A Retro Sports Shooter That Takes A Swing At The FPS Genre
Every now and then, a game appears on the market that rewrites what I think about video games. The last time this happened was with Vampire Survivors, and while the subject of today’s review isn’t in that postcode, it is a similar proposition, so the comparison stands.
The game in question is SPORTAL, from Sleepwalking Potatoes and Retrovibe; a game billed as a retro themed, fast paced action shooter, and I guess you can’t say fairer than that! So, grab your favourite item of sporting equipment (as long as you only like the majority of American sports, at least).
Normally here I’d kick off proceedings with an overview of the story, but SPORTAL is somewhat coy: the story is released in dribs and drabs as you make your way through the game. The basic gist is that there seems to have been some kind of event, and now we need to make our way through a cinema screen into a world of monsters, kick some monster buttocks quite firmly, and then find our way back, before doing it all again. And, for some bizarre reason, do it while using sports equipment! I think the developers may have eaten too much cheese before bedtime…
SPORTAL Brings 1950s Monster Movies Into A Retro FPS
With me not giving away any spoilers regarding the story, I can be a lot more forthcoming about the presentation of SPORTAL, and the clue here is in the phrase “retro themed”. You see, this is based around the monster films of the 50’s and the graphics look like they were designed around the same time as well. The best way to describe it is by comparing it to a game that I have played before, and that game is DOOM, the original. The enemies are flat and pixelated, none of your fancy 3D here, yet as you might expect, things do move at a very fast pace. The enemies are classic movie monsters, mummies and the like, but the real intrigue is in the weaponry we use. I mean, it can’t have been easy to design a way of using a hockey stick and puck to shoot bad guys in the face, can it?
The levels that we run around are set in a first person style, and are fairly large, with multiple levels to get used to. All in all, the way the game looks is quite pleasing.
Sound? Well, there is some, and the first mention has to go to the music. Its speed and intensity matches the action on screen perfectly, and while the sound effects of the attacks are a bit disappointing (call me old fashioned, but the sound of a Lancer or a shotgun will always beat a football), it does a job.
Sports Equipment Makes For An Unusual Arsenal
But what about the gameplay? Well, that’s pretty good actually. As you’d expect, the idea in SPORTAL is to go into a level, use various bits of sporting equipment to remove the movie monsters contained within, and then move on to the next level, all before rinsing and repeating. However, there is a twist, and it is a roguelite flavoured one. Yes, as in so many games these days, the idea is that you start the game with a basic loadout, and then find both new gear and upgrades to existing ones. Let me explain.
When we begin a run, there is a machine that allows us to select one of three bits of kit. I can’t get used to using the word “weapons” when it could be a Frisbee! Anyway, we then take our chosen weapon into the first stage and fight anything that moves until it doesn’t any more, and then at the end of the level, we choose a new upgrade or, perhaps more importantly, a second weapon.
Yep, in SPORTAL you can go equipped with a couple of items, carrying two at once as we start the game (there are other slots to be unlocked as we progress through the game) and once you have a full weapon load, you can start to add upgrades. As an example, take the baseball bat as a starter and rather than caving in the skulls of the enemies with what is basically a melee weapon, the opportunity pops up to hit balls at the foes to kill them. I’d never scored a headshot with a baseball in a game before this one – and no, Dead Rising doesn’t count. Anyway, we can unlock different types of baseball to use, such as ice ones that slow the enemies down, and mixing and matching the upgrades is the key to the progression system. Cold monsters move more slowly, making them easy to finish, and so you get the gist.
With many different weapons to find and unlock, and with each one also having its own skill tree with permanent upgrades to unlock, the scene is set for an interesting proposition.
A Novel FPS Idea That Doesn’t Quite Hit The Target
However, while I’m not a big roguelite guy, I have to say that SPORTAL didn’t grip me as much as others. It’s all very much okay, and that’s about the most I can say. There is nothing inherently wrong, and the developers do deserve some credit for trying to do something different, but I’m not sure that sports based FPS games are going to take off. SPORTAL is a solid game, just not overly exciting.
Important Links
Grab A Bat, A Puck And A Bowling Ball – SPORTAL Is Here – https://www.thexboxhub.com/grab-a-bat-a-puck-and-a-bowling-ball-sportal-is-here/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/sportal/9NWLFK2HNSK8/0010
