SPRAWL

A little short. but really solid unc game.

this game is niche pick that i got from a mystery box on fanatdic and I played not expecting anything that good but it was insane. The game I would say this is very similar to is ultrakill it was similar stuff but not too similar to be like a remake.

game movement choises hampered the fun

Kinda hard at some points but I suck at fps games so it's probably a me thing, was fun to 100% tho

很少用恶心形容一款游戏，作为射击游戏居然会开火和子弹时间黏住用不了的感觉，其次就是地图指引不够好，除去这些问题还是一款7\10的爽游

There's a certain quality that every great, fun game has that's difficult to precisely quantify. Call it what you will, gamefeel, je ne sais quoi, I like to call it The Juice. You can only find out if a game has The Juice when you actually get your hands on it, and even if you can't describe what exactly it's comprised of you always know it when you see it. [i]Sprawl[/i] does not have The Juice. I can tell what this game is going for, I can understand what the intent is, but while many of its individual pieces sound great (wallrunning! bullet time! explosions!) they do not pull together into something that works. It's almost baffling how confused the game is, everything that isn't the visuals and the music feels like it doesn't know what it is or what it's doing. The opening hour of the game promises a headshot bonanza, with all the best moments being the chaining of one-bullet kills while flying over your enemies. Then, about halfway through the game, every single enemy becomes a bullet sponge and the headshots disappear entirely. It feels like someone thought "further in game = harder" and didn't actually bother to consider how this would shift the game's fun zone into an entirely different place right after the player gets in the groove of it. All that being said, the combat in the second half still has its moments, even if it ultimately just feels like ♥♥♥♥♥♥ [i]Quake[/i]. What [i]really[/i] bugs me is the parkour, which just feels absolutely miserable. Wallrunning is limited and unresponsive in a manner that feels really awkward, and it gets much worse when you notice that the level design, constantly and without fail, seems to believe you can jump way higher than you can. Try and jump onto [i]any[/i] ledge in this game and you will fail. Every single jump up to a platform requires an awkward walljump along its edge, and arenas are totally unengaging as a result. Most of the actual parkour sections make you feel like you're barely able to make it onto the platforms, either wildly overshooting or barely undershooting in a frustrating way. There was extremely plainly either supposed to be a double jump (which you can kinda do with shotgun recoil, but requiring ammo and inconsistently) or just a damn ledge grab. I have no idea how this happened. [i]Sprawl[/i] feels like it wasn't playtested, like it was made and shipped and nobody actually bothered to figure out if it felt good to play. There's a joke in the credits about how one of the lead developers never actually played the game and I just had to laugh. I can tell! I can really, really tell! Maybe you should have! As briefly touched on previously, it's the aesthetics where this game really shines. Visual design lands somewhere between [i]DOOM[/i] (2016) and [i]Ghost In The Shell[/i], and the techno industrial soundtrack incorporates this [i]Akira[/i] choir that just hits so spectacularly. I'd say I wish these elements were in a better game, but I may not have to. The sequel, [i]Sprawl Zero[/i], looks to be absolutely killer. I will be delighted to see it land properly and give these devs a redemption they deserve.

Decent gameplay, banger soundtrack.

What an absolute gem. This is by far the best indie game I've played so far this year, and one of the best games I've played full stop. The story is incredible, especially once you start digging into and reading the Codex entries, but the narration alone is REALLY selling it. The combat is somewhat challenging but very satisfying and the weapons just feel right. Also, without spoiling anything, you can perform this game's equivalent of Gauss Boosting (sort of). Not even DOOM TDA had that. Speaking of which, the movement feels SO. FUNKING. GOOD. Man. It's everything Ghostrunner did right plus a little extra on top of it all. I will glaze SPRAWL forever and I can't wait for the second game. 11/10, if you haven't played this game yet, then what are you even doing man