Review: Monday Night Combat (XBLA)
Editors Note: This is something new CtrlAltKill is doing, but the concept of it isn’t. This review will mark the first of CtrlAltKill’s second opinion reviews dubbed Double Kill Reviews featuring two scores and two opinions. Going into this review Jared was not very fond of shooters and Chris was heavily excited for Monday Night Combat.
Published by: Uber Entertainment, Inc.
Developed by: Uber Entertainment, Inc.
Release Date: August 11, 2010
T for Teen: Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
Chris’s Review
Monday Night Combat is an interesting third person class based shooter blended with a tower defense game. The objective of the game is to work your forces to your opponent’s “money ball” and destroy it while maintaining the safety of your own. Money balls are shielded and can only be removed with the assistance of a robot that you must escort to the enemy base. There many different kinds of robots. Some are fast, some do heavy damage, and others prevent your opponents from using abilities. As some of you are escorting the robots to the enemy base, others are building turrets or paying to activate jump pads, preparing your base for defense. Turrets are paid for with the money you earn in battle. Players can also choose to spend the money on themselves, upgrading their abilities. These elements along with carefully developed classes and balances come together to present to you Monday Night Combat.
Monday Night Combat takes the ascetics of modern sports and suggests sports should be about flying bullets and not footballs. I couldn’t agree more! The idea of combat in a sports setting is presented by being saturated in humor and sarcasm. Goofy antics raid the game; a bullet high-fiving bacon is pretty awesome. It’s a fun, clean presentation with a world that is engaging to the player.
While the character’s abilities are well designed, the character’s themselves are not. Aside from the assault and assassin classes, other classes are highly uninspired. It’s unfortunate that MNC prevents me from independently developing an attachment to a character and just to keep them as a faceless meat shield. Considering the sports theme of the game, maybe that was their intention! Even if it was though, it leaves a mark of sloppiness in the final product.
The game’s graphics are really smooth and clean. The game maintains a fantastic draw distance and characters move in believable motions and fashions. Outside the stadium (the level) there is, well, nothing. While of course the gameplay graphics at hand are important, but the lack of any sort of back drop besides a stretched out JPEG brings too much attention to the game itself. It screams “this is your box to play in” and I don’t like it. I wish rather, that I could believe that in this world, people watch Monday Night Combat instead of sports, but I can not because the game makes no attempt to show me a world outside the stadium.
The sound in this game does what it needs to do. I can hear my gun firing and I can hear where other fire is coming from. Some explosion noises are under powered which leads you to a false sense of that explosion’s power. A stronger indication of taking damage would be appreciated. All in all the sound design is there and it serviceable, but some effects don’t properly reflect the properties of some items. An interesting note, the sound of the Assault’s main weapon makes the exact same noise the marines do in Star Craft 2.
Gameplay is where this game truly shines. All the game’s resources are pushed into making an excellent class based shooter experience, as should any good game focused on multiplayer. The game gives you two different modes to enjoy. Blitz puts you and up to four players against waves of enemy computers with increasing difficulty. You must protect your money ball! The mode can be played off-line split screen or over Xbox Live. The competitive mode is called Crossfire. Two teams up to 6 players each in size attempt to protect and destroy money balls for endorsements.
There are six classes to choose from in Monday Night Combat: the Assault class which is an all around offensive unit, a defensive deadly close ranged Tank class, a gunner who is extremely offensive but lacks defense, an Assassin who uses stealth and speed to to kill off enemies from behind, the Sniper to picks off enemies from afar while setting traps, and finally the Support who can heal team mates, turrets and summon bomb drops. It takes team work to win in Monday Night Combat and the mechanics of each class are well thought out.
It’s impossible to judge a competitive game’s balance on release. Though Monday Night Combat has the tools to be a fantastic multiplayer favorite. Off the bat, everything seems in good check, nothing too over powered and every class had a counter class. Monday Night Combat has the potential to catch the eyes of competitive gamers as well. The game holds good promise while promoting a fantastic 50/50 blend between player skill and team work. In the end, the key to a successful multiplayer focused title is support and community. I can’t wait to see this game receive updates, keeping it fresh and balanced. It would also be great to see Microsoft throw special xbox live tournaments and events. It’s pretty clear to all of us that this is “Microsoft’s Team Fortress 2” and I hope to see them support it in a similar fashion that kept Team Fortress 2 alive and evolving.
The game play is engaging, entertaining, challenging, and of course fun. You’ll find humor in the game’s world and even though the game suffers from some cosmetic flaws. MNC stands strong for what it was made for, multiplayer. Monday Night Combat is well worth your $15 investment and probably your Monday nights as well.
Jared’s Review
Coming out as part of the Summer of Arcade promotion Monday Night Combat takes a simple concept like an arena shooter and adds some great twists to make this one of the better Live Arcade games to come out this year. This game has no story, but a simple premise. Robots and clones battle each other in an arena for the entertainment of the crowd. Where this game lacks in story it makes up for in humor and style.
The graphics look pretty good, but are nothing special. Character models are well designed, but there faces lack any emotion. The robot designs look inventive and the weapon effects are pretty flashy. For a shooter it looks average, but as a Live Arcade game it looks great. Everything is clear and designed very well making very obvious what is to be considered a threat and what is not. Overall there are no real complaints here, but they are nothing special either.
There is very little music in the game. It has a very “televised sports” feel and it does its job of getting you ready for a match. The effects for weapons and machines are clear and distinct, allowing players to know what is being fired at them and what robots are coming their way. Finally the voice acting is very well done. Each class has its own voice, the ring girl has a nice southern tone, and the announcer has a dry wit that adds an extra layer of humor to the game. The effects and the voice work really stand out in this game and really give it a polished feel.
Monday Night Combat controls are smooth and can be adjusted for sensitivity and axis. The controller layout is about the same for every character, but the commands for the buttons change based on character class. The responsive controls keep the game moving quickly and allow players to quickly learn the buttons and begin playing.
Due to the nature of the game there’s plenty of replayability, but it is rather shallow. There are two blitz modes (local and online) with five difficulty variations, which can grow stale after several rounds. The achievements add some replayability to this mode, but once you have cleared the required challenges there is very little reason to go back, with the exception of earning more money or breaking your high score. Finally there is Crossfire mode. This mode is set up for six on six battles with players trying to destroy the opposing team’s money ball. This mode has the most replayability as not only are there several achievements with this mode there is also the fun of battling other players. Sadly this game lacks a real death match mode, a capture the flag mode, and other modes that most shooters have to keep things interesting. There is a good amount of replay value, but without DLC this game might be passed over for other shooters with more variety.
Despite some of the problems with this game, it is very fun. The classes differ enough to add variety to the game and you can create your own custom class as well. Also, the announcer and general humor of this game make it very fun to play. Teaming up on blitz can be a mixed bag as some players will not strategize very well and could ruin your chances of a win. The mode Crossfire is wild and keeps you on your toes, but it may take some time for a game to start if there are not enough players. The game is fresh and fun, but it may not last due to the limited options.
Overall this game has great presentation and is fun in small doses. It might not have the legs to stay on player’s main queue, but it will definitely be something people will find themselves coming back to. As someone who does not often enjoy shooters, I enjoyed this game. The classes are diverse, upgraded your character and the turrets adds strategy elements and the fast paced gameplay allows for a good amount of fun with very little waiting. However, due to the lack of modes and repetitive gameplay Monday Night Combat may not be able to compete with the more poular titles on the market.
Final Verdict:
Chris: B+
Jared: B-
Copies of the title were provided to CtrlAltKill from the publisher for review purposes.
