Before we dive into things I do want to let you know that I was given a copy of this game by the developers. However that was just because they're nice, so this is not an ad nor is it #sponsored. And for those of you who do not know about Ready at Dawn Studios here is a brief summary. The studio's first game was Daxter, which was released on the Playstation Portable on March 2006. They later went on to make God of War: Chains of Olympus (2008) and God of War: Ghost of Sparta (2010). Their latest titles are Lone Echo and Echo Arena which both came out on July 20 for VR platforms.
Deformers has three different game modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Form Ball. Let's start with the basics. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are played with one goal in mind: kill the other players. You can do this by either slamming into them, which does damage, but hopefully you can knock the enemy off the stage for a Smash Bros style pillar of light to appear, or shooting them, out of whatever crevice or crack that exists on the Form's surface. These game modes are fun with some weirdly fluid controls and animations for the various Forms you play. Rolling, jumping and slamming with the ball shaped Form of your choice is addicting, which is due in large part to the great physics engine.
Form Ball is basically soccer, although gamers would probably liken it to the widely popular Rocket League. You and your team are trying to score the ball into the enemy's net while the enemy is trying to score into yours. However, as someone who was never that great at Rocket League, Deformers changes things up, which makes this game mode really enjoyable. For example, I found the movement in Rocket League frustrating because the car was obviously limited to forward and backward controls. (Which is, of course, the way a car moves in the real world. I understand that.) However, if the ball was behind me and the camera is focused on the ball, trying to control the car while maintaining focus on the game usually left me in unusual positions. (Although Twitch streamers have proven to me that practice makes OP.) In Deformers the Form that you control has full eight axis controls. So you can move in any which way your heart desires. You can strafe in front of the goal to mimic a goalie or charge head first at the enemy like a Berserker from Gears of War to knock the ball from their derpy grip. And if all else fails, you can shoot them. That's right. This is street soccer and the only rule is that there is no rule. (Other than the fact that you have to score in the enemy's net, but...you knew that.)
After playing the game for a little over an hour I have to say that it is super fun. On my third game of Form Ball I could already imagine myself losing hours to the game. Plus, having gotten a hold of the game this early in it's life cycle (something that cannot be said for Rocket League, which I adopted to very late) I have plenty of time to carve out my spot in the Leaderboards. So why haven't I spent said hours on it yet? Well, that brings me to the biggest problem with Deformers. The thing that holds the game back the most. It's...the game itself. After the aforementioned third Form Ball game the players in my lobby left and I followed suite before attempting to find another game only to sit in an empty lobby. After waiting patiently for an unnecessarily long time I left and returned to my regularly scheduled trophy grinds. Over the course of the past couple of weeks (I received the code for the game the day it came out) I have tried several times to find other people in order to put more time into the game so that this review would be more in-depth and full of more of my signature metaphorical monologues. However after my last signal for life into the empty abyss of it's servers, which was answered only by two lone rangers who kept timing out, I decided that this wouldn't be a review and more of just a discussion.
This is because I want to talk about this game. I want to promote the game so that the servers will flood with new players who are ready to be crushed by my Level 3 Form. I have told several friends and gave surprise pitches to countless random GameStop customers about how fun the game is and how everyone should buy it for it's $29.99 price tag. But at the same time how can I encourage someone to buy a game (which I've played and enjoyed) knowing full well that when they buy it and boot it up it will most likely just be them sitting in an empty lobby? Granted, for those who have some extra controllers and acquaintances lying around, Deformers does have the rare trait of couch co-op with up to 4 players. So there is local play and you can 1 v 1 or 2 v 2 someone on Panic Plateau after school. But playing online with the full screen showing off the crazy detail packed into the game and it's handful of maps is something that I feel people can't enjoy until the game is updated and patched to encourage more newcomers to fill the servers.
In the end, Deformers is a great multiplayer combat arena game. It's quirky and fun with it's goofy Forms and vibrant maps. The concept is unique and the execution is solid. However, after multiple delays and weak reception by players I have serious worries about the game. As for the developers, they are still working hard on the game and their YouTube channel has been getting frequent uploads to showcase the game's various features. And you know what, if they haven't given up on it why should I? If you want to play Deformers and 1 v 1 me on Panic Plateau then add me on PSN: PrinceSDSK
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