Hyper Scape is Ubisoft's new Battle Royale. A game that will be released this summer on PC under a free-to-play model and with the difficult task of standing out in a market dominated by Fortnite, PUBG or Apex Legends, which are constantly being renewed.
Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, its main difference from the competition will be its verticality, the use of a Special powers and a integration with Twitch where the spectators will be able to modify certain parameters of the game. And how is all this put into practice? Do you have a chance against the rest?
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Last week we had the opportunity to play with other colleagues in the middle and part of the Ubisoft team for three hours to this Hyper Scape. It was a technical demo, still in development, so there is some room for improvement, of course.
We first witnessed a talk by Graeme Jennings (producer) and Jean-Christophe Guyot (creative director) to put ourselves in the situation, emphasizing that verticality of their urban map, with many high-rise buildings on which we can reach their rooftops. with relative ease thanks to the double jump and the ability to perform parkour taking advantage of the ledges. In this sense, the sensations with Crackdown were inevitable. Except we don't have to collect skill orbs here, although there are other items ...
Hyper scape stands out more clearly from the competition thanks to the use of powers, here called hacks. We can only have two assets at a time and some of them are somewhat reminiscent of titles like Overwatch or the recent Valorant. They are abilities that can make a difference in times of trouble and that have a cooldown time until their next use.
How Battle Royale it isWe will start from scratch by jumping into the void at the beginning of the game, having to search inside the buildings or in certain boxes on the roofs for weapons, ammunition or hacks to equip. And here comes the good thing: if we find any of these repeated, we can boost the weapon or skill in question up to a maximum of five levels. Recycling with reward. Well.
The city we will move through is called Neo Arcadia, a futuristic environment It seems to catch certain monuments of Paris, such as Notre Dame Cathedral (something that is not surprising knowing that it is from Ubisoft), but with the technological advances of living in 2054, like train lines above the houses. Ironically, 90% of the population lives in poverty, taking the tournament Hyper scape the fast (or deadly) way to a better life.
Ubisoft made it clear to us that all the characters will have their own story and motivations, knowing more about them throughout each season, despite the fact that in this technical demo that part was blocked. At the end of the day, we focus on the playable part and witness what it brings to the genre.
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Initial sensations that Hyper Scape gives off
Hyper Scape does not arrive to revolutionize the Battle Royale, but at least it brings some color to it thanks to the use of hacks. As we have said, they are abilities that will go from simple healing to turning us into a giant ball (!?) That can jump high, through creating a protective wall, making us temporarily invisible or spotting the closest enemies.
The squad can only be three people out of a total of 99 players per game and we will have total freedom to decide where to fall when propelled by our propellant capsules from the air. The funny thing is that depending on the number of players in the game, or simply so that no two are alike, the map will be modified from the beginning preventing access to certain regions.
Neo Arcadia, in any case and as with all Battle Royale, will gradually reduce its size by causing its districts to hurt us if we stay there when they have to be evacuated. The effect will be quite original, apparently a kind of virus that will "eat" the walls, as if it were a glitch. It can be a bit confusing at first, also if we ignore the indications of the game itself, but by displaying the map it becomes clearer.
It does not mean, however, that both this feature and others have not completely convinced us, such as the fact that we do not show more obvious indicators when we receive damage. And it is that there were few occasions where we did not even notice that we had been shot with a sniper rifle, being a weapon that kills you with two bullets ... In addition, we have noticed that a swing is required with certain weapons that either do little damage or stand out from the rest and are easier to use. Ubisoft is predisposed to readjustments, of course.
On the other hand, although Hyper scape be it a very vertical shooter, we were surprised by that emphasis on entering buildings to collect weapons or hacks, in many cases having quite a few plants to go. In addition, to enter these buildings you have to break a kind of glass doors.
A detail that resembles the recent Call of Duty: Warzone is the fact that we can revive our companions fallen in combat, although it will not always be from the same point where they die, partly due to the randomness of the collapse of the scenario as the game progresses. In fact, everything starts as a standard Battle Royale (where the squad that remains alive wins), but if the game is prolonged, a final fight is entered in a much smaller space where a wow factor: a crown that will serve to win instantly if we endure less than a minute with it. And it is not easy to achieve it.
And what about the integration with Twitch? Through a series of spectator events, there will be three options for modify game behavior, such as dramatically reducing severity. They will be short-lived events, but they achieve more interaction in the broadcasts. In addition, there will also be an option to invite squad directly from Twitch.
Ubisoft has just made its technical test on PC official (through Uplay) from today (July 2) until next day 7. Its launch is scheduled for this summer on PC, with an equally close release on PS4 and Xbox One.
It has little things that we liked, but we have also experienced a certain déjà vu with other songs and we see it difficult for it to compete (for now) with the greatest. We will have to see how these months evolve on consoles and PC.
