Monday Night Combat, a winner in a summer of losers
I’m a big fan of the Xbox Live Arcade, but so far this year’s Summer of Arcade has been less than exciting. The first title to get any sort of eyebrow raise from me has been Monday Night Combat, a tower defense/shooter all in one. And it’s not bad.
An otherwise boring summer
When the Summer of Arcade titles were announced I was excited for the Castlevania game. As many of you have probably discovered, it sucked bad. Poor design and bad implementation kept it from being a permanent resident in my library. Limbo was uninspiring to me and Hydro Thunder racing was good and fun, but a $15 price tag seemed a little steep.
As if the bad ass title wasn’t enough, Monday Night Combat is the first title to deliver any consistent amount of fun. Monday Night Combat is one part standard shooter and one part tower defense game, which is a unique combination that plays out pretty well. The game takes a lot out of the Team Fortress playbook with design and classes, so if you’re a TF2 fan then you’re already half way to being a MNC fan.
A unique combination of old favorites
The pace of Monday Night Combat is a little slow compared to a normal shooter, but given the tower defense part of the game, I like that it is not as fast paced. In playing the Crossfire mode, where two teams fight each other, the whole point is to destroy the other team’s Money Ball. In order to destroy the money ball, your team must send wave after wave of killbots across enemy lines…and naturally, your opponent is doing the same thing.
So as a player you have two chores, to shoot other human players while also helping keep the killbots at bay. But as in a normal tower defense fashion, you can build turrets and use other power-ups to help automatically fight the other team. And they can all be upgraded, as can your character’s power-ups.
Frankly, I’m just a fan of the theme of the game being a corporate blood sport of the future, a la The Running Man and Smash TV. The game comes with cheesy commentary, mascots, and of course, you’re playing for cold, hard cash. Collecting cash lets you buy power-ups, build turrets and helps you rank up. Finding your favorite class may take some time as each has a pretty unique combination of skills. Are you a BAMF, or are you a guy that hangs back and supports your team? Sly assassin with ninja-like moves or a slow tank? I’m not sure I’ve found my favorite quite yet, although I’ve done the best with the sniper.
Don't forget about the killbots!
Pick your class and learn it well
The single player modes aren’t much and aren’t as fast. It’s like playing a normal tower defense game but instead of getting a god-like view, you’re Builder Bob running around setting up turrets. It’s kind of frustrating trying to figure out where to spend your time, shooting bots yourself or setting up turrets. Needless to say, I think the Crossfire matches are the most fun, but the solo maps are great for learning classes.
The game looks good and it responds well. There are a few things and actions that are kind of awkward and frustrate you when playing, but it’s all just part of the learning curve. One of the most aggravating parts of MNC is playing with other humans. Much like in single player mode, players can’t seem to figure out the balance between shooting each other and managing their team’s killbots. You can’t spend too much time killing other players…it’s all about the killbots!
Monday Night Combat is a $15 buy and if you like the TF2-type shooters then this is right up your alley. It’s a slower, more stylized than modern shooters, but that’s not a bad thing.
