Reviewed by Charl ‘PottyZA’ Potgieter.
Developer: 5th Cell
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade
Price: 1200MSP
If we had to give it a numerical score: 7.0 out of 10
What I liked:
- Feels great running at 60fps
- Weapon sounds are very good
- The faction war meta-game is awesome
- Innovative gameplay and cover system (Jetpacks!)
- Graphics are decent for an arcade shooter
- Lots of customisation options
- Controls well
Not so much:
- Only 3 players on a team
- No freedom of movement
- Killstreak system seems unbalanced
- Maps all feel the same
- Matchmaking takes forever
From the creators of Scribblenauts comes Hybrid – an online third person shooter with a very unique approach to the traditional cover system that we find in just about every other modern third person shooter.
Hybrid is a fun game, with some truly innovative ideas, not to mention that it runs at a silky smooth 60fps. This comes courtesy of Valve’s Source engine (used in games such as Team Fortress, Half Life and the recently released, Counter Strike: Global Offensive), which means that the game looks very decent without sacrificing the frame rate. The game’s sound is good too, with weapons sounding appropriately powerful.
Hybrid doesn’t have much of a story, you are filled in with what’s happening through means of a cinematic before the game starts. An alien race, which looks very human, has invaded Earth in search of a material called Dark Matter. You play as either a member of this alien faction, named the Variants, or the human faction, the Paladins – both factions are functionally the same and can use the same weapons but they have distinct visual characteristics. Choose your faction carefully, as you can only change factions once per game season (which lasts about two weeks).
Each season, the factions fight to see who can get 100 units of dark matter first. Dark matter is gained by controlling territories on the game’s world map and progress towards taking these territories is made when you win matches in that specific sector. Before each match, you select which territory’s progress bar you want to have your victories count towards – note that this does not affect matchmaking at all. You select your loadout while the game loads, so you at least have something to do while waiting.
Unfortunately, the game takes way too long to find you a suitable match. It’s safe to say that I’ve spent more time in the menus waiting for the game to find a match than I have actually playing the game. One thing that really bugged me was that you have to search for a new game after each match is finished, there’s no sticking around with the people you just played with. However, if you’re patient enough, you will find that the core gameplay does not disappoint. The cover system is truly innovative, but it does restrict your movement a little too much. You can move from cover to cover using your jetpack but you can’t move anywhere in between, what’s interesting here is that the cover isn’t always on the ground – for instance, you can take cover behind a barrier on the roof. The game’s camera works surprisingly well in these situations, I never felt disorientated and always saw what’s going on around me.
The game features 3 vs 3 engagements on fairly small maps across a variety of familiar game modes, including Team Deathmatch and King of the Hill variants. Unfortunately, the maps all seem exactly the same and provide a similar gameplay experience throughout. You gain experience points for each match that you play and level up to gain unlock points, which you then spend on weapons within specific classes (assault rifles, snipers, machine guns, etc.). The amount of customisation in your class and appearance is quite high in number; there are many helmets to choose from and a fair amount of different weapons, perks and bonuses.
The game’s killstreak system is unbalanced – you need 1 kill to unlock a Stalker drone, which is basically a turret that follows you around, 3 to unlock a Warbringer, a huge robotic killing machine, and 5 to unlock the Preyon, a crazy ninja drone that kills in one slice of its sword. It’s ridiculous how easy it is to acquire this drone, which is very difficult to defend against.
All in all, Hybrid is good but not great. The game has some glaring issues that keep it from being enjoyable all the time, but if you have the patience to wait for the game to finally find you a match then you will definitely have fun with the innovative, fast paced gameplay. I would recommend it to those looking for a good sci-fi shooter, but those of you that prefer the modern times should rather spend the 1200 points on that other Source-based shooter, Counter Strike.
