Forecast: Lasers - ShootMania Storm Out Now
ShootMania: Storm is the strangest name. On one hand, it sounds like some kind of lighthearted term for craving or addiction - kinda like party fever, March madness, or meth ragekillsanity. But before long, the "Storm" subtitle rolls in all ominous and gloomy, raining on even the most incurably diseased of parades. Naturally, then, ShootMania: Storm is a game about lasers. Oh, but there's also exceedingly robust level creation, arcade-y speed, and balance that's been meticulously honed for eSports purposes. All indications point to it being quite the thing, honestly. Take a jump pad past the break for a snazzy launch trailer. Here, grab my hand. We'll go together. One, two, three... SPROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOING.
Red men shooting green men shooting blue men shooting yellow men! It's like what would happen if Christmas lights invented war. But they didn't, so war is all ours. Thank goodness.
ShootMania's available for purchase right now at the ManiaPlanet website, Steam, and Uplay, but Nadeo plans to update it until the end of time. Or at least until a sequel (perhaps titled ShootMania: Tropical Storm) blows into town. Already, tons of new/improved features are on the futuro-docket, which is like a normal docket, only made of chrome. For instance, ranking-based matchmaking, team rankings, in-game player-organized competitions (with snazzy titles), and modifiable map editor items/bots.
Most ambitious of all, meanwhile, are actions, which will apparently enable some truly outside-the-box gametypes once they've been implemented.
"Actions are sequences and consequences that players and items can do. For example, it can be to trigger a specific animation at a given spot in the map, or to make a sfx, or to launch projectiles with modified properties... On a more global example, we have made a little FPS MOBA internally, with selection of champions, with each ones having different spells. Each champion can level up, and little creatures assist you while attacking the opposite team. Once things are done, we will release the code samples, like the one of the upcoming ShootMania Storm title: Combo, based on 2vs2, items to pick up and switchable weapons on the 1-2-3-4 keys."
Exciting! These things will, however, arrive in less of a storm formation and more as a series of drizzles over the course of "months." Still, you've got plenty to look forward to. For now, though, has anyone already started playing? Are there any beta-weened longtimers among you? I mean, ShootMania looks quite scrumptious, but is it? Is it really?