Superstatic

RIP-OFF

Superstatic is a game heavily inspired by Hotline Miami. It switches between frantic combat and energizing hunt with your supernatural psy abilities. But some of the things I liked most about Hotline Miami are sorely missing and it could use a bit more development. Unlike in HM you can't start out with any weapons and the game does not have anything like the mask system to adapt to a certain level layout or enemies. The weapons of your enemies are random and you are always low on ammo. You cannot collect ammo and you're limited to the weapon you picked up from a corpse that only has one magazine that is more often than not already half empty. I guess this is supposed to make us use the psy abilities, but they are limited by your mana that does not regenerate. The game would be more fun with regenerating mana or a checkpoint system or bullet time that costs mana. In HM you can use close combat weapons like a katana or knock out guards with doors. Sadly there are no close combat weapo...

This is a top-down shooter in the Hotline Miami style. Bullets hurt a lot, so the small decisions you make are really important because both you and your enemies go down FAST when hit, in fact one-hit kills and deaths are very common. Again, very much like Hotline Miami. What separates this game from its inspiration is its cloning mechanic. You have an energy pool that can be used to make a ghost/clone, and it depletes once your ghost moves far enough away. This ghost can be used to scout potentially unsafe areas, to explode and take out enemies, or to take control of an enemy. That enemy can sneak past others, unless you make him attack them, at which point everyone who can will attempt to kill him. So basically a controlled enemy is a stealthy you, and also an extra life. And killing guards is the main way to get more energy. There are energy packs on some walls too, but each level has a very small number of them, they get depleted fast, and then they recharge very slowly. The shoo...

I don't understand the hate, nor do I understand the comparisons to Hotline Miami. Yes it's a topdown shooter with a stylized approach to the genre but the added abilities definitely create a unique experience that for the right price can be greatly appreciated. The story is a little silly but that works in a game like this. The silliness plays well off of the hyper violent gameplay, so that's a pass. The mechanics are solid and were varied enough to allow for various strategies per level; although a couple more levels or a couple more areas to be able to use them would not harm the game at all as you don't get a terribly long period of time with the sets of powers you are given access to. But definitely fun and engaging and enjoyable with the guns-a-blazing approach. The other huge thing the game has in its favor is the dev team. They have maintained great communication and patched any and all bugs I had encountered with the game. They are friendly and passionate and it shows in the...

10/10 made in jhava indie dev support ++++++

[b]7.5/10[/b] I found Superstatic looking through games on Steam with the "Top-Down Shooter" tag. Although it didn't have a tremendous number of reviews, the premise and mechanics seemed interesting, so I decided to give it a shot. It doesn't hurt that it often goes on sale for a dollar, either. Despite a few irritations, I ended up enjoying my time with the game quite a bit. I found it to be engaging and tense, with an awesome soundtrack. Although you technically "could" play the game as a twitchy quick kill/quick death shooter, you'll likely spend most of your time sending out "clones" and controlling possessed enemies. The distance that you are able to send out your clone and the duration of possession are both determined by your "energy." This energy can be recharged at electrical boxes in the levels, but I found it much more effective and rewarding to refill my energy through killing multiple enemies as a clone. After your possessed enemy is killed, the game typically rewards...