Shootmania is one those games where watching other people play is more exciting than playing yourself. Competition is in its blood and spectators can easily follow along.
Shootmania as an arena FPS is pretty simple. People run around shooting rockets at each other in symmetrical maps with ramps and vertical lifts. Rockets fly across the map while players try to get a better angle on each other by jumping around.There’s a lot of chaos in the arena, but even more one on one dueling. Duels can get intense when you’re trying to predict your opponents next move. Sometimes, they’ll turn into peekaboo matches where the two players will hide behind the same wall trying to get a shot off on each other. The outcome of these matches is unpredictable; maybe someone will land an aimed shot or get lucky. Perks, AI-controlled enemies, and unlockable weapons are things Shootmania doesn’t have. There’s nothing standing between you and another player because everyone has the same weapon. That’s makes Shootmania competitive; there’s nothing stopping you from eliminating another player.
I find that idea of “skill vs skill” interesting in Shootmania because it’s linked with a ranking system. Every time I played a match or two, my ranking would be adjusted as I played. If I’m having a bad day, I can’t run from my rank because it’s displayed everywhere I go; it’s in the main menu and the in-game scoreboard. My performance in every game is recorded and calculated using factors like how many shots I dodged, pole captures, close hits, and eliminations I’ve done. All of this information is represented by a number on the scoreboard and everyone can see it. This is where Shootmania starts to feel more like a benchmark. The ranking system measures my performance in-game and shows everyone what kind of player I am.
Ranks matter especially since it’s displayed in the scoreboard because everyone knows what kind of threat I posed. I remember watching a North American rank 12 player get chased down by the other team. A player who is rank 12 deserves to be rank 12 because he worked for it. He didn’t call in mortar strikes or sentry guns to get to where he is now. Every hit, elimination, pole capture was earned by him. The enemy team knew this and they tried to eliminate him for it. The rank 12 player ended up eliminating all three of the enemy players on his own. A rank 12 is a force to be reckoned with. People targeted him instead of the rest of his team. The rank 12 posed a larger threat than his entire team combined. In Shootmania, people use ranks determine target priority; people will try to eliminate the higher ranked players like the rank 12 to make their lives easier.
There is no golden weapon, only golden players. One player can make a huge difference in Shootmania. As long as one person on the team is good compared to everyone else in the match, that team will win often. But if you’re that one person, there is a lot of pressure since everyone is counting on you to win the game for the team. When you’re the last man standing, the pressure multiplies tenfold because everyone in the game is now watching you duke it out with the other team. There’s a lot of suspense in moments like that which makes Shootmania a great competitive FPS. You can’t tell what will happen in those moments either; maybe the last man standing will eliminate four players or fight for the flag in a one on one duel.
It’s hard to find matches that are populated. On a normal day there’s around ten to twenty people on at a time in the North America Region. Apparently, Shootmania is bigger in Europe than it is in the US, so Europeans might have an easier time finding matches than I did. A low multiplayer population count isn’t a bad thing, as long as people seem to know each other. Every once in a while, a stranger will come by and everyone is friendly for the most part. Most of the time, they’ll give out advice to each other, even to people on the other team. For the most part, everyone I’ve met has been really friendly and welcoming.
Is It Worth Your Money?
If you’re into arena FPS games and like a little competition, Shootmania is definitely worth buying, especially at the $20 price tag. Each match gets very suspenseful and keeps you guessing. It’s almost impossible to tell what will happen in a game, but the ranking system will give you a good idea of the outcome. Ranks are a huge part of the game and I found it really interesting that they’ll affect how people will play, in that they will prioritize who they should eliminate first. There’s a lot more to Shootmania than meets the eye.
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