Quick Look: Hybrid Beta

This sort of looks like what an Ender's Game game might look like

This doesn't look fun to me. Maybe the trial version will change my mind.

I don't think that's what 'metagame' means.

Looks neat, but I agree with Ryan, there is potential there for some much crazier and unique maps.

This looked awful, then Brad mentioned killstreaks and it looked fucking awful.

Most shooters seem boring when you watch them.

Its a new idea and worth trying on a free beta or trial to see how it handles. Just my two cents.

Spawn more overlords

I think this game looks like a lot of fun. I'm becoming more and more enamored with these smaller XBLA experiences that offer something unique and lasting for a smaller price than any of the BIG releases. Might check it out when it hits the marketplace.

Game does look interesting considering the studio that made it but for me personally it looks like it's one of those that fits in the category of other multiplayer games which take up a ton of time to get good & me without that much time to play it.

0:19

For some reason it doesn't look exiting at all. Maybe the art design or something.

Something unfortunate in a creative studio that made something original now turning to shooters.

Looks like Camping: The Game.

Great game. Giant Bomb comments section strikes again.

I like the idea depending on the maps out there. It seems like they tried to strip down to pure tactical play and cut out the fluff in maps, which could be good if the maps work well.

If the game allows easy camping I can see it being terrible, but more open maps with many routes could be very cool and allow for interesting tactical play.

This looks super cool, the emphasis on tactical position seems interesting. Almost seems like more of a strategy game than a shooter by the looks of it.

Interesting idea for making cover shooting work better in a MP setup, can't wait to see how the game turns out in time. My hope is that they can tweak it to make it harder to camp on one spot the whole game since that's what the beta is looking like currently.

@Crushed said:

Great game. Giant Bomb comments section strikes again.

They do seem particularly harsh on what seems totally fine. It doesn't look as broken as some of the abilities in Gotham City Impostors, for example.

bring back mech assault 2 multiplayer. 5 factions where each map had to be won with a different type of match and rule set. I miss you so much also miss chrome hounds. Whats with mech games and multifaction awesomeness :(

Design-wise this seems a little hit or miss. Pretty bland visual style (or maybe just sort of played out), pretty impressive sounds (fucking hell, that assassin) but promising gameplay. The robot killstreak rewards seem potentially interesting and the twist on cover-based shooters could work out well. Ryan is right though, the levels could go for a little more insane approach without getting too confusing, I think.

Never heard of this game before now, looks like a fun and interesting take on a cover based shooter.

Nothing about this looks fun to me.

Ryan: "From the makers of Scribblenauts... and the makers of shoot-you-in-the-fucking-face."

Put that on the back of the virtual box. Game looks cool.

So basically, any decent player just has to find a good piece of cover that can't be flanked and just pick off people who try to move up.

Here is my question: what the hell is the point of this limited control scheme? I get that it maybe turns the game into something a bit more tactical, but since there's still direct aiming, real-time gameplay etc. it's not like Hybrid is any more tactical than any other title... instead, it's just "a shooter where you can't do as much stuff." Just thinking about all the possibilities that are lost as a result of this mechanic is a little upsetting - my only solace is that most cover-based shooters are already so mechanically bankrupt that, spinning this game its best, you might say it's "distilling the core ideas down to the basics." Which, of course, is a lot of bullshit.

In other words, innovation just for the hell of it isn't always a good idea, kiddies.

@Crushed said:

Great game. Giant Bomb comments section strikes again.

The comments are super harsh considering a lot of people openly say they haven't played it. I went on Gamespot, was surprised I had an account, and they gave me a code straight up. After about two games I didn't feel like playing anymore. One game it was just me and a level 20+ guy and literally the whole game I just had assists. Another game I was playing against a team of high level players and kept getting smoked. The transitioning wasn't working as smooth for me either. Definitely worse games out there but didn't have that much fun either. As I mentioned before, they should vary the maps, add another dimension to the mix. Make it so I can go into passageways leading up into the ceiling and such instead of just a flat plane.

The 3 on 3 aspect is really frustrating, played the beta for a few rounds and it was just boring, not enough people, the maps in the demo are not using the ideas all that good (like Ryan said). I will definitely will skip the full game, oh well.

This looks like in most shooter campaigns where you simply wait behind cover for the enemy AI to pop their heads out of cover to shoot.

Nothing with reliable jetpacks in it is 'near future.' Unfortunately.

This is not something I would enjoy playing.

No PC, no care.

What a terrible fucking piece of shit of a game. Soooooo fucking boring. I hope noone buys this.

Woo! I made it in to the last 10 seconds of the quick look! Too bad Brad left right before the match started. :(

See, back in the old days this'd be a mod to a real shooter.

This seems kinda cool.

@TehJedicake said:

No PC, no care.

WHAAA! Now it won't look pretty on my PC, WHAAAA!

This looks alright.

@LiquidSwords said:

@TehJedicake said:

No PC, no care.

WHAAA! Now it won't look pretty on my PC, WHAAAA!

I couldn't give less of a shit for graphics. I play shooters on PC because I don't want to handicap myself with a controller.

I forgot about this game, seems like it's decent

This game seems conceptually interesting if nothing else. Not sure how well it would hold up in practice, especially considering the kinds of reactions it seems to be getting.

I'm not liking the aesthetics of this game. The map designs seem really boring.

I can confirm upon finishing up this QL, I was able to snag a beta key from GameSpot so they are still available. Good video guys, the game looks interesting, I'll have to see how it plays though before making a decision.

This looks like it could be pretty cool. Also the first time I have seen a game and thought that, then went and loaded it for free on 360. Xbox needs to have more betas and free to play and what not. PC has it basically locked down and it seems like a untapped resource on consoles to get people hooked onto a game and keep getting their money. Just because I am now allowed to play this for free I am more inclined to buy it if its decent as opposed to seeing some average reviews and videos and saying 'no thanks' like just about every other XBLA games that asks for 15-20 bucks.

After playing this quite a bit, I like it so far. There is a lot of mismatched teams(one match was me at 15,a 22,and 34 against 3 level 5 players and we easily won) I had one match lag so badly it was impossible to play and one just said it disconnected when we were about 40 seconds away from winning which caused it to go back to the menu and got no xp out of it. Other then that I am having fun with it. Wish they would get rid of the sniper rifles though cause people like to just camp and snipe the entire match which ruins the game for me. When its frantic and running back and forth for cover its pretty damn fun and when your spawning and being sniped soon as you move it sucks. I am on the lookout for 'very cool dad'.

This actually looks super cool and unique. The quality is going to be determined by level design and weapons, but if they nail it I think it could really be an awesome game. I'm just scared the XBLA online shooter only thing will make it kind of fade fast and then there will only be a few dozen people playing a couple months later.

Man, this game looks really cool, but it looks really cool in a lot of the same ways Brink did. Cautious optimism.

Though I only have a PC anyway, heh.

"Multiplayer focused XBLA game" might as well be shorthand for "barren wasteland inside of a month" at this point.

This just made me sad that Shattered Horizon is basically dead. =/

Pass. Because I can foresee the same thing with Gotham City Imposters: play for awhile then completely abandon it

The cover system reminds me of Shattered Horizon.

brad looking good shooting people. the other week I said it looked like you were getting worse at games but held up very good shooting dudes

go kill more people brad

fuck cool dad