The graphics are decent, but the game itself feels barebones| Review - MerX: Multiplayer PvP shooter
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✨Overview
MerX: Multiplayer PvP shooter, is a brand new hero shooter featuring a futuristic cyber-war setting and characters. MerX throws players into the fray of a cyber arena where mercenaries from various backgrounds clash for fame and glory. Players can choose from a range of characters, each with their own unique skills and perks from the brute soldier McCloud to the agile healer Puff. MerX is free to play, but it features monetization through in-game purchases.
Playing the game, it looks pretty barebones in appearance at the moment with a basic UI system and presentation. It was just released on Jan 30, 2024 in soft launch capacity. However, due how barebones it looks, I’m actually not sure if the game has actually soft launched or in just a testing phase. Despite this though, the actual graphics are already quite decent, feeling clean, smooth, and detailed.
🟩Pros
+Decent, modern, stylized 3D graphics
+Simplified combat and gunplay
🟥Cons
-Feels barebones in its UI and presentation
-Only two maps and one objective to play
-Lack of variety and inspiration in character abilities
-Game performance and online connectivity needs more optimization
-Stingy progression and monetization rates
⭐️Score: 3/10
🎨Visuals and Art
MerX boasts modern, stylized 3D graphics that are pretty much standard for any decent AA mobile title. Not too photorealistic and not too pixelated. As far as graphics go, the game delivers clean, smooth, and detailed visuals that is perhaps the main highlight of the title so far. The character designs are varied and interesting, looking especially good, particularly in the menus.
🎮Gameplay
MerX offers FPS hero shooter gameplay, with players engaging in fast-paced, 4v4 PvP team-based battles. Players can choose from a roster of characters, each with their own shooting style, skills, and perks, which bares similarities to Overwatch both mechanically and visually.
Overall, the gameplay format again feels reminiscent of Overwatch but in the third person. I've only played two maps available in the game (Yucatan Temple and Military Base) with the same game format — capture the objective where you need to control a certain point on the map to gain points. The first team to reach 1000 points wins, while kills also grant 35 points that will help teams reach that ultimate goal.
⚔️Combat and Abilities
Combat and gunplay in MerX is simplified, with players only needing to aim as the characters shoot automatically. This simplicity encourages players to focus on strategy and positioning, rather than complex controls that are usually complicated by touch input. However, the high TTK (time to kill) can lead to some pretty awkward moments between opposing teams standing at the capture point trying to eliminate each other. There is also a pretty strong aim assist implemented here that sometimes... gets in the way of what you actually want to aim and fight against the player more often than I liked.
There are different abilities for each character, such as a rocket launcher that explodes for AOE damage, a burst healing ability, or perhaps a black hole that pulls every enemy to a single spot. Despite this, there's not much variety or versatility in the abilities, and they feel largely uninspired. I feel like they should add more abilities to each character, making them more utility-based. I would also recommend toning down the TTK a little bit.
⏫Progression and Monetization
Players start with just one character in their pool: the rough soldier McCloud, but will unlock more characters as you play. The first three characters are unlocked pretty quickly, but the others are further down the ‘Trophy Road’ progression and require a lot more games, unless you spend real money to unlock them at will.
The rates are pretty stingy though, and will require you to spend around $30 worth of gems to unlock one character. There is a skill tree for each character to upgrade stats, such as Health, Ammo capacity, or damage. However, upgrading them is another challenge, as it's a little bit unforgiving to even get the first upgrade going, requiring a heavy grind or easily spending money in the game store.
📊Technical Performance
Performance was playable on my Snapdragon 888 device, with the graphics set to medium and FPS at 60fps; I was getting around 40+ FPS. However, I am experiencing some FPS drops from time to time. The game's animations are a bit stiff overall, but the groundwork for a solid shooter is laid, which can be promising with future updates. The game strictly requires an online connection to play, and unfortunately, my connectivity to the servers (I’m from the SEA Region) wasn’t all that smooth, as I consistently got a ping of 300ms or above in most of my sessions. Also, prepare to play with and against bots in this game, especially in your first few games.
⚖️Conclusion
As it stands, MerX: Multiplayer PvP shooter currently offers nothing noteworthy to really stand out. Sure, its graphics look decent, but the game itself feels barebones and it feels like I’m playingan early testing version right now. There aren't many maps or game modes, and the few abilities of the characters are largely uninspired and lack variety. Add to that the current stingy progression and monetization rates, and the game falls short even of pretty low expectations.
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