Developer: Human Head Studios
Publisher: Atari
Platforms: PC (Steam Early Access)
Release Date: TBA
Minimum – Preview
Minimum is a third-person shooter that combines several elements of the shooter genre with the MOBA genre and is brought to us by Atari and Human Head Studios. As the name suggests, Minimum is a very minimalist game. Perhaps not the game itself as they have added a whole bunch of things to do but the graphics are as minimalistic as they can get.
Minimum bundles the fast-paced action which you can find in Team Fortress 2 with other elements found in games such as Titanfall and Call of Duty, albeit in a third-person perspective. You will also be reminded of Warframe, another fast-paced action game that makes use of various melee weapons such as katana’s and swords. The graphical features of the game have a clear Minecraft-feeling. You can also find elements of MOBA games such as League of Legends and Dota 2 in Minimum, in the form of creeps and armor which you will need to buy and upgrade during the games themselves.
At first glance, the game does not look like much due to its over simplistic graphics but it is in fact a true joy to play the game. After a few games, where you will struggle at first, I felt more joy from playing Minimum than I have with titles that have an overly realistic view. The action is fast-paced and the graphics have their charms.
Minimum makes use of loadouts, which you can set before the match but it does not have the very specific slots of where everything needs to go. If you have the weapon, you can use it. Of course, a huge feature in the game are the unlockable weapons. You can unlock weapons of your choice by buying the schematics and then craft these. This is where another Minecraft feature comes in as you will need various types of materials to be able to craft the weapon of your choice. These materials are easily grindable by simply playing the game. Armor is another type of equipment that needs to be crafted but these can only be crafted during a game. You can however unlock more types of armor by buying the blueprints for these. The armor is your friend but it can also be your enemy. Many pieces will give you boosts but they will have a downside. To give you a few examples, there’s a chestplate that makes sure you take 20 % less melee and explosive damage but you also run 5 % slower. There’s also a helmet where you deal 25 % more damage but you also take 25 % more damage or leggings where you deal 20 % more melee damage but your maximum health is reduced by 20 %. Choosing your armor might in fact be the most difficult and strategical decision you have to make in the game.
During your gameplay, your weapons can be leveled up by killing an enemy and gathering their ball of energy. Downside of this is that both parties can gather this energy ball which means that sometimes you will have someone ninja the energy ball and leave you with a level 1 weapon. Weapons that are level 5 tend to be somewhat OP, especially when it comes down to melee weapons but it does not make your enemy undefeatable. Be sure to have a wicked grin on your face when you slaughter your enemy as the weapons will reset upon dying.
The Early Access of Minimum serves as a beta test which means that several features have not yet been implemented in the game. Other features still need some work. Currently there is only one mode available, Titan Mode, with two more modes to be added soon: Team Deathmatch, the classic mode in all types of shooters and Dungeon Crawl. In Titan Mode players are battling it out in 5v5 where the main goal is to empower their titan and get to the enemy base before it gets destroyed. The titan are powered up by gathering titan crystals that drop from creeps. Each map has their own version of creeps, from cave spiders in the Desert Canyon map to robot caretakers in the Titan Factory map. Each type of creep will also have one golden spawn which acts as the leader of the creeps. The golden creeps will drop a more powerful titan crystal but as it crawls all over the map with significally more health than the regular creeps, it tends to be more difficult to catch.
Conclusion
The game is nowhere near finished and plenty of features are not in the game yet. There are only two playable maps in Titan Mode, which tend to feel a bit repetitive after a while. However what is there, looks fantastic and it certainly plays well. The minimalistic visuals of the game are quite amusing and it does not ruin your gameplay in any way. All-in-all, the game seems to be going in a positive direction and with all the plans they have for it, it should only become better.
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