re given a lot of tools in these open ended maps with large amounts of path variety, there’s not really a set way to play and your abilities are just fun augments to your gameplay style. However, as the game goes on, your abilities start having very specific intended uses – your bullet shield intended for flying ships you can’t damage otherwise or against weapon attacks you cannot hide from or dodge, shielded enemies that are heavily resistant to your guns unless you destroy their shield with the rush ability, sniping or high mobility enemies that are meant to be disposed with the autotracking bullets during slow-motion or sniping weapons. Maps also start becoming tight alleys with far less movement freedom, either because they’re in tight corridors or because you’re high up in the air and there’s only one bridge forward. I personally feel that the game was at its best in the ‘playground’ stage because my combat had far more variety and mobility, whereas every time I had a specific enemy who needed a specific strategy it often made the combat feel stale and repetitive. This is especially painful as well given that abilities are all utilizing the same one resource, so if you happen to use an ability at the wrong time (like, using slow motion toward the end of a fight when a boss needs to shoot you with an undodgeable attack), you’re ♥♥♥♥♥♥. [h1]Overall:[/h1] Sprawl Zero is a game I fell in love with at the Next Fest, and it is a solid ass title that I do not regret buying. There’s something so magical about the game’s lovingly crafted world that is clearly influenced by some of the greats (Half Life 2, F.E.A.R, NeoTokyo/Ghost in the Shell, etc), and the kickass D&B music pairs very well with the high octane power fantasy the game sells you with every slowmo shotgun blast and telekinetic power throw. It is unfortunate that I found myself so disappointed with the later half considering how incredible the first half is. But even so, that’s not enough to deter me from recommending the game from a studio who GENUINELY seems to care about what they’re making, and my gripes could easily be fixed by a patch or mod.

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Great game, some sections the enemies can mess you up if you're not paying attention, but breaking through them feels great. Found a lotta secrets, but probaly missed a bunch more, would be nice if new game plus made it easier to find them somehow. Otherwise great singleplayer campaign, can't wait to see what Five and Seven get up to in the next game

After playing the demo I was very VERY excited for the full release. And now that its here, and I've beaten my first playthrough, it was not a disappointment. Guns feel great, skills feel great, the world and environments are GORGEOUS. Music and SFX and fantastic. 10/10 peak

I'm still only on level 2 but I will say that from the moment I played the demo I was hype. I'm still hype. This scratches an itch that I can't quite explain but I'm glad it's scratching it. I am enamoured with the gravity glove mechanic because I have been dying to see something like that since Half Life Alyx, but apparently it only took, what, 7 years for someone to implement it in a special and creative way that doesn't involve VR? In short worth the money easy.

[h1] Absolute Banger [/h1] [h2] 9/10 [/h2] I love the movement, bhoping & strafing has never felt better. I've only played the demo, but I already know this will be a banger. The gravity sheild is the coolest thing in any game ever; I loved in TitanFall2 [vortex shield] & I love it here. I don't like the way the guns feel, but it's not that bad. At least on the Martyr difficulty, enemys are bullet spounges, but you die in >10 hits. One guy ussually takes up half a mag of bullets to put down. [b] BUT [/b] this isn't [i] that much [/i] of a bad thing; because instead of shooting them you can actually use the other mechanics in the game to kill baddies Like: throwing things at them. Sending their bullets back at them. Slowing time & magatizing bullets to heads for extra damage, & some healing. No issues running on max settings for me; but this game isn't photo realistic [thankfully] I [i] Will [/i] finish this game, & update this review to be more detailed, but just so you know this is an absolute banger

ok i thought i knew what was up after the demo (which was fabulous) but the game itself goes a level beyond and i am Speechless this is an amazing game worth your time. some of the best gunplay mechanics for an action fps i have seen in a long time with a good flip on the typical 'retro shooter' arsenal trope. Execute