MicroVolts is a fun game with good pacing and extremely high damage weapons which
make killing your enemies pretty easy. So if you are a noob like me
looking for a good multiplayer third person shooter and you have set
your eyes on
MicroVolts then there is one thing you should know - you will die a lot. This is
not a bad thing because even so you will kill a lot too and that is what
a good action game is all about - killing stuff. In this case the stuff
being toydolls with awesome guns shooting nails at each other.
Characters and ProgressionIn MicroVolts you start off with two characters -
Naomi and
Knox,
the first one being a cute doll which reminds you of every single
schoolgirl in every single anime and the second being a rascal action
figure which seems to be inspired by Popeye. Eventually you get to
unlock two more characters -
Pandora and
C.H.I.P.
Pandora is a vampire or rather succubi-like doll with a lot of leather
on her plastic skin and Chip is... well, a rather unique robot made out
of broken toys and spare parts. What character you play is not relevant
as there isn't any difference between them in battle.
You will have no customization options at first but as
you fight you get experience and Micro Points which can be used to buy
temporary clothes and parts for your dolls which would make them look
rather unique. There are a lot of parts to buy at the beginning and even
more will be unlocked as you level up. Unfortunately the levels are
just there to unlock new items at the store and you will not be able to
learn any abilities or improve your character.
Items, however, will provide some bonuses when equiped.
You can get a small improvement in either running speed, deffence or
weapon change time depending on the weapons you are wearing. Still every
item you will buy is on timer and you will have to rebuy it when your
rental period is up.
Additionally you are able to buy quite a few weapons in
the store that will provide different charactersitics depending on the
weapon type and model. There are hardly tons of weapons to buy but they
are enough to make you wonder which one to buy and which one to pass by.
When you buy a weapon the clock starts ticking for it too and
eventually you have to face the choice of decision again. Don't worry
though - if you like your current equipment the game will provide you
with and easy rebuy interface when the time comes so you will not lose
much time getting your stuff again.
Don't worry too much about the money. You get
MicroPoints for each kill you do and they come pretty fast so you will
never find yourself in shortage if you spend wisely. You can also gather
points for a longer period purchase which will additionally lower the
cost of the items in the long run.
I would give the Character and Progression part of the
game 8 out of 10. Although there are no stats to improve or skills to
learn this game is not really about roleplaying. It is about making your
character look cool and shooting stuff and you can definately make your
characters neat. In the beta you got some micropoints at the beginning
so you are able to buy some stuff(I hope they keep that in the open beta
and the released game) and there are some pretty slick characters
running around with guns in their hands.
GameplayThe basic gameplay of the game is like any other
multiplayer third person shooter - running around and killing other
players will be the main thing you do in the game. Well, that and dying.
The game relatively fast paced, maybe the pacing is a little bit higher
than the one of Battlefield Heroes but it is still way slower than S4
League. Still as fast as you die from gunfire in S4 - you die twice as
fast in
MicroVolts.
I'm serious two or three strait shots in you with any weapon and you
are a deadman(or deadwoman as I strongly support girls and women playing
games) so usually after a fight you will be pretty low on health.
Curiously enough in MicroVolts you do not find healthpacks - you create
them. When a player dies he will leave behind his remaining battery
which will replenish your health if you get to it first. Sometimes even a
blue battery will drop which grants you invulnerability for a short
time when you use it. Still, the low player health makes the game quite
chaotic and victory will depend much more on how good you are at hinding
and targeting precisely rather than how good you are at strafing
although it will matter too.
The weapons in the game are separated into seven
categories. At the beginning of the game you are provided with a weapon
from each category which will not expire so in every match each player
carries seven different weapons. The weapon types are melee,
rifle(machinegun), shotgun, sniper, gatling(heavy machinegun),
bazooka(rocket launcher) and granade launcher. Each weapon has its own
strenghts and weaknesses and you will be able to enchance those by
buying advanced weaponry from the item shop. For example the low damage
but fast firing rifle can be upgraded either to do much more damage at
the expense of some speed or to do only slightly more damage but fire
even faster. Overall the different weapon types provide a choice for
every playstyle and even then you can customize them even further. There
is also kind of rock-paper-scissors mechanic going on when it comes to
the weapons and the different situations you can get into(in close range
combat shotgun will be slightly more effective than the rifle but if
you are too close it is better to switch to melee weapon, still melee
weapons are heavier than rifles which would make switching to the
machinegun and running away while firing a good choice when you do not
want to engage in melee combat).
There are several game modes that will provide variety
in the game. Still all of them are team-based so there is no
Free-For-All Deathmatch or anything like that. The first mode is Team
Deathmatch - the basic objective is to kill the enemy players while
remaining alive. You can win in the match by either reaching the the
frag limit or being in the team with the most frags when the time runs
out. Both the frag and the time limits can be adjusted by the host. The
second mode is item match which is very much like the deathmatch but
instead of batteries dead players will drop an item that remains random
until someone gets it. There are quite a few bonuses that these items
can bestow upon you varying from attaching a bomb to you that will
explode upon your death to camouflaging you as an enemy player. This
brings even more randomness into this rather chaotic game making it even
more fun.
The third mode is melee only team deathmatch battle. To
make the gameplay even faster here there are no health baterries drop
here and the battle arena is smaller. The fourth and last gamemode is a
variation of Capture The Flag called capture the battery. Instead of
getting the enemy flag and bringing it to your base you must get a
battery from a specific place in the center of the map and bring it to
your base. The idea of this mode is actually quite interesting but I
find it rather boring as your half of the map is usually controlled by
your team which makes bringing the battery to your base very easy once
you get it and stopping an enemy bringing the battery to his base too
hard. It is way too easy to finish a match of Capture the Battery
because of that. I think it would have been a better mode if you had to
bring the battery to the enemy base instead of your own.
I think that maps come a little short - there are only
seven of them and one of them is reserved for melee battles only.
Actually it is the only map where you can play melee games. The other
six can be played in Team Deathmatch and Item Match and two of them are
suitable for Capture the Battery game as well.
Apart from being low in number, the maps are designed
very good. There are multiple passages betwen both camps in all of them
and they have interesting concepts - one of them is an all out war
between the kid's room from one building and the kitchen from another
and you can infiltrate the other side through sewer and the ventilation
systems as well as the windows. The maps have plenty of good hiding
places for snipers and large enough ares with obstacles for mid and
close range fights. The amazing part is that everything is quite
ballanced. You cannot win in the game playing with only one weapon or
using only one strategy, hiding in only one place or sneaking through
only one path. Snipers will get assaulted, gunners will get sniped while
fighting other gunners and people who try to sneak around will get
ambushed. The maps and the overall gameplay of MicroVolts not only allow
diversified tactics but also promote them as something good. In all of
this good teamwork could get you quite far but if you are really good
you will be able to fare well on your own as well.
The Gameplay of this game deserves a 9. There are some
things that seem strange at the beginning such as why do you die so fast
but if you get into it you will get pretty please with what you get.
MicroVolts challenges not only your fingers but also your mind with the task to
choose the right weapon for the right situation, choose the right path
and do the right thing at any given momment.
Graphics and SoundThe graphics of the MicroVolts are anime inspired but
instead of trying to pull off the cute anime style the developers
decided to center around somewhat more mature. The style reminds me more
of Bleach in terms of proportions and shapes than to Kateikyoushi
Hitman Reborn as most of these game do. I am not exactly sure why they
chose that exact style in a game that revolves around dolls shooting the
crap out of each other but I'm glad they did. The textures and models
are both detailed and a lot of bumpmaping is used both on characters and
enviroment.
The interface is very comfortable and pretty colorful
when needed. It has a certain notebook feel to it and is navigated quite
easily.
The music is pretty good - sometimes playful, sometimes a
little bit mysterious and somewhat plain mafioso It will also not get
annoying as it is mainly in the menus. When you join a match you hear a
tune that can really motivate you to fight if you are into anime(they
use such music quite oftenly) but it quickly fades away and leaves you
with the sounds of war and various characters speaking about what is
happening around them. There is also an announcer but he is quite silent
most of the time. The sounds in the game inspire the correct atmosphere
for such a tittle and although the blabbering of the dolls will
probably get annoying after a couple of hours if you take a break it
will be just fine when you get back to play again.
Graphics and sound section gets a 9 as well. They are
both not top-noch but they combine very well and create the exact
feeling this game is striving for.
Conclusion
Overall I will give the game 8 out of 10. I know I gave
two sections a 9 and only one an 8 but I really think that this game
should have more RPG elemets in it and maybe some more content to make
the experience truly unique. It lacks something but it is still a pretty
damn good game and it has some kind of charm to it that makes you play
it.