Hybrid, the first downloadable console game from the folks at 5th Cell, is a competitive, online cover-based third person shooter. Shooters, be it first or third person, are seemingly one of the most packed genres these days, making one wonder what in the world 5th Cell, whose best known work includes Drawn to Life, Scribblenauts, and Run Roo Run!, is trying to do in that space. The answer; a fundamentally different take on a worn genre, albeit one not at all obvious from looking at a synopsis or screenshots.
Hybrid’s tutorial, for example, provided a fairly interesting reveal. You’re instructed on the usual methods of third person combat; a wide array of weapons, a couple neat perks, and killstreak rewards in the form of some spiffy bots/helpers. You’re told that all battles are three versus three and that they’re over fairly quickly. Curiously, you’re also plopped behind cover by default and shown how easy it is to move around cover and fly (literally – everyone gets a jetpack) over to other islands on the map.
You’re never shown any of these ideas in combination with traditional player movement like walking or running. That’s because, once you leave the tutorial and start playing for real, you discover Hybrid denies that apparent necessity; there is no walking or running. Hybrid sure is a competitive, online cover-based third person shooter alright, but its removal and ground-up blueprint of a familiar system’s most fundamental element transforms it from another ho-hum contender into potentially one of the most interesting and altogether different shooters thus far.
Sticking to cover and shooting were easy and familiar enough, but most of Hybrid’s finesse, at least in the matches I played, was found in cover-to-cover flight. A small turbo boost and limited z and y axis movement aid in maneuverability, and the ability to switch to other cover points in mid-flight was a great help as well. Hybrid also shows no prejudice toward the rules of gravity, as it was common place to find yourself on a ceiling popping off shots. In any case the aiming mechanic never felt awkward or unfocused, albeit a little disorienting the first few times. This comparison is a bit of a stretch, but it Hybrid seemed like the first videogame to really ‘get’ the Hell Room scene from the otherwise awful Matrix Revelations; parlor tricks with gravity are amusing, but meaningless if the gunplay isn’t up to par.
The lack of typical movement, while initially feeling restrictive and vacant, is slowly exposed as a controlled means of distilling combat. 5th Cell, as talented as they are, probably lacked the budget and sheer manpower for a usual first person shooter, but like the team that made Bionic Commando, they turned a weakness into strength by focusing on essential aspects of combat and building their system around it. Cover is omnipresent but can always be flanked. Likewise, flight is always an option but never without the risk of exposure. In practice the shooting felt fine, if not a little ambiguous despite the large number of weapons. The difference between sniper rifles, SMG’s, standard rifles, and pistols were pronounced, if not slightly unbalanced in regard to damage value (but hey, it’s a beta).
Hybrid’s mechanic flourishes were also impressive. As previously mentioned, kill streaks begat access to a variety of personal combat drones, which, assuming they aren’t specifically targeted and blown up by your opponents, are nice enough to survive past your death. The perks, which ranged from an xp bonus to seeing enemies through walls to full on cover-to-cover teleportation, were also nice if not a bit tricky to figure out. Game modes included in the beta were traditional Team Death Match, King of the Hill, and Overlord. The latter of which wasn’t especially clear, it was some sort of VIP variant, but it should be better detailed in a full release.
If there was one area that didn’t seem up to snuff, it was the art direction. Running at a smooth sixty frames-per-second it certainly looked nice, however one arena was virtually indistinguishable from another, all sort of blending into a generic future of polished steel and exposed computer parts. I also hope for a bit more customization on the avatar end, as, aside from the red highlight, the other team was sometimes impossible to tell apart from my teammates.
Hybrid also boasts an overarching meta-game pitting Variants versus Paladins for control of the planet. This is visible in the various warzones segmented across the continents; the United States, for example, as divided into a dozen or so segments that could be won or lost based on the performance of each side in each respective region. Occasionally I had trouble getting into games, even in the areas labeled Hot Zones, but such are the trials and tribulations of a beta, and 5th Cell is definitely taking note.
In any case it’s too early to tell how well Hybrid will do. On one hand it provides an incredibly fresh take on the genre and spins reasonably sound mechanics into a fun and approachable interface. On the other downloadable, multiplayer-only shooters have a reputation for cultivating a smaller, expert audience that is typically unkind to new or casual players, and therefore long-term health. We’ll know for sure this summer (my bet, which is purely speculative, as part of Summer of Arcade) when Hybrid finally drops. Check back with us then for a full review.
