ShootMania Review: A Rewarding Experience

In our previous review, we discussed three crucial elements that contribute to ShootMania's rewarding experience: aiming, movement and dodging skills, and speed and momentum. The game does not rely on unlockables and level ups to reward players; instead, it rewards them simply for being better at the game. This approach makes ShootMania a unique and appealing experience for both casual and competitive players.

One of the most significant aspects of ShootMania is its emphasis on speed and momentum. The game requires players to master their movement skills, including wall jumping and obstacle overcoming, in order to navigate the map effectively and gain an advantage over their opponents. While there are some tweaks to how momentum is calculated, these add a layer of complexity to the game that makes it challenging and rewarding to play.

The game's aiming mechanics also require skill and practice to master. Players must learn when to fire their shots in order to achieve success in the game. The lack of rewards for progress or achievements only adds to the sense of accomplishment that comes from improving one's skills. This approach makes ShootMania a great option for players looking for a challenging experience that is not reliant on multiplayer aspects.

The Game Modes

ShootMania offers several game modes, each with its unique twist and challenges. The "Free-for-All" mode, also known as "Royall", allows up to 16 players to compete in a free-for-all environment, where the goal is to be the last player standing. This mode requires quick reflexes and strategy, making it an exciting experience for players.

Another popular game mode is "Obstacle". As its name suggests, this mode involves navigating obstacles on the map while avoiding enemy fire. Players must use their movement skills to overcome these obstacles and emerge victorious. The "Obstacle" mode is a great way for new players to get familiar with the game's mechanics without feeling overwhelmed.

In addition to the two game modes mentioned above, ShootMania also offers an exclusive game mode called "Joust". This one-on-one duel mode allows players to compete against each other using different types of equipment and strategies. The game mode requires a high level of skill and strategy, making it a great option for experienced players looking for a challenge.

The Competitive Mode

One of the most popular features of ShootMania is its competitive mode, known as "Elite". This mode is played with three versus three teams, with each team having one designated player who acts as a "juggernaut" and can capture poles to earn points. The objective of this mode is for the juggernaut to eliminate all opponents or capture the pole, while the other two players on their team must defend it against the opposing team's juggernaut.

The competitive mode requires strategy and teamwork, making it an exciting experience for players who enjoy challenging themselves and competing with others. The addition of shields and health counters adds a layer of complexity to the game, making it harder for opponents to succeed. The competitive mode is also where we see the impact of the game's unique mechanics, such as the juggernaut's ability to capture poles and earn points.

Conclusion

In conclusion, ShootMania is an excellent game that offers a rewarding experience for players looking for a challenge. With its emphasis on speed and momentum, aiming skills, and movement, the game requires players to master various aspects of the game in order to succeed. The game modes, including "Royall", "Obstacle", and "Joust", offer unique twists and challenges that cater to different types of players. Additionally, the competitive mode, known as "Elite", is a thrilling experience for players who enjoy strategy and teamwork.

The only drawbacks mentioned by the reviewer are some minor bugs, such as minimizing issues, which can be frustrating but do not seem to be game-breaking. The community is also relatively small, particularly in North America during peak hours. However, this can be mitigated with the availability of player-made modes like "Obstacle", which allows players to compete and have fun without relying on the competitive mode.

Overall, ShootMania is an excellent option for players looking for a challenging and rewarding experience that does not rely on unlockables or level ups to reward progress. With its unique mechanics, exciting game modes, and competitive mode, this game has something to offer everyone, from casual players to seasoned gamers.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone this is Steve from gamers Nexus dotnet and today we're reviewing ShootMania storm which is nadeo and ubisoft new venture in classic twitch shooting gameplay first off I want to note that I've already uploaded two gameplay videos from shoot mania so if you're looking for raw footage and commentary while I'm actually playing the game go check those out they are linked in the description below the full review is also link there that is a full written article okay all of this out of the way we need to talk about what ShootMania actually is the game has kind of been around for about a year now and beta and alpha phases but it's finally shipped and it's been hitting the news with a couple pretty large tournaments there's actually an alienware a three thousand dollar tournament coming up soon so it's trying to make a splash in eSports but it's not just a competitive game it has very good casual elements as well making for a very fun twitch arena style shooter that can really be played by anyone so the game fuses the skiing and momentum elements found in tribes or tribes ascend with the twitch shooting and arena format in quake and unreal tournament it's a brilliant mix of speed and precision so honestly I've been a big fan of this since I started playing a couple weeks ago and shoot mania really tries to differentiate itself from the classic twitch shooter genre by placing an even heavier emphasis on player skill and and really removing a lot of the balance elements that can happen with for example multiple weapons so you're saying why are you implying that there's only one weapon well that's because there is actually only one weapon at any given time and really only one weapon period there are two others technically but they have very specific conditions that need to be met to use them and I'll discuss that in a moment here's the thing with ShootMania it operates very heavily the entire designer design of the game is built around the idea of constraining the players so you only have one weapon you have a limited sprint duration you have two shields it's not a lot of health you know you can only get hit two times before you're out basically and then finally the the map for the free-for-all mode which is sort of the standard mode right now unless you're competitive the map for the free-for-all mode which is called royal will compress as the gameplay goes on so each new map there's a poll in the middle a player will run and capture that poll that initiates a storm and the storm starts on the outskirts of the level and moves in slowly until eventually a couple minutes later you're stuck with just the central part of that map so it constrains players forces them inward anyone caught in the storm is immediately eliminated and then obviously by nature of being forced closer together the players and the outer perimeter who are kind of handing out and trying to camp will be forced to abandon their sites and and fight each other more directly so this does a lot of things first of all it eliminates camping almost entirely it keeps the game very fast-paced because rounds are pretty strictly limited to only five or so minutes as soon as a player grabs that pole that flag it gives them points so there's incentive to capture it and it starts the storm which then starts forcing players inward and and it starts down a timer so when you're eventually left with just the middle of the map as playable space the rest of it is in the storm just the middle of the map the player count is normally reduced around two or three at this point and they just they Juke and battle each other until finally a victor is declared if there is no victor then the timer will expire and it will be a draw so so that's really the gist of the constraints that's the game design and even with the weapon we mentioned there's only one weapon even with that one weapon there's one more constraint on top of it being your only active weapon at any time and that is it has limited shots so for the plasma cannon which is our standard standard issue weapon for every character you only get four shots consecutively in rapid succession before it needs to recharge so that means each shot needs to be methodically placed and really carefully timed because if you miss especially if you rapid-fire all four shots if you miss you're out of luck until basically until it recharges and at that time it's entirely up to you to move your ability to dodge shots and coming from other players and on that note I've been saying in in these last two videos I just talked about in the written review I've been saying there are three huge elements to shoot mania one is your ability to aim self-explanatory two is your ability to move around and dodge basically your dexterity also self-explanatory and three is speed and momentum and here's where we start talking about the other game modes first of all a huge aspect of the rewarding elements of ShootMania because it does not reward you with unlockables and level ups and all that shiny stuff it rather rewards you just by you being better and feeling good about that and it does sound kind of stupid to say it but it's true it is a very rewarding game just to play and that is awesome so as far as speed and momentum go the game really is all about your other than the shooting the aiming the dodging your ability to move quickly and really navigate the map in a manner that puts you at a constant advantage and the game has a couple of small tweaks I suppose in the way momentum is calculated so there is a curve and it's not just something you can't just like hold down spacebar and instantly be fast there is a trick to it so there's a lot to learn just in that aspect alone there's stuff to learn in the wall jumping the obstacle overcoming to aspect and by the way there's a full game mode for that as we've mentioned and then of course there's a lot to learn just in aiming and in learning when to fire your shots so the game is all about rewarding the player for learning how to play it not necessarily being good at like Call of Duty does and that to me is a huge reason that it is an appealing game to all audiences including more both the more casual side and the more competitive side who can play the three versus three elite mode and that's just let's talk briefly about that before we conclude here the game has a couple modes that has royal the free-for-all mode we've talked schon it has an obstacle we've talked about and shown and that's a player made bowed by the way as joust which is one versus one duels with other players and that's pretty cool it's a lot of fun it's a completely different health count different way the weapons work it really switches things up then there's elite which is basically a three versus three one person juggernaut rotation what that means is each team has an ax there's an attack and a defender the attacking team has one player in play so the other two are sitting on the bench that one player is going up against the three defenders who are defending a pole the attacker must either eliminate all three defenders or capture the pole once it is available for capture it's not immediate there's a little bit of strategy to it and all of this noted the elite player as the name implies has a has the hitscan railgun which is a one-hit kill in this mode and he also has three shields whereas the defenders will have one shield each and are stuck on the plasma cannon making for a very difficult really tight competition it comes down to numbers and the defending team's ability to communicate where the attacker is that way they can sort of stick together as soon as you break apart the attacker is at a huge advantage like a ninja in the night or something just gonna sass innate them one by one so that's the competitive mode and really just to wrap things up here ShootMania personally because this is a review I have to give you some opinions here I think it's a fantastic game for twenty bucks all day long buy it I would I would buy it again it does have some bugs Justin like minimizing for example I've had to restart the game a couple times because of minimizing nothing huge though nothing like actually game breaking are prohibitive that I've experienced and as far as other downsides there really aren't any major ones perhaps the community is a little bit small but still as long as you're playing at a reasonable time at night or afternoon you're gonna find a game just fine and if you're trying to play in the middle of the day I'm speaking strictly to North American servers here if you're trying to play in the middle of the day well you're gonna have a little bit harder time with the Royall and competitive modes but you can drop into player made modes all day long no problem like obstacle will tide you over just fine so the game does have a bit of a following in Europe it's growing in North America and I personally hope to see it grow a lot more I would love to sponsor tournament in the future but we will talk more about that separately go check out the other two videos for gameplay looks just pure gameplay and you go to the description below for links to those linked to the review link to everything you need to know about us and I will see you guys next time peace youhey everyone this is Steve from gamers Nexus dotnet and today we're reviewing ShootMania storm which is nadeo and ubisoft new venture in classic twitch shooting gameplay first off I want to note that I've already uploaded two gameplay videos from shoot mania so if you're looking for raw footage and commentary while I'm actually playing the game go check those out they are linked in the description below the full review is also link there that is a full written article okay all of this out of the way we need to talk about what ShootMania actually is the game has kind of been around for about a year now and beta and alpha phases but it's finally shipped and it's been hitting the news with a couple pretty large tournaments there's actually an alienware a three thousand dollar tournament coming up soon so it's trying to make a splash in eSports but it's not just a competitive game it has very good casual elements as well making for a very fun twitch arena style shooter that can really be played by anyone so the game fuses the skiing and momentum elements found in tribes or tribes ascend with the twitch shooting and arena format in quake and unreal tournament it's a brilliant mix of speed and precision so honestly I've been a big fan of this since I started playing a couple weeks ago and shoot mania really tries to differentiate itself from the classic twitch shooter genre by placing an even heavier emphasis on player skill and and really removing a lot of the balance elements that can happen with for example multiple weapons so you're saying why are you implying that there's only one weapon well that's because there is actually only one weapon at any given time and really only one weapon period there are two others technically but they have very specific conditions that need to be met to use them and I'll discuss that in a moment here's the thing with ShootMania it operates very heavily the entire designer design of the game is built around the idea of constraining the players so you only have one weapon you have a limited sprint duration you have two shields it's not a lot of health you know you can only get hit two times before you're out basically and then finally the the map for the free-for-all mode which is sort of the standard mode right now unless you're competitive the map for the free-for-all mode which is called royal will compress as the gameplay goes on so each new map there's a poll in the middle a player will run and capture that poll that initiates a storm and the storm starts on the outskirts of the level and moves in slowly until eventually a couple minutes later you're stuck with just the central part of that map so it constrains players forces them inward anyone caught in the storm is immediately eliminated and then obviously by nature of being forced closer together the players and the outer perimeter who are kind of handing out and trying to camp will be forced to abandon their sites and and fight each other more directly so this does a lot of things first of all it eliminates camping almost entirely it keeps the game very fast-paced because rounds are pretty strictly limited to only five or so minutes as soon as a player grabs that pole that flag it gives them points so there's incentive to capture it and it starts the storm which then starts forcing players inward and and it starts down a timer so when you're eventually left with just the middle of the map as playable space the rest of it is in the storm just the middle of the map the player count is normally reduced around two or three at this point and they just they Juke and battle each other until finally a victor is declared if there is no victor then the timer will expire and it will be a draw so so that's really the gist of the constraints that's the game design and even with the weapon we mentioned there's only one weapon even with that one weapon there's one more constraint on top of it being your only active weapon at any time and that is it has limited shots so for the plasma cannon which is our standard standard issue weapon for every character you only get four shots consecutively in rapid succession before it needs to recharge so that means each shot needs to be methodically placed and really carefully timed because if you miss especially if you rapid-fire all four shots if you miss you're out of luck until basically until it recharges and at that time it's entirely up to you to move your ability to dodge shots and coming from other players and on that note I've been saying in in these last two videos I just talked about in the written review I've been saying there are three huge elements to shoot mania one is your ability to aim self-explanatory two is your ability to move around and dodge basically your dexterity also self-explanatory and three is speed and momentum and here's where we start talking about the other game modes first of all a huge aspect of the rewarding elements of ShootMania because it does not reward you with unlockables and level ups and all that shiny stuff it rather rewards you just by you being better and feeling good about that and it does sound kind of stupid to say it but it's true it is a very rewarding game just to play and that is awesome so as far as speed and momentum go the game really is all about your other than the shooting the aiming the dodging your ability to move quickly and really navigate the map in a manner that puts you at a constant advantage and the game has a couple of small tweaks I suppose in the way momentum is calculated so there is a curve and it's not just something you can't just like hold down spacebar and instantly be fast there is a trick to it so there's a lot to learn just in that aspect alone there's stuff to learn in the wall jumping the obstacle overcoming to aspect and by the way there's a full game mode for that as we've mentioned and then of course there's a lot to learn just in aiming and in learning when to fire your shots so the game is all about rewarding the player for learning how to play it not necessarily being good at like Call of Duty does and that to me is a huge reason that it is an appealing game to all audiences including more both the more casual side and the more competitive side who can play the three versus three elite mode and that's just let's talk briefly about that before we conclude here the game has a couple modes that has royal the free-for-all mode we've talked schon it has an obstacle we've talked about and shown and that's a player made bowed by the way as joust which is one versus one duels with other players and that's pretty cool it's a lot of fun it's a completely different health count different way the weapons work it really switches things up then there's elite which is basically a three versus three one person juggernaut rotation what that means is each team has an ax there's an attack and a defender the attacking team has one player in play so the other two are sitting on the bench that one player is going up against the three defenders who are defending a pole the attacker must either eliminate all three defenders or capture the pole once it is available for capture it's not immediate there's a little bit of strategy to it and all of this noted the elite player as the name implies has a has the hitscan railgun which is a one-hit kill in this mode and he also has three shields whereas the defenders will have one shield each and are stuck on the plasma cannon making for a very difficult really tight competition it comes down to numbers and the defending team's ability to communicate where the attacker is that way they can sort of stick together as soon as you break apart the attacker is at a huge advantage like a ninja in the night or something just gonna sass innate them one by one so that's the competitive mode and really just to wrap things up here ShootMania personally because this is a review I have to give you some opinions here I think it's a fantastic game for twenty bucks all day long buy it I would I would buy it again it does have some bugs Justin like minimizing for example I've had to restart the game a couple times because of minimizing nothing huge though nothing like actually game breaking are prohibitive that I've experienced and as far as other downsides there really aren't any major ones perhaps the community is a little bit small but still as long as you're playing at a reasonable time at night or afternoon you're gonna find a game just fine and if you're trying to play in the middle of the day I'm speaking strictly to North American servers here if you're trying to play in the middle of the day well you're gonna have a little bit harder time with the Royall and competitive modes but you can drop into player made modes all day long no problem like obstacle will tide you over just fine so the game does have a bit of a following in Europe it's growing in North America and I personally hope to see it grow a lot more I would love to sponsor tournament in the future but we will talk more about that separately go check out the other two videos for gameplay looks just pure gameplay and you go to the description below for links to those linked to the review link to everything you need to know about us and I will see you guys next time peace you\n"