Arcadegeddon is a 3-player co-op shooter released into early access in early July through the efforts of the Friv2Online team. It's nice to see that after the disastrous launch of Predator: Hunting Grounds, Colorado friv game developers have not lost heart, but are working on a promising game in their own fantasy universe. We share our impressions.
Although this is not a very favorable comparison for Arcadegeddon, but in general terms it is similar to Risk of Rain 2. True, it was precisely because of the excellent rogue-like component, crazy replayability and musical accompaniment that the latter was a resounding success, while Friv2Online relied on spectacular cooperative shootouts and an expressive underground setting in the entourage of the early 80s, limited to rogue-lite elements.
Here they have an evil super megacorporation, and youngsters rebellious against the system, very strong beats and so many neon lights that it’s time to nerf the color of the monitor. Friv2Online even screwed ray tracing for reflections and AMD FSR 1.0 into Arcadegeddon to make it not only look amazing, but also fly.
Algorithms that create unique worlds work very mediocrely (locations are often repeated), but character builds and weapons, emerging tasks and bosses hiding in portals adequately obey the will of the random house. At the same time, the players themselves set the pace and comfortable level of difficulty for the run, depending on whether they want to chill together in Arcadegeddon or overcome.
WHAT IS THE GAME ABOUT?
In the metropolis of Super City, monopolists from FunFUNco have taken the gaming industry seriously, but the brilliant inventor and developer Uncle Gilly has built a unique arcadegeddon machine - the last stronghold of independent gaming, capable of returning its former popularity to the arcade hall.
The problem is that the corporations somehow got wind of the development, infected the code with a virus, and even messed up the leaderboard. The more a person plays Arcadegeddon, the slower the virus spreads, so Jilly gathers a resistance squad of hardened gamers to help him calibrate the machine.
Players, alone or as part of a pre-assembled group of friends, fall into random worlds overrun with militant robots, traps, exploding objects, and boxes of bonus points. The worlds are linear, but multi-level, with many branches, exploring which is highly likely to find additional boxes with loot.
During the run, the starting pistol and baseball bat are exchanged for cooler equipment - the quality of the loot will depend on the color of the chest (from gray to the rarest gold). Arcadegeddon has six weapons manufacturers - from two to five varieties of each brand, as well as ten unique guns, such as a minigun, a flamethrower and even a pump, to inflate and immediately blow up strong opponents.
The most valuable loot is considered to be hacks - modification modules that are attached to the character upon selection and remain with him until the end of the run. Basically, these are bonuses to some type of weapon, additional energy shield or health points, accelerated running or reviving an ally.
In addition, each runner has a glove on his hand, to which you can bind up to two ultimate abilities. Initially, they are all blocked, but as you level up, they become available and you can change them in a special machine inside Arcadegeddon or in the hub.
There are eight abilities in total - from a digital fireball that attracts black hole enemies, a freeze shot and a hand-held pet glitch, to a miniature tornado, orbital bombardment of an area, a protective drone and a medical dome. Ultimate skills are charged during the battle and can be used an infinite number of times.
A defeated player can be picked up by an ally, but even the death of the entire group will not be final if the comrades have enough points to buy an extra life. To break through the blocked passages, session participants have to complete mini-quests. For example, hold the area, look for keys hidden in chests, shoot bugs, or just hold out for some time under the onslaught of the horde.
The locations inside Arcadegeddon are separated by a safe area that contains a treatment center, a weapon shop, and a sinister-looking device that looks like a fortune telling machine that increases the difficulty of running. You pay for everything with points. Each player has an individual account, which he is free to dispose of at his discretion.
At the end of the run, statistics are calculated, the results of which will determine the number of reward tickets - the main friv game currency that remains on the account and does not burn out after a foray into Jilly's arcade world.
WHAT WE LIKED:
The ticket system seemed interesting to me. Friv2Online came up with their own analogue of saving experience on death, tied to the customization of heroes. Players spend tickets in a clothing store, the assortment of which changes every few hours and is individual for each session participant. There are not very many clothes there yet, but the exterior comes across cool. I bet Jilly's shop will be bursting with fancy skins, clothes, and accessories closer to release;
In a safe, level-separating zone, a Battle Mode machine is installed, in which players forget that they are allies for a while and fight against each other or in PvPvE matches in unique arenas. The friv game equips all participants with random identical weapons, gives them infinite ammo and exactly one minute of fun. The winner of the brawl receives a chest with guns, hacks and extra points;
play video
Bosses in the game do not appear in the corridors of levels - players find portals in their realms during the run. So far, they are easier to fight than we would like, mainly due to bugs, but the bosses themselves are drawn very cool, they can change tactics and use a large number of attacks. Unique arenas have been created for them too;
Jilly's gym has a bunch of gaming gangs hanging out giving players errands that Arcadegeddon calls "challenges." It consists of one main task and three additional tasks that must be completed within one run. The reward for the main task is a huge amount of experience, and for the secondary ones - the head, hairstyle and outfit of the quest giver directly.
WHAT DID NOT LIKE:
There are quite a few annoying bugs in Arcadegeddon right now, related to getting stuck or randomly teleporting opponents. This is not very significant on easy difficulty, but somewhere at the eighth or ninth level, when the onslaught is getting more and more impressive, and the enemies are getting thicker, you can easily die due to a ridiculous glitch;
It is not possible to change the control layout in the game, even if you use the keyboard and mouse. There is nothing to add here - this is inconvenient;
As I mentioned above, the locations are often repeated, and the enemies do not shine with variety. It is clear that this is only the beginning, but I wanted more variability;
The game has an interface that displays all the modifications selected by the players, but for some reason it is not possible to see what kind of guns you have in your inventory. Most Arcadegeddon mods are designed to enhance one or another type of weapon, but the weapons themselves are very futuristic and sometimes it is not clear whether you are holding an SMG or an automatic carbine;
Weapons and hacks found in chests are common to all session participants. And this is inconvenient if the players jointly complete the quest, one of the side quests of which is to collect, for example, fifteen hacks during the run. Progress is also not shared between missions to destroy a certain number of boxes, while after the boss fight everyone gets their own loot.
WORTH TAKING?
The question is very difficult. The friv game is still quite raw, there is very little content in it, and the visual style with an abundance of bright colors and characters reminiscent of the main characters of the Escape from Planet Earth cartoon can easily scare you away.
In the meantime, if you like the concept behind Risk of Rain 2, Arcadegeddon is worth a look. But keep in mind that there is no automatic selection of partners in the friv game, and clearing locations in it is many times more interesting with friends than solo.