Wondershot by Leikir Studios aims for the hardcore one shot one kill market. But does it hit or miss?
Wondershot’s gameplay centers on that one perfect shot we all dream about and tries to stretch that moment throughout the course of an entire game. The one shot one kill gameplay will definitely keep you on your toes and you only get one life to play with during each round. Each new map forms around you and they may not be the prettiest maps you've ever seen but they do the job adequately and with each new map you get a random weapon to start with. There are only a paltry four weapons available a bow and arrow, hammer, slingshot and a boomerang. Each weapon makes you approach how you play the game differently and adds an extra touch of strategy to the game. There are a small selection of special abilities as well that let you walk through walls/hedges, slow motion and a shield which are all self explanatory.
There is no online multiplayer here just local multiplayer so unless you have spare friends and joypads there won't be much here to tempt you. There is a single player campaign and an additional co-op mode. The single player mode or Adventure Mode is where you single player addicts will get your kicks. Targets appear onscreen and you have to hit a specified amount before a set time limit. When you clear a a challenge a leaderboard appears showing your score and compares it to the game's creators. My skills were very poor compared to Leikir Studios. But practice makes perfect or so they say so onward I marched.
The multiplayer in Wondershot is played at an extremely high pace and you really need to keep your wits about you. It's arena twitch shooting on a small scale and your going to need to keep a cool head about you at all times if you want to win. My experience taught me that if you miss your pretty much screwed. Thankfully everyone else felt the same way so it was always a level playing field. The temptation to risk a shot without a clear line of sight is palpable and makes for some incredibly tense situations. Take that nervous shot and miss and you will find yourself out of ammunition running around the map avoiding the other payers while trying to pick up your weapon so you have a fighting chance. This adds yet another level of tension because your only offensive option has gone and there is nothing a blood thirsty gamer likes more than hunting down defenseless prey.
As a multiplayer experience Wondershot stands on its own two feet and can be an incredible amount of fun especially after a few ales. There are so many options to play with here. You can adjust almost everything. If you fancy your chances as a lone wolf you can adjust the settings so it's you against everyone else or even set up teams of two versus two. You can choose to have everyone spawn with specific weapons or just leave it to chance and hope your weapon of choice spawns in your favour. Wanna up the amount of rounds in a match from five to whatever you want? Well you can do that and even make it so the winner isn't last man standing but the player with most kills when you've finished playing all the rounds. You can even use a rule that kills a player if they shoot but don't get a kill. That might sound harsh but in Wondershot it adds a very nervy feeling which adds to twitchy nature of the game. If your thinking of buying Wondershot for its single player mode I would advise you to stop right now. When you have a room full of friends this game a a lot of fun but being stuck on your own is awful and the single player just feels tacked on. This game is all about a room full of friends, alcohol in ridiculous quantities, junk food and obscenities.
Wondershot has a very cartoony look about it with its over the top characters and the use of bold colours. The maps are also well thought out with some featuring interactive elements. You can bounce ammunition off certain objects and there are portals which allow you to teleport from one side of the map to another but stay clear off mud because that only serves to slow you down. The music isn't anything special but suits the game not that you'll spend a lot of time listening to it once the game starts.
Don't let the simplistic look of Wondershot put you off what is a great multiplayer game. Get some mates round, stock up your fridge, boot up Wondershot and let the fun and games commence.
Format Reviewed: Xbox One
Publisher: Teotl Studios and Grip Digital
Developer: Teotl Studios and Grip Digital
Wondershot is available now for £10.99
Review code supplied by XCN.