Offensive Combat: Redux, developed by Three Gates AB and published by SlapShot Games, is an up to 16 player online multiplayer arena shooter that adds a lot of humour into a rather generic genre, the humour in question comes from the ability to create your own unique character from hundreds of unlockable head, chest, arm, hand and leg pieces.

The game oozes charm with the above-mentioned character customization which allows you to create anything from an alien in a bear suit to a gecko in a banana suit. You can also mix and match parts to create a character with a gecko head, Orc chest and arms, and French maid legs. None of the character parts provide any bonuses, but it is just funny to see what some players create. The character pieces are unlocked via an in-game currency, which is earned by playing the game, and from looting your opponent by way of a “Pwn”.

A “Pwn”, which many gamers should be aware of, is what some people say when they dominate an opponent in an online game. In Offensive Combat: Redux, a “Pwn” is very similar because when you kill an enemy you can walk over to their body and perform a taunt, this taunt gives you additional in-game currency and the chance of gaining loot. The taunts range from the traditional tea-bag to meme inspired taunts like “Psyked”. The Pwning is kind of crass humour, but it works in the context of the game, and honestly who doesn’t enjoy taunting a defeated enemy.

Outside of the character customisation and taunts, the game is unfortunately a rather bog standard arena shooter with six small to medium sized maps, three multiplayer game modes – deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag, two single player modes, which are basically killing bots and exploring the game’s six maps, and a large selection of weapons. In regards to weapons, the game gives you access to all primary weapons from the start but requires you to unlock melee weapons and various types of grenades. Weapon unlocks are handled via a second in-game currency, which is gained in the same way as the first.

A major downside for Offensive Combat: Redux is the number of active players with the number rarely peaking above 30, which is just about enough for two separate full player games as the online modes hold between 2 – 16 players (2-12 for death match and 4-16 for team games). The lack of players is unfortunate as the game is relatively good value for money at €17.99.

When it comes to gunplay Offensive Combat: Redux offers a fast and enjoyable experience as no one weapon felt overpowered and hitting your target was a straightforward experience. Of course, like many arena shooters movement is key, the game isn’t on the level of Quake or Unreal Tournament, but standing still in Offensive Combat: Redux is the fasted way to the bottom of the leaderboard.

In regards to the six maps on offer, they are small to medium as I stated earlier. The maps available range from courtyard, which is a small map made up of open and elevated spaces, to Turbine, which is the largest map in the game and is built around a mixture of close quarters and long range fighting, although the lack of players does make Turbine a rather lonely map as you can spend a good portion of it struggling to find other players.

In terms of graphics, the game offers a rather cartoonish like design that certainly won’t be pushing modern day cards to their limit. When it comes to audio the guns don’t sound quite right with the likes of the P-90 sounding like it has gone through a filter, honestly, the filtered feel could be said about all the audio in the game.

Conclusion

Offensive Combat: Redux offers some good laughs with its crass humour, but unfortunately when you get past the humour the game is a rather generic arena shooter.

SCORE: 7/10

Pros	Cons
+ Large number of character customisation options	– It is a run of the mill shooter
+ Crass humour

Developer	Publisher	Genre	Rating	Platform	Release date
Three Gates AB	SlapShot Games	Shooter	12+	PC	August 18, 2017

*A review code was provided by the game’s publisher.*

For more information on Offensive Combat: Redux, visit http://www.offensivecombat.com/.