ShootMania Storm

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to The Hospital Club in London to check out the FPS equivalent of TrackMania entitled ShootMania Storm. Luckily the only casualties will be your opponents in virtual space and this second offering from ManiaPlanet serves to strip down FPS gameplay to its roots where the only thing that matters is how good your aim is and what your strategy is like.

What makes this title different to other FPSs out there is of course the ability for users to create their own maps to play in and share their creations across the globe thanks to the ManiaPlanet 2.0 gaming system. PC only, it lets gamers get right into building some maps thanks to a relatively simple editor where they can terraform the landscape, build walls and place spawn markers and objectives.

1 on 1 and team based battles are promised and I had a quick go on the mode called Joust where you fight against an opponent in tight maps. Why is it called Joust you ask? Well, in a way it sort of mimics what knights of old used to do but instead of riding on horses you use Shanks’s Pony and instead of a big metal pole to spear your opponent with you have a variety of laser-based weapons. What’s interesting here is that you’ve only got 5 shots when you reload your weapon at a beacon, and once you’ve fired them at your foe you have to leg it to the other beacon to refill again. This of course prevents people camping and keeps the game moving. The game should also feature familiar team-based battles including DM, TDM and Capture the Flag.

It’s pretty too - reminding me somewhat of playing Deck 16 on Unreal Tournament. There’s no exact release date as of yet but it will be with you PC gamers in the coming months.