Review of Catalyst Black, competitive shooter from the Vainglory team

If mobile gaming has made great strides in the last few years, we owe it to the investments of major publishers who have decided to expand the user base of their franchises to iOS and Android on the one hand, and the talents of indie developers on the other. . with a certain depth of previous experience, therefore conscious of what it is to pack a quality product.

Second, that’s definitely the case. Super Evil MegacorpThe team that revolutionized the MOBA genre in mobile with Vainglory in 2014 and is now trying to take the same step in the vein of competitive shooters, but using the aesthetic and approach of a multiplayer online battle arena.

What came out of it? We tell you this in our news Catalyst Black review.

gameplay

The most distinctive and distinctive aspect of Catalyst Black is undoubtedly its gameplayincluding the mechanics twin stick shooter it has an isometric view, it also uses the concept of arena as mentioned. The scenario where the matches take place and which changes depending on the mode, looks like a MOBA map, ready to be hit at the end, with its central corridor and AI-controlled enemies lurking to the sides. to give us the advantage of progress.

However, there is no ongoing upgrade: our character, who is basically the same but can change his gender and appearance by choosing from different options. skin The current can be equipped with a main and a secondary weapon (with limited ammo to pile around), some accessories that can provide small hints of health, stamina and speed, as well as a “mask” that marks the battlefield. transformation transformed into a large, powerful creature.

This feature can change the course of the match: by collecting certain objects and eliminating the aforementioned enemies, scrolling the countdown faster will allow us to transform and fight against our opponents with an independent health bar, we will release essential items. really powerful and different attacks depending on the monster we are.

Beyond this interesting variation on the theme, for the rest, traditional weapons dominate: from the basic assault rifle to the Gatling that accelerates when firing, from the shotgun to the sniper rifle to the flamethrower, there’s really a lot of gadgetry out there. Thanks to the resources obtained in each victory, we will be able to gradually use, unlock and improve them.

mode

A good free-to-play game, Catalyst Black doesn’t offer everything to its users. contents not immediately, but suggests a path that opens up new possibilities based on the level of experience gained. So let’s get started modality Massacre, a six-on-six deathmatch where the team that reaches twenty-five eliminations first wins, then switches to Hydra mode, which sets the conditions for victory to kill opponents three times, collect twenty pieces or destroy their “base” enemy team.

There’s also the Colosseum mode, a PvE where a group of players work together to eliminate five waves of increasingly powerful creatures, resulting in a spectacular boss fight; Eventide mode, the most complex and complete mode of the game, which brings together a series of events with different purposes in the context of a single match; and finally, Flag Hunt mode, which is a variation of the traditional Capture the Flag mode we all know.

this progression system Designed by Super Evil Megacorp, it works very well and is a solid starting point for anyone starting out trying their hand at Catalyst Black, as some mods can only be unlocked after a few hours of practice in the simplest and most pressing conditions. However, the matchmaking support works very well and you can get into the game in a matter of seconds without facing issues with lag.

Possibility to upgrade characters’ weapons and accessories through the obviously inescapable system. prize funds and three in-game currencies (dust, fives, and tokens) unlock pay-to-win It is balanced by the aforementioned matchmaking, which deals with a balanced distribution of skills to avoid creating one-way matches. However, we do not yet know whether this will be effective in the long term.

Technical realization

As stated at the outset, Super Evil Megacorp can’t rely on the budgets of the most famous publishers, but it has never stopped this California studio from packing the real stuff, which is of great production value. triple A mobile game This was accomplished thanks to the use of a powerful proprietary engine and the presence of talent who have worked on key development teams on PC and consoles.

Catalyst Black continues this tradition by offering an excellent set of characters and environments, lovely pastels and precious effects to enhance hits, explosions and environmental interactions. There graphic it can scale in detail and framerate to accommodate even older terminals, but it’s really nice to look at in its full potential.

On the one hand, the use of simple skins for the characters is disappointing, given that we’ve given up on allusions to a hero shooter-style setting that could actually bring more characters to the series and bring some real reference lore to life, but the equipment also comes in handy, which can be slower or faster depending on the barrel. It also affects our warrior’s movements and animations.

Sector sound While it accompanies the action in the best possible way with its epic orchestral soundtrack and convincing sound effects, the touch control system is basically perfect, free from one annoying blunder: it sometimes happens, instead of pointing the gun, the thumb makes the right-hand view of the frankly useless leap towards the end of the scenario. It will therefore be necessary to separate the entries well with subsequent updates.