Overview
Reflex Arena is a multiplayer focused Arena FPS in the same vein as Quake. It is developed by Turbo Pixel, a development team that includes people who previously worked on the Challenge ProMode Arena (CPMA) modification for Quake III Arena.
The game is available on Steam.
Gameplay
Two players engaged in a duel. Reflex is a very fast paced science fiction shooter which gives the player a plethora of movement mechanics and ten different weapons, both hitscan and projectile based.
The typical game modes in Reflex have the player spawn with just a weak starter weapon and no armor, the player will have to scavenge the map for more items and build up a stack so that he or she have a better chance against all other opponents.
When a player dies, he will loose all of his items and have to respawn, starting from scratch.
Strategy and tactics
The strategical elements of Reflex are apparent in game modes such as Duel and Team Deathmatch where the players have to control certain key item areas on the map (Mega Health, Red armor and Quad damage for example) and fend off any opponents who are trying to do the same thing.
Because items respawn on specific intervals they will inevitably sync up at one point during a match, meaning that a player can't pick up both. Because of this, some players opt to delay certain items (standing idle next to them for a couple of seconds) just to be able to make it in time to both items the next time they spawn.
Movement
One of the key aspects of Reflex is the freedom of movement it gives to the player, many of these tricks originated in the Quake series of games. These techniques can be combined to perform a string of parkour style movement.
- Bunny hop
By continuously jumping, you do not lose momentum or speed. - Air Control
While in the air players can turn while holding a movement key to change their trajectory. - Circle jump
By moving in a half circle with forward, strafe and mouse and then jump - you fly further than you normally would. It is a good way of starting your Bunny hop. - Double jump
When jumping right next to a ledge, if you jump again immediately when your feet are on top, you gain extra height for the second or even a third (Triple) jump. - Ramp jump
When jumping on to and off a ramp, you gain extra height. It is similar to double jumps except that you have jump on to the ramp and delay the second jump. - Strafe jump
By using the strafe and forward keys while moving your mouse slightly in the same direction when Bunny hopping, you gain extra speed. - Teleporter jump
If you jump in to a teleporter and then jump again when you exit, you gain extra height on the exit jump.
Besides the default movement capabilities of the player character, players can also use certain weapons to get to places they normally wouldn't be able to reach.
- Grenade jump
You can jump on top of grenades right before they explode to gain extra height. - Plasma climb
When standing next to a wall, shoot downward at an angle with the Plasma gun to climb the wall. - Rocket jump
Jump and then immediately shoot a rocket at your feet to gain extra height.
Game modes
The base game modes of Reflex Arena.
- Duel (1v1)
Deathmatch between two opponents, see who has the better strategy, tactics, movement and aim. - Team Deathmatch (TDM)
Two teams battle it out over control of the map and items. - Free For All (FFA)
It's every man for himself in this chaos filled deathmatch game mode. - Race
Similar to the Defrag Quake 3 modification, players run and trick jump around mode specific maps, trying to get the fastest time. - Capture The Flag
Two teams battle to take the oppositions flag and return it to their own base. - Training
New players can learn the ropes in various objective and time based training stages.
Mutators
Players can chose which mutators can be applied to the base game modes for more variety.
- Low Gravity
Low gravity players, grenades and gibs. - Unlimited Ammo
- Big Head
- Warm Up
Spawn with 100 health and armour as well as all weapons throughout the game. - Vampire
No health pickups, damage other players to gain health. - Arena
Round based game modes where every player spawns with all weapons, full health and armor. - Handicap
Trailing players spawn with extra health and armor - Instagib
Spawn with a one shot kill bolt rifle. - Melee Only
Equipment
Weapons
With the exception of the melee and the burst gun, weapons are scattered around the map, as are weapon specific ammo pickups.
- Melee
100 Damage per hit. Hit scan.
One of the two spawn weapons, the default is a monkey wrench but a variety of cosmetic options are available as random drops, or through the item store. - Burst gun
Up to 42 Damage per blast. Projectile.
Default spawn weapon, shoots seven projectiles that spread out over a longer distance. - Shotgun
Up to 95 Damage per blast. Hit scan.
Close range scatter shot weapon. - Grenade launcher
100 Damage on a direct hit. Timed Explosive Projectile.
Unpredictable projectiles that bounce around the map. - Plasma gun
15 Damage on a direct hit. Explosive Projectile.
Rapid fire weapon that does a small amount of splash damage. - Rocket launcher
100 Damage on a direct hit. Explosive Projectile.
Very damaging projectiles that does lots of splash damage. - Ion cannon
6 Damage per hit. Hit scan
Accurate hit scan weapon with a constant beam for mid-range combat. - Bolt rifle
80 Damage per hit. Hit scan.
Reflex's equivalent of a sniper rifle. Very effective weapon at long range. Can penetrate through enemies.
Armor
Reflex's armor system is tiered, meaning that a player can't pick up a Yellow armor if they have a Red that protects more than the Yellow. Experienced players will damage themselves if the resistance range is close enough to grab the Yellow, just to deny their opponents the item.
- Armor shard
Gives 5 AP, max 100 armor. Protects 1:1 by itself, or adds on to the top of Yellow/Red armors. - Green armor
Gives 50 AP, max 100 armor. Protects 1:1. - Yellow armor
Gives 100 AP, max 150 armor. Protects 2:1. - Red armor
Gives 150 AP, max 200 armor. Protects 3:1.
Health
The base health in Reflex is 100. A player can gain more health by picking up the mega health or green health pickups. If a player has above 100 health it will slowly drop to 100 over time. 200 is the maximum over health.
- Green
Gives 5 HP, max 200 health. - Yellow
Gives 25 HP, max 100 health. - Orange
Gives 50 HP, max 100 health. - Mega health
Gives 100 HP, max 200 health.
Power ups
Power ups will only be found in team modes.
- Carnage
Multiplies Damage by 4 - Resist
Reduces Damage by a factor of 4
Cosmetic Items
Reflex offers a variety of cosmetic items.Players can customise their character with various cosmetic items. These can be obtained by winning tournaments, random drops at the end of a round or by purchasing them on the steam store. Players can also trade items. Some of the cosmetic items which can be obtained include Melee weapons, various robot parts, robot sets and gold skinned versions of the default weapons (Supporter weapons).
There are two rare items that can only be obtained by drops; the tech katana and angry droid head. These items do not effect gameplay, all melee weapons deal the same damage.
Map editor
Reflex features an in-game map editor which can be used to edit and test maps at the same time with other players. Maps can be uploaded to Steam Workshop in game.
Development
Reflex was announced in December 2013 and the team worked on the project for roughly a year before launching a Kickstarter campaign in September 2014, the campaign did not turn out as well as the developers had hoped however and they instead launched an Early access version on Steam in November.
Early concept art.The game entered its Alpha stage in May, 2015.
In August 2015 Turbo Pixel patched the game to include brand new art assets for both its maps and weapons, opting to go for a stylized and untextured look.
February 2016 marked the addition of Steam workshop support for the game, allowing users to easily access a large pool of user created maps from within the game.
In July 2016 an item drop system was added to the game, where regular players can receive up to 4 random cosmetic items each week. The items are parts for the players robotic avatar (arms, legs, heads and torsos) and a variety of melee weapons, ranging from medieval (swords and maces) to industrial (crowbars and pipe wrenches).
In August 2016 an in game training mode was added. The training explains all the health and armor stats, the weapons and ways to move for better gameplay.
October 2016 introduced nine mutators modes and addon support. Addon support enables you to share your widgets and game mods over the workshop.
Early January 2017 saw matchmaking released into the game. Competitive modes are ranked, starting from Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Overlord and Prime Overlord.
March 8th 2017 the game was fully released out of early access. Many new features were added such as bot support and casual/ranked matchmaking. Worldwide ranking and the recent matched games can be viewed on the matchmaking ladder site.
Useful links
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