Review: Shadowgun War Games
Shadowgun War Games is a first person hero shooter available on both iOS and Android and coming soon to Nintendo Switch. Hero shooters have gained popularity after Overwatch set the world on fire. It’s a free to play mobile game; can it really a contend in this space? Let’s find out.
Characters
Shadowgun War Games is a hero shooter, so you need good characters. The characters are pretty varied and feel different from each other. They all have their own guns and skillsets. The characters are designed well, and look great, but they are very basic. They are also lacking personality. They each have a bio of roughly two sentences — not enough to get to know them. They only have five to choose from now, with more coming soon. Of the five available, there are no characters that stand out from a gameplay perspective, but visually they all look unique. I know more are coming soon, but to be a hero shooter, they need to get more characters in there as soon as possible.
Things get a little stale quickly when you see the same characters over and over.
Controls and Gameplay
Games that require quick and precise movements on mobile can be tough; Shadowgun War Games succeeds heavily in this aspect.
The controls are extremely customizable. You can change everything from button placement to how your character shoots. By default, your character will automatically shoot, but you can go into settings and add a dedicated shoot button. Most games that have auto shooting feel off for me — this was an exception.
To me, War Games felt better with the auto shoot than the dedicated button. This was all about quick responses and the auto shoot was quick — quicker than me hitting the fire button.
If you do elect for the fire button, you can adjust the placement, and the size, of the button mid match to get it as comfortable as possible.
The gameplay was great as well. Moving around the maps felt great, aiming felt precise, and shooting was satisfying. The gameplay felt so good but it was in constant battle with the poor map design. All the areas felt the same and got old quick. Playing the game just made me think about how much better it would be with maps you really care about.
Modes
Right now there are only two modes, but like the characters, more are coming soon. There is a team deathmatch mode and a capture the flag mode; two very standard modes to have in a first person shooter. Overwatch is a great hero shooter, it has lots of characters, but also has these two modes plus more. This game really needs more.
More is the motif of this review.
Team Deathmatch is my favorite of the two modes, mostly because you have a winner at the end of the round. Most of the capture the flag matches I played ended in a draw, with no one scoring. Seeing a 0–0 score at the end of so many rounds is just disappointing.
The map layouts are simply not a good fit for this kind of game mode. Stick with Team Deathmatch.
In-App Purchases
No game in today’s world is complete without a battle pass, so of course, Shadowgun War Games has a battle pass. It offers the same kind of purchase you get with other games in the genre: you can buy the basic battle pass for $9.99, or you can buy a more expensive one that comes leveled up already.
I never felt at a disadvantage for not purchases anything. Everything was cosmetic or emotes. The only thing that was not cosmetic was an XP booster but that was it.
Overall, it’s very fair for free-to-play players.
Verdict
Shadowgun War Games is a hero shooter that feels great to play, but sadly is lacking in many aspects. Bad map design, and a lack of modes and heroes, holds this one back. I hope this is just the beginning and I can look back and say they had a rocky start. Even with these downsides, I still did enjoy my time. I give this one a thumbs up and recommend it for anyone who likes to play shooters on the go. Remember, it’s free and extremely fair, so you have nothing to lose if you try it.
Final Score: — 5/10 —
For more reviews, be sure to check out my thoughts on Butter Royale and Pilgrims, plus my Monthly Mobile Gaming Report. As always, check us out on Twitter @TheSpinchoon and I’m @Big_Broons.
