When I first heard of Monday Night Combat, I awaited its release cautiously. I’m not saying that the game looked bad when it first came to my attention, but I wasn’t sure I could trust the folks at Uber Entertainment to deliver on such a bizarre concept.

As some one who has a difficult time playing a Call of Duty match type any more complicated then “SHOOT ALL THE DUDES”, I approached the supposed “Tower Defense Shooter” with cautious optimism.

Guess what? It’s great. I recommend it specifically to those who, like me, are quickly growing tired of the military shooter as the only source of quality online multiplayer shooters on the console front. It mixes a balanced, third-person shooter with some defensive options for a really high quality experience.

What sets MNC apart from the average online shooter is the spontaneity of its matches. Where your standard game of Halo 3 is going to begin and end with dudes killing each other, the defensive nature of MNC gives each match a push and pull. One team could be dominating the map, only to find themselves facing a force of robot soldiers.

The six classes in the game are your fairly average third-person fodder: the primary offense character, the assault, the assassin, the defensive support, the tank, the other tank-like character (named the gunner), and your standard sniper. As you kill opponents, your character starts building up funds. You can use this money to power up your characters various skills and powers.

The use of these power ups gives each bout a sense of escalation, which is really uncommon in a multiplayer shooter nowadays. When you start a match of Team Deathmatch in Modern Warfare 2, you’re going to remain the same guy you came into the match as. In MNC, you feel pretty awesome when you start out as a weenie class and build up to an unstoppable, level three supersoldier.

But it runs as a double-edged sword. Where Modern Warfare 2 has an ongoing metagame where prizes are awarded for in-game achievements, MNC remains static from match to match. Money is awarded, but it’s not really used for anything important besides unlocking custom classes, which are essentially the same six except with adjustable DnD style perks. I still think the game is a blast, but some people need that incentive that Modern Warefare 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 have to keep playing an online shooter.

The Skills give each class versatility, and with their proper use they become invaluable. They alter the way you play a match. Say you’re using the gunner. You can upgrade his ability to transform turrets and become a brick wall of gunfire or you can build up your gunner’s grapple attack for a near one-hit KO on a close up enemy. This makes each match a different experience every time you try out new, unique combinations of powers until you eventually grow into the ultimate form of your class.

The actual tower defense is… interesting, but not quite fleshed out as I hoped it would be. Honestly, it’s all pre-planned turret placement, and not much else. Certain turrets are much more helpful when used in the right place at the right time.

I would have liked to have seen the guys at Uber Entertainment really push lots of cool, interesting forms of defense for your base. Maybe it’s the simplification that keeps the game balanced, but I think upgrades like forcefields and heat seeking rockets could have really escalated the insanity when the enemy’s robot drones start invading. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still something totally unique for an online multiplayer game, but it’s very apparent that Uber Entertainment wanted to create a balanced class based multiplayer shooter more than a tower defense game.

Of course, any online game has its fair share of glitches and networking problems. But at the cool fifteen dollar price point, the game is absolutely worth the money. It’s a blast to play with friends, and if properly supported, MNC will hold up much longer then the average XBLA multiplayer game. It’s a sound investment, and I hope this game is successful enough for us to see what the folks at Uber Entertainment think up next.

Tags: Monday Night Combat, multiplayer, summer of arcade, third person shooter, Uber Entertainment, xbla, Xbox 360

This entry was posted on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.