SPLAT Magazine Renegade Paintball – XB – Review

It had to
happen eventually. Fishing, Deer Hunting, Miniature Golf – they made it to the
game industry, why not every sport? Why not take the craft of first-person
shooting and build a game that’s based on a sport where skilled shooting
equals big success? Doing so eliminates the need for puzzles, a story, unique
characters, real-time clips, and anything else that has become the norm for
the genre. It also means no more messy blood and gore. Don’t enough games have
that as is?

Cat Daddy
Games saw an opportunity and didn’t pass it up. Cat Daddy is the creator of
Renegade Paintball, the shooter with a splat of permanent markings and
temporary pain. Half of what you’ve come to know about the genre has been
forgotten; the rest lives on in a less-violent and less-intense form.

Renegade
Paintball controls the same as any shooter. Duck, crawl and strafe to avoid
getting hit. One hit is all it takes to knock you out, in which case the
player that’s been shot will raise his/her hand and be unable to continue for
about seven seconds. I haven’t experienced the real game of paintball so I
couldn’t tell you if there’s a rule against running, but in Renegade Paintball
you cannot run at full speed and shoot at the same time.

Movement is
typically speedy, though not as fast as Halo or Half-Life. If you want to run
even faster you’ll have to hold down the Y button. Your character will then
hold the gun close, away from any potential targets, and sprint until the
sprint meter has depleted. Whether there’s a real-world rule that validates
this gameplay element or not, Renegade Paintball would have benefited from its
absence.

Aiming is
pretty smooth, though you might be confused as to why your perfectly aimed
shots aren’t lining up at first. In video games bullets go on forever. Any
object that’s in view can be hit – all you have to do is shoot it. That’s not
how paintball works. Paintballs lose momentum quickly and take a dive not long
after being fired. Close shots are not a problem, but attempt to hit an
opponent from afar and it’s doubtful that you’ll succeed.

The 10+
environments are based on real paintball locations, featuring the same look
and feel that you’re familiar with. Outdoor locations are small but have at
least a couple of paths to take when seeking territory. A bit of strategy is
needed in deciding which path to take. Computer-controlled opponents tend to
stick together and like to attack from one area. Take the wrong path and
you’ll end up in their line of fire, receiving a hit to the chest before you
realize they’re there.

The radar on
the top left corner of the screen lets you know exactly where your opponents
are at all times. However, it does not warn you of objects that could block
your view. Smart enemies know that barriers are sometimes less effective than
bushes. Skilled players will successfully shoot through them while a new
player (whom the AI expects to encounter) will be oblivious and be the one to
take the hit. Had the AI directed its team behind thick barriers like a shack
or an old vehicle, they would have had to peak out before being able to shoot,
revealing their exact location to all who are paying attention.

That’s where
the game got me the most. Stay focused and I’d win; let my mind wander and I’d
lose. Though you could say that about any first-person shooter, many are
shooter-heavy and don’t take much thought. At least Renegade got this aspect
right.

Further play
reveals another major difference between Renegade and other first-person
shooters: weapon selection. It’d be nice if there were a rocket launcher for
paintballs, a shotgun, varying degrees of handguns, and maybe a machinegun or
two that fires paintballs rapidly. None of these things exist in real
paintball, thus they don’t exist here either.

The closest
this game gets to approaching a video game element (fictitious fun) is via its
six power-ups: Ghost (invisibility), Sniper, Invincibility, Ricochet, Cannon
Ball and Rapid Fire. These mostly make up for the lack of different weapons,
but since they’re power-ups you can’t have them all the time, only when the
game decides to let you acquire one. No matter how much you love paintball
you’re going to get tired of firing the same gun repeatedly, regardless of
whether or not it can be enhanced. Static stimuli leaves gamers bored.

Game types
like King of the Hill are very similar to the play types of other first-person
shooters, but temporary elimination is the best way to win. Your opponents
can’t be the King of Anything if they’re unable to fire.

The T-rating
is a bit strange. The ESRB warns of "mild violence" and "suggestive themes,"
but it doesn’t even approach the content level of what you’d see on regular
ESPN programming.

I’m sure
there will be a parent or two out there who thinks, "Wow, a non-lethal FPS!
This is perfect for my child!" Kids want intense action, not a paintball
simulator. If you don’t think they’re old enough to play a real FPS, giving
them Renegade is hardly a substitute.

Review Scoring Details for Renegade Paintball

Gameplay: 5.0
First-person
splat-ing? Renegade Paintball is the little shooter that could but doesn’t. It
doesn’t do much of anything except throw you into a safe environment where one
hit eliminates and blood is never spilled. I like it when developers try
something different, but not every sport is meant to be a video game.
First-person shooter fans won’t be the least bit thrilled, and I highly doubt
that people who play real paintball will be excited to play a game that’s 20
times slower and less intense than the real thing.

Graphics: 6.5
Not horrible, but
certainly not great. Renegade Paintball has dozens of acceptable objects. The
visuals are damaged by the characters, which have generic animations and lack
the graphical punch every Xbox game should have. Even though they could’ve
shined with the proper texturing, the environments aren’t much better.

Sound: 4.0
Uhh…what sound?
This game is too quiet. There’s typical rock music (like the filler sports
channels use at the beginning of a segment), the weak sound of a paintball gun
firing, and not much else.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
If real paintball
were this easy no one would bother playing. With only one type of opponent,
small levels and repetitive goals, Renegade Paintball doesn’t ask enough of
the player.

Concept: 6.0
I can’t fathom a
way for this game to work. You could add different kinds of paintball guns and
add a lot of fictitious elements, but then suddenly it loses its connection to
paintball and becomes like every other FPS. The whole point is that this is a
paintball shooter, not another Halo clone. But this is a video game based on a
real game.

Let me put
it this way: what would you rather do, get out there and play football with
the pros or sit in front of a couch and control the action with a controller?
Football, however, makes for an entertaining video game that represents the
sport very well. Paintball does not.

Multiplayer: 4.0
I didn’t think a
first-person shooter’s multiplayer mode could ever fall below its
single-player campaign. Renegade Paintball proves me wrong, turning a Saturday
afternoon with friends into a boring weekend as you leave splat marks on each
other’s virtual bodies.

Overall: 5.0
As basic as a
first-person shooter can come. No jumping, no full-speed running and shooting,
no original or interesting play mechanics that make you say, "Who needs
bullets, I’ve got a paintball gun!" The game is too slow to be a non-lethal
alternative to the genre; too mundane to be an alternative to playing the real
thing. Deer Hunter and other casual games scored big by targeting a market
that had never played a game before. If Renegade can reach that market it too
will be a success. However, this is Xbox, and I don’t know anyone who owns the
system that hasn’t played a game before. Halo sold the console. Do you see
what I’m getting at?