Hybrid Review: Unique And Addicting Gameplay

Hybrid Review: Unique and Addicting Gameplay

Hybrid
Xbox Live Arcade
Shooter

Hybrid could quite possibly be the latest addition added to the Xbox Live Arcade in this online only third-person shooter. It takes the third-person shooter genre to a new level with its unique gameplay. It features all of your basic weapons, upgrades, abilities and more with a nice selection in the armory. What makes this arcade shooter different is the gameplay, as it’s a point-to-point positional shooter. You are not running around a map and hiding wherever you prefer, instead, you have maps that feature cover platforms in many different locations for you to jet-pack from one position to the next. As you automatically fly to that position you do have control on how high or low you can go as well as strafe from left to right. You also have the ability to boost your jet-pack to get you to that position a lot quicker. This may sound a little bit confusing, but to help you understand, I captured some video of one of my gameplay sessions.

Team Deathmatch Gameplay Footage

It takes a while to get use to the gameplay, especially with the quickness that is involved at times. It’ll take you a small bit of time to get use to selecting one position to the next, boosting along and strafing gunfire. You can easily and quickly jump from cover on one side of the wall to the other and if you need to, there is a quick escape button that sends you back to the last position that you came from. It’s certainly different, but once you get the hang of it, it does become addicting. One bit of advice for when you first begin – I was put into a room with all high level players on the other team, and my team and I got completely rolled over to the point that we couldn’t really move after getting spawned. It was a pretty horrible first match experience, but thankfully it didn’t happen again. You will certainly need to give the game time to learn the controls and how the maps work; once you do you’ll be a lot better off and really begin to enjoy the game.

You will join one of two factions and fight online throughout many territories for world domination. You start out with a world map to choose a specific territory to do battle in. As Hybrid is online only, it has a pretty simple matchmaking process; however, it takes a while for it to set you up with a match. It’s not horrible, but it certainly pushes your patience with the wait time. Once you get into a lobby in your 3v3 match, you will vote on a map with a random game type. There are 10 playable maps and the game features gameplay modes such as basic team deathmatch, mercenaries and objective related game modes. Once the game begins to load you will be able to edit the gear that you would like to use in the game. Once the game begins, the most important factor to the gameplay is the kill streak rewards. If you begin a kill streak you will be able to call out drones to help you. They can be a great asset to you, yet they are not overly powerful to the point that it’s difficult to deal with. You can shoot the drones down fairly easily. The highest kill streak does give you a guaranteed kill, but it doesn’t stick around like the drones do. It’s basically an assassin that goes to a nearby enemy and kills him.

King of the Hill Gameplay Footage

This is easily a fun and addicting shooter once you get the hang of it and how it plays. Hybrid is easily a game that can steal many hours away from you as you level up and unlock new weapons and gear in your armory. The maps are pretty simple, but well designed with the layout that makes it fun to do battle in. The positioning of some of the cover platforms is well done also and it gives you that sense that you have a good spot. I only wish the matchmaking process was a little bit quicker, but besides that this game is a winner – an addictive winner. If you love shooters then this is certainly one you need to check out.

Score: 8.5/10