New developers and publishing company Bit Dragon debut their skills with a new Arena Brawler, Hyper Jam. Advertised as “The neon-soaked Arena Brawler you’ve been waiting for”. Hyper Jam offers an enjoyable and somewhat engaging brawler that fits itself into a neon grunge era with fast-paced action of swords versus rocket launchers, this game has a lot of potential and could have held my attention in what it brings in the future if it wasn’t for the story.
There is none. They offer no explanation as to why the four playable characters are fighting or even as to who the characters are in this brawler world they have created and it is a letdown. As I’ve mentioned this game has a lot of potential for something great, the addition of even a little back story would go a long way to drag a player in and keep them but without it I’m worried the neon glow of Hyper Jam will be short-lived.
So how does it play…
Hyper Jam is a 4 player local or online multiplayer game that fits itself very nicely as a party game, Each match consists of several rounds and ends when a player reaches a certain number of points. Points earned throughout a round depend on kills made, skill and of course, survival.
Each player is on equal footing at the start of a match with a basic dash, punch and deflector shield. Throughout the game weapons drop ranging from swords to grenade and rocket launchers creating quick and sometimes intense gameplay. After each round everyone gets to choose from a pool of perks which are surprisingly diverse, ranging from attacks that can set your opponent on fire or freeze them to longer dashes, shorter times between each dash and extra health to only name a few, the only difference here is that the person who did the worst gets first pick of the perks, moving on to the next worst and so on ending with the winner of the round choosing last making it so the weaker players get first chance to stack abilities to their own style and giving every player a fair chance to win outright.
Does it match up.?
In a genre where you are competing against the likes of Super Smash Bros at the best and Gang Beasts at the worst, Hyper Jam offers little innovation and less replayability.
Albeit visually stunning with “neon-soaked” being the best way to describe it, flashy light effects, stunning maps and some great synthetic music it really is disappointing not being able to keep players entertained for anything longer than an hour or so every few days.
Having played it with a few friends to get some varied views the game only lasted 2 hours before being switched out for something else and it all came back with the same opinion; fun but could be great
Is it worth it…
If you’re in the habit of having friends over and are looking for something new you can play together or to help spark some new life into any LAN party it is worth the money, however, Hyper Jam is the neon-soaked arena brawler that could do with a little extra work.
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