Review: Monday Night Combat
Game: Monday Night Combat
Format: Xbox Live Arcade
Developer: Uber Entertainment
Publisher: Microsoft Games Studios
A relatively recent addition to the pool of gaming genres, the tower defence game has become ubiquitous thanks in no small measure to Apple’s iPad. However, it’s so far been a genre with little variation from game to game. Into this monotone landscape steps Monday Night Combat. Monday Night Combat has a big idea for shaking up the genre; namely to bolt on Gears of War.
True to the tower defence formula, the player’s home base must be equipped with a variety of upgradeable turrets and defended from waves of attacking enemies of various speeds and strengths. Money from killing these waves can be used to enhance the turrets or the player character. This is the game’s major innovation: replacing the disembodied cursor with an active player-character, armed to the teeth and dragging the player down into the frenzied heat of the action.
There are six classes available to choose from, covering the expected range from fast-but-weak Assassin to slow-but-powerful Tank. Each of the characters is equipped with two weapons and four upgradeable special abilities. It’s a testament to the skill with which they have been constructed that none of the characters feels underpowered or dissatisfying to play, and that the combat remains enjoyable even when on a losing-streak. Perhaps the only exception to this is the Support class, who is able to hack enemy turrets, reinforce his own, heal his team-mates and also build a devastatingly powerful turret gun all his own. Having one character who excels at attack and defence equally can produce an unstoppable war-beast in the hands of a canny player.
By introducing the player as an active participant in the combat, Monday Night Combat creates an interesting tactical situation; requiring careful balancing of attack and defence, and of the management of upgrades. Focus too much on attacking the enemy and you run the risk of opening your base up to attack. Remain too long on the defensive, however, and your own forces will lose out on vital back-up, making a win much more difficult. Similarly, tactical consideration needs to be given to how you spend your cash: do you upgrade your player-character, enhancing your own combat-effectiveness; or do you spend the money on bigger, better turrets, more robot troops, and activating smart-bombs placed in the centre of the arena?
Six classes are available to the player, covering all levels of speed and strength, attack and defence.
The game is divided into two modes, Blitz and Crossfire. Blitz mode consists of five challenges that pit between one and four players against invading robot armies of varying difficulty. This is an entirely defensive game mode and the only one of the two that can be played offline. This is fairly close to a standard tower defence game in its essentials, lacking as it does any competitive element. As such it’s undemanding fun, despite consisting, at the time of writing, of only one map. Crossfire, however, is something much more interesting.
In Crossfire mode, tower defence is mixed with tower offence, as two teams of six players compete to destroy the opposition’s Moneyball (i.e. their base). While shepherding your own robot army to the opposing base to lower its defensive shields, you must also eliminate the oncoming army and its human bodyguards and take down the turrets the opposing team have constructed to defend their territory.
The game combines turret-defence with GEARS-OF-WAR-style over-the-shoulder combat
Tactical decision making truly comes into its own here. Do you go all out to attack the enemy forces in the hope of taking out six or seven robots before one of your opponents shoots you down, or hide out in a high vantage point and snipe the opposing players as they try to destroy your robot soldiers? One team member may prefer to take a supporting role, repairing and upgrading the turrets as they take damage, or to play as a stealthy Assassin and sneak into the enemy base to stab newly-respawned opponents in the back. This balancing act of factors produces an atmosphere of gleeful carnage, bullets, cash and bits of robot flying around the arena with gay abandon. What had been an interesting experiment in the more conservative Blitz mode soon yields delightful results.
Review Round-Up
Graphics – 3/5: Not what anyone would describe as a beautiful game, by any means. Its aesthetic is fairly unusual in multiplayer shooter games, being essentially a rather daft mix of TEAM FORTRESS and SMASH TV. Like those games, it has a pleasant stylisation and a rather goofy satirical take on futuristic corporate bloodsports, like a Saturday morning version of The Running Man.
Sound – 3/5: Pretty much what you’d expect. The commentator has exactly the kind of smarmy parodic American gameshow host kind of voice you probably heard as you read the preceding part of this sentence. Some moderately amusing one-liners relating to a futuristic police-state and the announcer’s own sordid past as a gentleman of dubious virtue are rendered less amusing by the sheer number of times you will hear them repeated.
Gameplay – 4.5/5: A canny mix of tactical planning and Gears of War’s Horde mode produces something that feels fun and fresh. The shooting is responsive and accurate and each player class is sufficiently differentiated to reward experimentation. The act of balancing attack and defence produces something frenzied and enjoyable.
Longevity – 3/5: The basic underpinnings of the game are sufficiently good to keep the game fresh in the long term, and for the obsessive collector there are dozens of player nicknames to be unlocked and purchased. At present, however, the range of maps is quite limited, with Blitz mode having only one and Crossfire four to play with. This may change as and when new DLC is released.
Overall – 4 Defended Towers out 5
[starreview tpl=16]
A clever step forward in tower defence, Monday Night Combat arrives with very little fanfare and delivers a fun, focused team shooter with a twist. Never feeling unfair or overwhelming, it still provides explosive, accessible fun and, with future updates to come, should keep you busy for many a Monday night to come.
– Elliot Mears
Sounds great, if your telling me its a mix of Team Fortress & Smash TV, then I’m all over it!
Tower Defence + FPS = Joygasm!
Great review! Nicely put together, clear and informative.