![]() ![]() It feels a little like its trying to big up a fairly simple premise. That’s fine, as are the dalliances with meta gameplay, but it will continually pull you back to the same scenes again and again, while flashing text up at you. The plot is deliberately kept vague, and often confusing, with the aim of reinforcing that you are inside a computer simulation. I also get the sense, and maybe this is a personal feeling, that SUPERHOT is in danger of disappearing up its own arse at moments. Or the special, unkillable characters that exist just to ruin your day. Less welcome are the levels that start you with a shotgun barrel pointed at your face. Some can only be hit in one specific limb, which pushed my gun skills to the limit. The new basic enemy types, for example, are nice. Considering nodes can have somewhere around fifteen maps, this can get pretty frustrating, especially seeing as MIND CONTROL DELETE can get a bit cheap with its difficulty at times. It’s (usually) two strikes and you’re out, sending you back to the first map. You then either progress to the next map or get a choice of hack to collect.Įssentially, that means the repetition comes swinging in hard at about the halfway mark. These play like a wave shooter, with one map ending after killing a set number of blokes. Instead, each node is a different number (depending on the difficulty of the node) of maps pulled from a reasonably deep pool. If you’re going into MIND CONTROL DELETE thinking you’re getting more of the specially designed, almost puzzle-like levels found in the original then you’re going to be disappointed. These ‘nodes’ are not carefully constructed levels. It does lead me to the biggest problem I have with MIND CONTROL DELETE, though. It was a rather surprising format but not an unwelcome one. The more you play, the more hacks you’re likely to unlock after all. There are also bits and pieces of plot dotted around these nodes too, so it’s worth playing through all of them if you can. The levels are ‘nodes’, which are either a series of random challenges or a way to include new skills. Once you get past the intro levels, MIND CONTROL DELETE actually gives you a world map of sorts. I mentioned ‘levels’ up there, which needs a little bit more of an explanation. I very much enjoyed the one that let me keep a weapon after switching bodies, if only for the visual of a man getting shot point-blank by his own friend. There are also hacks, which come up as choices between levels, where you can upgrade your cores and standard abilities. Other cores include the ability to charge towards an enemy to sock ‘em one and the ability to recall a thrown katana, cleaving an enemy in the process. Hotswitching, where you can take over an enemy’s body, has now been made into a Core, which is unavailable at the start (strangely). These are nice little changes but MIND CONTROL DELETE pushes it even further by introducing the concept of Cores and Hacks. Takes a while to reload but boy is it worth it. It’s a rail gun, essentially, allowing you to blast through multiple enemies at once. Throwing weapons have been expanded now, to the point where you can properly channel your inner Wick by killing people with a pencil, and a new gun is in the mix. Which admittedly is probably quite suspicious. MIND CONTROL DELETE works hard to expand the gameplay of the original which is why I opened with my excitement about knives. ![]() Landing your shots requires proper timing and precision, which is a lot to ask when three bullets are worming their way towards your cranium. Either way, it’s a lot more exciting than it sounds. Time does move a little bit when you’re still, so you can’t dawdle for too long. The twist being that time only moves when you do, giving you ample time to squirm your way around all the enemy bullets before sending out a couple of your own. You’re put into a level full of angry red men all trying to kill you and you have to kill ‘em right back. That, and the tendency to be a bit self-indulgent, means that the sequel doesn’t land quite as well as the original. ![]() The core gameplay is still as fun as ever - in fact more so - but it makes a few design choices that hold things back a bit. The third game in the SUPERHOT franchise - following SUPERHOT VR - is still a lot of fun, but it is beginning to show some signs of picking up baggage along the way. A proper session of SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE feels like you’re watching John Wick with someone who can’t keep their hands off the remote. It proves that the SUPERHOT team knows their formula works and they know how to execute it. Throwing a knife into a man’s face then running towards him, dodging a hail of bullets, before yanking it out and throwing it into his colleague? Pure poetry. You can throw knives now! I know that’s a strange way to open up a review but it’s very exciting. SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE Review (2020) ![]()
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