Jay’s Internet Log

This article is a few days later than I had originally planned, but it’s been a busy week.  I first saw Monday Night Combat at PAX East last March, but didn’t pay much attention to it.  I noticed that the kiosk was always packed full of people, and I didn’t want to wait in the line to play it, so I kind of brushed it off.  After hearing that it was getting some good reviews, I decided to try the demo out.

The demo of the game drops you into a tutorial where you have to defend your “Moneyball” from incoming waves of easy enemy robots.  It shows you how you can upgrade your skills as well as the basics of this game type.  I was having a lot of fun, and like most demos, after a few minutes it asks you if you want to unlock the full game.  I decided to purchase it, and am glad that I did.  This is one of the best XBLA games I’ve played, even though it does have a few issues.

First off, Monday Night Combat has a futuristic game show feel to it, where you’re a player on a game show, running around shooting other players and robots.  There are 6 classes to choose from, and you earn money from destroying enemies and enemy robots.  There are just two modes available; Blitz and Crossfire.  In Blitz, you have to defend your Moneyball from incoming waves of computer-controlled robots.  You do this by setting up defense turrets and upgrading your skills while running around in a third-person viewpoint.  The controls are very good even if the buttons take a little getting used to.  If and when the robots get close to your Moneyball, they shoot at it to take its shields down, and then attack it to destroy its life bar which then ends the game in a defeat.  If you get through the waves, then you earn a win.  Crossfire is similar, but it’s an online-only mode that pits 6 players versus 6 other players, each team trying to destroy the other team’s Moneyball.  In this game mode, you can also spawn robots to help you out, and each class spawns different types of robots.  The robots mostly fight each other but you can help take them down as well.  Each time you defeat a robot, human, or turret, you earn money.  This money is used to upgrade your skills or construct new robots and turrets.  When I’m done upgrading all my skills, I usually start sending out mad waves of robots for a final push to the end.

The only issues I have with the game right now are that sometimes when in a party, you’ll get put into a game and party members will randomly be on the other team.  This usually fixes itself for the next match, but more often than not, you’ll get dropped to the main menu and have to start all over again, which is my other issue.  These are minor when you think that you’re only paying $15 for a game that gives so much.

There are many titles to unlock, but other than that, there’s not much to spend your money on other than customized classes.  These classes allow you to choose a position, and then add three perks to it, which is nice, but not mandatory, since the amount of customization is limited.  I urge all shooter fans to at least try the demo out for this game.  It includes some offline games as well as 30 minutes of time online, so as long as you don’t run into a bad match, I think you’ll have a good time.  The announcers are hysterical, and the game as a whole is a lot of fun.