TOXIKK

Remember the good old days of Unreal Tournament? Where you and your buddies could just hook your computers up together and have a massive death match? Where there was no regenerating health or obnoxious constant voice chat? When an FPS was filled with silent characters that never talked, crazy guns and ridiculous speed and power? Well, if you do or if you're curious about a game like that, look no further than TOXIKK from Reakktor Studios: an indie that's a throwback to the old games of yore. The slogan in the description is “Frag like it's 1999,” and that's accurate statement to what the game is.

Here, it's a case of “What you see is what you get,” and that's not a bad thing. There are many people who enjoy this kind of multiplayer experience, and TOXIKK is entirely geared toward those people. It's not meant for those who are entirely in love with modern shooters like Call of Duty and aren't willing to change their gaming style. In every way this is a throwback to classic games and how people used to play them, and in this case it's constant throughout the game. When an inexperienced player plays this game for the first time they will die, even if they are experienced with Unreal Tournament. There are people on the multiplayer servers that have been playing this game since release, so whenever you join an online match you might as well write “free kill” on your head because that's what you are. In the beginning you will very rarely find yourself with a positive kill/death ratio, and if you do then you adapted to this game far faster than most could. If that is the case: congratulations, this game is perfect for you.

There are a few odd things about TOXIKK's graphics options, like having the motion blur on by default, which can leave some players very sick. There are times where it'll turn on even after you turn it off, which can leave players with frustration on top of their headaches or nausea. Always check the menu before going into a match to make sure this doesn't happen if you're some who has issues with that. On top of that, the entire screen moves around at times when you're trying to select an option, which can be downright disorienting if you're not expecting it. Looking at the settings before the beginning of every game is a must.

An experience and bounty system is implemented in the core of the game in order to help the game differentiate itself from shooters of the past. The experience system is used for rankings and to help the online matchmaking feature, and the bounty system is mostly in game to help the score of the player, giving certain players more points if they kill off a particularly dangerous player. This leads to humorous moments if you're a new player who manages to kill a player with a high bounty, but that humor will turn to terror once you realize that now everyone is out for your blood to get your bounty. It's a double edged sword in that sense.

TOXIKK has two different types of arenas: smaller ones for tense close quarters combat, and massive ones for epic battles, which include various vehicles. All of the maps have the same selection of nine weapons, each with two modes of firing; a primary and a secondary. This allows the usage of these weapons to be varied enough so things don't get stale too fast. The player will often find themselves frantically switching between weapons in an attempt to find the best weapon for each situation. This adds a depth of strategy to fights, and when vehicles are involved the strategy gets considerably more complex. TOXIKK requires the player to be on their toes constantly, because you never know when you're going to get randomly attacked by another player.

In addition to the online mode there is a mode where you can fight against robots in order to practice your skills. It's recommended you do this first in order to get the hang of the game, unless you want to throw yourself immediately to the wolves. TOXIKK has three game modes: free-for-all, team deathmatch and capture the flag, which are all available in practice mode. This is a good way of getting used to each mode and for figuring out the three maps that they have available now. Map awareness is always one of the most important parts of any multiplayer arena-esque experience, so practice here is crucial considering each map has multiple ways of getting around and multiple strategies for doing so.

The gameplay is slick and is as much of an old school FPS as one would expect it to be. You grab guns and items from the map; you lose health but can't just duck behind a wall to regenerate it, you have to go get a health pack. There are no shields either, so the same thing applies. Vehicles control like actual vehicles and aren't broken, if you try to fight a vehicle with a pistol, you're going to lose unless you are extremely lucky. Aiming isn't the easiest thing in these armored death machines, but since you're more than likely shooting and driving that's understandable. TOXIKK isn't a free to play FPS; it's entirely based upon the skill of the player to determine how well they do in each map. Other than older players having more experience, the game is balanced. Every single time you die it's because of your lack of skill versus the other player. You can't blame anything for this, every move you make is entirely your own.

One shocking thing about TOXIKK is the lack of microphone talk or chatter among the players in general. For most part everyone just says orders and follows through with them, rather than idly taunting someone. This is a welcome change of pace because rather than having obscenities typed or screamed at you constantly, you actually just talk about the game. On the forums the community itself is very supportive of new players, and has multiple guides on how to get started. Despite being a game entirely about blowing people to pieces, the community is very positive and welcoming. This is really a welcome change compared to certain other FPS communities.

TOXIKK can be a difficult game to get used to if you're not familiar with its style. It is made for a specific demographic of people who love FPS and Unreal Tournament-style arena matches. It's fun and chaotic, filled to the brim with just good old fashioned fragging fun. Early Access is treating this game well, because it allows players to give input upon each and every update. As it stands now, TOXIKK will improve over time and may be the game that classic FPS fans are looking for. One can only tell when the game's finished.

Angelina Bonilla, NoobFeed (@Twitter)