Short Thoughts: JackHammer

Having been invited back to the Green Man Gaming press event, I got the chance to try out another new title they’re releasing: JackHammer. A game where you control androids in a match of dodgeball. Being their first build, not all features were implemented with the technical issue encountered.

I shot first.

Despite my initial doubts of a competitive dodgeball game and a product being multiplayer based, this was more fun and entertaining than I thought. Facing off against other press members, the game showcased promising potential to be a game for coach and LAN events. With the fast paced action, the booster could zip from one side of the arena to the other and nip someone in the process. These types of games are prone to having varying levels of enjoyment and moment to moment gameplay. The multiplayer experience is heavily affected by its participants. Due to the 2v2 nature of our matches, the matches never felt terribly imbalanced with skill as some competitors at the event were definitely better than me. A loss didn’t linger thanks to the matches being short and the best of five kept the sting a loss to a minimum.

Feedback was given at the event, with aspects of the game not giving the player enough information such when the ball could be fired. But for its release, certain aspects could be improved such as the field of view being wider, larger selection of customisation options, and the shield being more powerful/bigger. But aside from that, this is a game that would need extra features before it’s ready for a full release.