Does the world need another Battle Royale? Probably not. But I do! I love the buggers. And now Ubisoft are making a foray into the field with Hyper Scape.
The question is, has that ship sailed? And what can Hyper Scape do to set itself apart from the competition?
Hyper Scape?
It seems to me that Hyper Scape’s sights are set squarely on the Apex Legends market. First-person, slick, futurisic and with a lean on mobility that makes it a faster-paced affair than Warzone of PUBG.
That being said, is it likely to hold a candle to those already well-established titles?
I got access to the technical test this weekend (my first ever PC test!!) and I’ve decided to give it as much time as I can. After a couple of hours so far, I think I really like it.
The main selling point is going to be the mobility and verticality. Hyper Scape gives you a double jump, good running speed and a city map that is just screaming for you to run from rooftop to rooftop.
It’s almost got a touch of Mirror’s Edge about it. Although parkour isn’t the name of the game. Just freedom to move between rooftops, to alleyways, to the insides of buildings.
Hyper Scape offers a lot of choice when you’re moving about and trying to get from point A to point B.
I really liked the drop pods, and the futuristic disintegaration into the map. Fluid traversal and quick to pick-up weapons and the “hacks” which act as additional abilities you can pick up (holding 2 at any one time).
This is where Hyper Scape becomes it’s own game. I was able to do a short teleport/dash like I was playing Dishonored. I could go invisible at my own discretion if I wanted to. Armor, the ability to turn into a bouncy ball…..you name it.
Sure, I’ve not got to grips with everything yet. But what I’ve seen so far is cool as hell. Hyper Scape could be the next big Battle Royale.
It’s not all gold
Technical test or not, there were a couple of things that stood out to me that could do with some improvement.
Hyper Scape has some cool looking weapons, but the time to kill on some of them is ridiculous. If I’m using a grenade launcher, I’d expect the damage to be higher than it currently is.
Shotguns at point-blank seemed to be a two-shot affair. Negating the risk/reward of getting close for the kill, which was a shame.
Weapons can be tweaked, though, so that’s just balancing and taking feedback from the test. Cool.
What Hyper Scape seems to lack, though is more intangible. There’s this slick, futurism and honestly, it’s dripping in style. It looks great, and it feels really good to play. But there’s no personality.
The avatars you can choose from are quite generic, there’s nothing really different about them, nothing that defines them as characters. The whole map and world exists and looks amazing. But there’s no buy-in.
Sure there’s some context provided from links that people I follow on Twitter, that took me to a site about “Prisma Dimensions” (I can’t find it now….). But I was too busy looking for the sign-up links to really pay attention.
Hyper Scape, at the minute feels a bit like a christmas bauble. Really shiny and pretty, but hollow.
I’m hopeful that it’ll change, and let’s be fair. We’re testing to see if it works. The rest can and presumably will come later on (looking at the website, there’s a cast of characters to come).
I’ll be doing more tesing over the weekend and keeping an eye on Hyper Scape. It’s a blast to play, and I want to get in on the ground floor with this one.
There’s more to talk about, like Twitch integration, the death/revival process and more of the nuances during gameplay. I’ll get to that next week. For now, though, Hyper Scape is looking very promising and I’ll be streaming when possible over on Twitch (now Mixer is dead….), join me if you can!