Review

In this day and age where most multiplayer games are online it is a nice change to see a few more local co-op games come out of the woodwork. Wondershot is an offline only game where you and your friends can sit around the same TV, with a few drinks and food nearby, abuse flying around the room as you secure victory and egg others on for second and third place. This type of gaming is pure nostalgia and a welcome break from party chat.

Wondershot introduces itself as a top-down arena shooter that can involve up to four local players. Starting out with a tutorial for first time players, you’ll get a bow and single arrow that regenerates on hits and sticks to the wall when you miss. Throughout the tutorial you will learn to dodge and you’ll get to try out all four different weapons and learn how to manipulate their movement to your advantage. You’ll learn how to hit enemies round a corner which is a great in-game skill to have. After learning about the weapons there’s a quick section where all the different power ups are explained. You will have access to items that will allow you to shoot through walls and slow down time and many more.

Upon completing the tutorial you will be faced with the choices of Adventure; the single player mode, and Battle; the multiplayer arena mode. Adventure comes with a further two different modes. Challenge mode will allow you to progress through the ranks and unlock new multiplayer arenas by completing the tasks at hand. There are three different types of challenge, each with its own unique stipulation. Time attack, where you will attempt to beat the stage as quickly as possible. Brawl, in which you will have to defeat all enemies that spawn before the level comes to an end and Survival, which is as obvious as it sounds. Upon completion of any of these challenges you will be presented with your score, your rank on the leaderboard, the medals that you have (or could have) earned and also how many times you have attempted that one level. The medals also include one for the time the developers completed the challenge, which is a nice touch.
These levels have a limited amount of time to be completed. Earn time by killing enemies in quick succession This usually earns you a couple of extra seconds. The game starts out easy in the early stages with targets that do not have much maneuvering capabilities. These targets will quickly become moving targets, though, with attacking prowess.

Endless mode is where up to four players can engage in co-op fun. In this mode you and your team will face wave after wave of enemies steadily progressing in difficulty. Team mates can be revived when you are near enough to them but don’t get caught off guard by enemies whist saving someone. While playing through this mode you will earn XP and unlock new stages to play on. The fight is on to see how far you and your mates can get to be immortalized on the leaderboard.

Battle mode is where most of the fun is to be had as you go head to head with three other friends in an all out battle with a wide range of options and rules. With up to 15 different areas to choose from (you start with five), beating up your friends to unlock stuff has never been so good. Whether you want to divide off into teams to plot against each other or go it alone in four-way battles you can customize your tournament with how many points or matches there are to be played, so let the games begin.

Last Man Standing mode will see all types of weaponry fly while attempting to destroy your new-found foes. You will win a point for making it out alive. Or you could try Elimination mode and earn a point for each victim that falls by your hand.

Adding custom rules to your tournament can make it incredibly challenging or ludicrously fun. You can force rules on the game, like everyone only starts off with the same weapon (or not). You could also set up an accuracy based rule which will punish misses. If you miss a shot you lose. If you decide to give everyone a Super Slingshot, then shooting a single pellet will mean it never stops bouncing off walls until it finds and eliminates a foe. This only leads to on-screen carnage, drinks being spilled and lots of words being exchanged. You guessed it, this mode is the most fun. Adding bonus items is optional but can also be customized to be on, off or to be infinite on pickup. Super speed will allow you to run faster; Phantom lets you run through walls; Super Shot will let any weapon you have shoot through any wall for easy kills. A temporary Shield and Slow motion power ups are also available.

Thanks to Xbox and Leikir Studio for their support