Show Me Your Moves: Toxikk
"Gladiatorial Pew-pew" was rejected as an alternate genre name.
I've been keeping one of my infinite eyeballs on arena FPS Toxikk while the rest stare at Unreal Tournament, Blizzard and my own naval. It's a genre I'm convinced only needs a small push to skyrocket in popularity now that we live in an age of Twitch streams and YouTubers. Much like MOBAs it's a genre ripe for spectating and competition in equal measure but just needs that one uber-popular game to gather a following. Will this be it? Time will tell, but for now Reakktor have revealed how they're planning for movement to work. As discussed in the video below, this is the starting point as all other balance - weapons and map size particularly - revolves around it.
With the exception of useful rocket jumps and the jetpack powerup, this looks near-identical to Unreal Tournament 2004's system, one Epic themselves have chosen to move away from. It's very welcome to those who, like me, have spent more hours than they care to admit bouncing around DM-Rankin, but isn't necessarily good or bad. It's a base, as they say, and what they build on top of it will draw the line between clever spin on old idea and direct port to a new engine.
On that note, Reakktor really need to work on their presentation. Between the continued smug references to the elements of modern military shooters that didn't appeal to the arena crowd and long, lingering shots of holographic strippers, I nearly turned this off. There's nothing wrong with being proud of the roots of your game, but use it as an excuse to revel in what you do excellently not mock those who do something else. It's the fastest way to make the Toxikk community a toxic one.
Want to see more? Here's Adam with the trailer from last month. Alpha release is still planned for before the end of the year.