ShockRods Reviews

No playerbase. Just bots (for now?). Wait for sale.

This game looks dead. It feels like it hasn't been updated in a long time. It's so sad.

If you're looking for a shooter with a strong case of 'just one more round' syndrome - this is your next addiction.

This is the goldeneye of car games. I love it. So mobile and maneuverable. I had a good time playing.

Played it for about 30 mins. It's pretty bad. Zero detail put into this game. I'd pay $5, not $25.

played it for a half hour, used cheat engine to give myself all of sk, that's about where the content ends. I'll buy this for 3 dollars.

This game is so good, the combat is fun and balanced and everything is f'n great, i just got it for all my friends because its so good!

No controller support, but it made a bit more sense once I started actually playing. This really does not suit that style of control as well as I would have liked upon purchasing it. The game itself is fun, but I was only facing bots. It seems easy enough to unlock all the customization, and they give you color sliders so you can get a good scheme going. The ui is crap. It needs attention.

If you experienced any form of '90s PC gaming, more than likely, you know the name of [b]Carmageddon[/b]. In short, it was a brutal, controversial, genre-defining car combat video game. It had the blood splatters, the dystopian vehicles, the bleak locations, the offbeat humor, the industrial music, the addicting gameplay, and more. [b]Stainless Games[/b] was the company behind the madness. After [b]Carmageddon II[/b] in 1998, Stainless dropped off the radar. They made sporadic one-off games, and a brief stint with [b]Magic the Gathering[/b]. Eventually, they regained the Carmageddon brand. They first released a well-received mobile port of the first game. They then released [b]Carmageddon: Reincarnation[/b], the long-awaited sequel (aka revival) in the series. It was followed shortly by [b]Carmageddon: Max Damage[/b], which for the most part, was the same game but more polished and more content (and owners of Reincarnation received Max Damage for free, a plus). Sadly, the writing was on the wall for Stainless. Due to various reasons, they pawned off the Carmageddon series to [b]THQ Nordic[/b], where its days are currently spent in the ground. Stainless moved on, but, not completely. [b]ShockRods[/b] is the studio's newest project. The best description of the game is a cross between car combat and arena shooters. It is like as if someone got bored of simply driving a car, and instead, wanted to control it like a first-person shooter. That seems to be the entire premise of ShockRods, and although the handprint of Stainless remains, that is both good and bad. Since Stainless is known for their car combat, it comes as no surprise for them to revisit the genre. The vehicles resemble off-road dune buggies, to an extent. They are contraptions that is uncertain if it wants to be a vehicle or a mech; however, this all makes sense, given the two genres that Stainless has presented. They don't look completely basic, and the interesting crossbreed is something new at least, but fans looking for the unique machines of Carmageddon will be quite let down. The other genre, first-person shooting, makes a twisted appearance. Unlike most car combat games, the method of moving and aiming is very similar to a shooter. Even though the camera is from behind the vehicle per usual (but it can be adjusted to your liking), the controls for the four-wheeled contraption is more similar to controlling a human, or a fast-paced mech. The movement is quite fluid in its approach, and this is a refreshing change for both genres; however, the downside is that if someone typically dislikes one of the two genres, then they probably won't find this combo attractive. ShockRods basically has to shoot for that gamer whom appreciates both sides of the coin. The actual weapons in the game are more closely related to arena shooters than anything. There are revved-up miniguns, oversized shotguns, high-caliber sniper rifles acting as a “rail gun” of sorts, launchers that possibly resemble grenades, and more. The weapons are varied, and thankfully, each one has a purpose. Some of the weapons will cater to a more cautious player while others are perfect for the haphazard ones, and everything in between. Sometimes, it's a bit challenging to keep an eye on the ammo count as it isn't too prominent, but that seems to be the only major downside to an otherwise stabilized weapon lineup. Although the actual players' cars are detailed to the point as they were intended, the locations are even more-so detailed. They are quite solid, and even though the landscapes are generic such as a rustic factory setting or a bumpy desert setting, they fit like a puzzle piece, and are great arenas for such battles. There are no options to create or edit one's own map, and due to the small number of locations, one might feel tired of the scenery after so long. In addition, due to the game being built on the famed [b]Unreal Engine[/b], a lot of the atmospheric vibes and presentation will be familiar to a player, for better or worse. Even though the mixture is executed well enough, it is laid on a foundation of potential. The key word is “potential” since, as of this writing, it has been nearly a year since the game's final release. From the beginning, ShockRods did not have a large fan base. Various theories circulate due to that, such as the aftermath of the Carmageddon series, the previously-mentioned “both sides of the coin” appeal, the lack of reach due to the company's small indie size, and more. Despite the reasons, this is a crucial point, since ShockRods was developed as an arena-based game, and other humans over multiplayer is essential to experience the full impact of the game. Of course, there are options to play bots offline, and the AI isn't half-bad; however, it can get tiring after awhile. One small saving grace is that the community has a dedicated Discord, and if someone was persistent enough, they could easily find a match. To summarize, ShockRods feels like a refreshing take on two very specific genres. The gameplay elements are implemented on a solid foundation; however, the foundation only allows the game to stay upright, and does not extend beyond that. Overall support and buzz around the release was low-key from the start, and the game's long-term impact suffered as a result. Still, if someone wants a quick occasional session to experience a different vision, ShockRods is worth digging up. [i]7.0/10[/i] [u]Top 3 Pros:[/u] -The movement of the vehicles resembles a first-person shooter, and creates a unique twist on the genres. -The weapons are varied, and each one has a strong yet distinguished characteristic. -Although multiplayer is the preferred option, the offline mode with bots is not a total snore. [u]Top 3 Cons:[/u] -The locations can become stale over a long period of time. -The meshing of the two genres will only cater towards specific fans. -Overall activity for the online community is limited, and has been for an extended period of time.

ShockRods, the newest game from Stainless Games (the studio behind the Carmageddon franchise & Novadrome) and published by Green Man Gaming, has me feeling kinda mixed emotions in its launch state. I've liked these dev's output in the past, but this game just doesn't really do much for me sadly. [b]TLDR at the bottom[/b] The store page mentions multiple times how ShockRods is an arena shooter, and yes, the vehicle controls really feel more geared to those who played Quake back in the day more than any car combat games like say, Twisted Metal or Vigilante 8. In fact, this game barely even feels like this studio’s own previous games in that aspect. The vehicles in this game drive sideways and backwards with the same top speed and acceleration as just going forwards, with no need to speed back up or anything; the momentum just seamlessly carries over. Kills happen practically instantly with some weapons like any arena FPS, rather than being a tense drawn-out battle based on your current loadout. This sounds cool on paper, but to me it just leaves the gameplay a little too shallow for my liking. Honestly, what’s the point in driving cars around if they literally handle the same as you would control any other arena shooter? There's an aftertouch for your car to do flips in the air, but it feels like an afterthought. There’s not even any animation to show the car moving in different directions on the ground; it just looks off. The nuance that makes car combat games special, whether it's the map design or the weight of the cars even, just isn’t really here, and to me at least, that’s a bit disappointing. That brings me to this game's amount of content, and this right here is my biggest complaint: There’s not enough here, period. Play the online for about 8 hours and you'll have every cosmetic option unlocked, and then there's nothing else to unlock or strive for, at all. Supposedly this game is aimed to be more competitive focused, but if so there's nothing in-game currently to show for it; the trophy option (which I guess is what that's for) does nothing when you click on it. As for maps, there's only 6, at most 4 modes each map, and a couple maps only have ONE mode each, bringing the total map/mode variety pool to 16. You have your standard FPS modes (DM, TDM & CTF) included, a Golden Ram mode where only the person with the Ram powerup can score on kills (my favorite one so far), and then there’s a special stadium map where you can play ShockBall, which is this game’s attempt to copy Rocket League’s Rumble mode. I can’t even really judge how this mode plays properly because with all bots, it’s a pretty dull back and forth experience where barely anybody scores, which is funny because the score limit is 30 although in my experience the matches never score that high. The same sadly seems to apply to CTF as well, with bots that are completely hopeless, that leave you to basically do everything on your own. Speaking of, then there’s the bots, which have to be addressed. In my experience, I’ve encountered maybe… 4 or 5 different people across my matches over a span of 8 hours of playing. This wouldn’t bother me if the bots weren’t so... bad. Even in Deathmatch, I’ve just seen them spin around in circles, driving into walls and debris on a loop. By car combat game standards, these bots are borderline broken, and this was after trying matches with Easy and Hard bots, then going online where I saw nearly all bots every match. Oh, and the game doesn’t even bother to tell you when another human player actually joins the match; you’ll just check the player list during the match and they’ll just… be there. There’s not even any fanfare post-match, just a bland player list with a tiny ‘vote on next map’ box to the side. That pretty much sums up ShockRods: A pretty bare-bones entry into a genre most would consider dead, and as much as I enjoy car combat games, it’s mostly true these days. If Quake Champions is struggling to stay relevant, how can games like this live in the first place? Not like this, that’s for sure. That’s not even mentioning that this game costs $25 as of launch weekend, when most multiplayer games these days that want to have a remotely decently player base tend to be free to play. I know the devs are planning free extra content post-launch; that being said, considering their stance on no extra monetization, the only downside to that approach is that if this game never finds an audience (which so far it hasn't) then this may very well be all this game has to offer. Maybe this is a test for a more fleshed out sequel in the future? [b]TLDR: ShockRods is an alright game, but it’s just too bare-bones to have much staying power, and the bots are too weak to keep most player’s attention. Expect about 8 hours of "online" (mostly with bad bots) gameplay to unlock all customization options, and that's it, there's literally nothing else to do at the moment. There are a couple other games in this genre that, while they may not be the best games ever, are much cheaper than this (Auto Age, Diesel Guns, Nightwolf) while games like Quake Champions have very similar gameplay to this while being free to play even. Grab one of those titles instead, and as for ShockRods, wait for a sale or future updates to see if this game evolves into something worth your time, or if it ever finds an audience in the first place.[/b]