My Usual Spiel: Screencheat, a novel idea perfectly executed.

Release date: Windows, OS X, Linux: 21 October 2014
Genre: First-Person Shooter (FPS)
Publisher: Suprise Attack
Developer: Samurai Punk
Platforms: PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/Xbone
Players: 1 to 8

Hey all just wanted to mention as I'm sure you've noticed I've changed the colour scheme of the blog just to change things around a bit, I've also widened the edges as most screens are pretty big these days so no need to make the main body so small. So anyway I'll see how the black scheme goes but I may chnage it back for the next post, enjoy!

Do you remember all of those times playing games like battle mode on Mario Kart on the SNES or Goldeneye on the N64 or basically any game on a console where you could sneak a look at your opponents screen to work out exactly where they were and what they were doing? It was hard to resist wasn’t it? Well developer Samurai Punk have taken this idea and turned it into an actual game, a game where to win, you must actively, consistently and masterfully Screencheat. Yes screen peak, sneak or even gaze if you were that shameless, screen cheating has been around for a long, long time, basically ever since there was split screen games, but with Screencheat this is allowed and encouraged and also vital.

Bot practice with the blunderbuss in Museum

The game is basically a fast-paced first-person shooter similar to Goldeneye that I mentioned before except set in a very colourful world, in fact each map is divided into different coloured areas, blue, red, green, yellow, purple etc the reason for this being is that in screencheat everyone is invisible. How are you supposed to hit anyone you ask? well it’s quite simple, you MUST sneak looks at someone else’s screen to see where they are in order to know where to aim and yes even when playing on PC you can still do this as you can see everyone’s (up to 8 players) screens. This is made easier by the colours of each level, for example if you are on the top of the blue stairs and you can see someone about to walk up from the bottom of the blue stairs you would shoot in that direction to hopefully hit them, there is no health in screencheat so it’s basically one hit kill, but the weapons are designed around this and I admit it works very well.

8 players on the Helix map

Controlling is easy as you move around and shoot and jump with the usual keys but then it gets wacky, for instance the weapons that you use go from unusual to ridiculous, the basic weapon is the single shot blunderbuss which is a classic, reliable and faithful weapon then you get into things like the HobbyHorse which allows you to charge into enemies to kill them, the Trappeur which leaves behind a laser for the enemy to trip into, the ridiculous Bear Bomb and my personal favourite, the Sorgean which shoots out a giant spiked mace which then turns around and flies back the way it came. The design of Screencheat is quite simple with minimal details and texturing making it easier to work out where you or more importantly your opponents are, the player characters are basically just single colour 3D models though they are only seen when killed.

Duel with the Sorgean is hella fun

The levels are a variety of colourful locations such as museums, gardens, temples and floating platforms that offer a wide range of stairs, lifts, jump pads and obstacles, this interesting level design combined with old school style of the graphics plus the absurdity of the weapons and the clumsiness of watching other screens makes for a unique experience. What also makes this game hilariously fun is just the general wackiness, wacky music, wacky sounds and wacky text, for example when you kill another player or get killed yourself the game comes up with a variety of death messages like “You submitted Rustymango to the app store for approval” or “You got baked by Ultimate_Sacrifice” and also simply “DERP” It also has funny sounds and speech with all the weapon popping, smooshing, bZzZZZZzzzZZZ’ing and booping when you score a kill, the announcer also sounds like he’s from the circus “how embarrassing!”.

8 player comp on the Temple level at Respawn Lan

The main gamemode is called “My First Deathmatch” but there are many others including “Capture the Fun” which is sort of like “Bag Tag” in Timesplitters except “the fun” is a Pinata which leave a trail of confetti so the person with the fun is easy to locate. Another is called “Gold Rush” where players must collect coins and shoot other players to gain their coins. And finally one of the more interesting ones is “Murder Mystery” similar to the game Cluedo you are assigned to murder a particular person in a particular room. Depending on when you are playing it may be hard to find populated servers though there is also the training mode which acts as sort of a single player mode and a tutorial mode as well to get you used to the game, though it is relatively easy to pick up and only after a few games the first time I was happily fragging people.

I try out the "Murder Mystery" mode and suck at it hah, there a requirement for the place or room I had to kill them in, I probably should have done it in a map like Manor but I wanted to see what Steeple was like.

Screencheat is another game that I only really played at LAN parties on PC similar to Natural Selection 2 so the review may be a bit shorter than most, when released originally it had only 4 maps and a handful of weapons and game modes but the latest update add much  more content. Screencheat can be played online or on LAN though the only qualm I had is that the main menu is a bit confusing when you are trying to join or start a game as sometimes I wasn’t sure if I had started it in the right area or not. I haven’t played much online or seen absolutely every one of the levels but I’ve seen enough to know that Screencheat is a hugely fun LAN game that is enjoyed by everyone and everyone should play it at a LAN at least once.

JD

7/10

Things I liked:

Innovative and original weapons

Easy to pick up and play

Great Fun at LANs

Things I didn’t like:

Main menu creating online/offline games a bit confusing.

Not much longevity outside of LAN parties and competitions.

p.s thanks to Scratch for his great guide to Screencheat

The team from LoadingReadyRun discover Screencheat

And everyone died but it was fun