Needles

Fast-paced first-person shooters are classics in the video games industry, with Half-Life, Doom and Quake being just some of the legendary names. However, the genre is always open to new ideas and innovations, which is why even now there are interesting shooters being released that have the potential to keep the players engaged for many hours.

Needles is a first-person shooter heavily inspired by Serious Sam, another great classic that’s still kicking even after so many years. Unfortunately, Needles is nowhere near that polished when it comes to gameplay mechanics, and there’s also the matter of bugs and design flaws. Hence, the experience is more frustrating than enjoyable, which is not good news in a video game.

There are multiple maps to choose from, as well as multiple difficulty levels to control the toughness of the monsters. However, the said maps are tiny and lacking in detail, so they are basically arenas with two or three textures slapped all over the place. The monsters only differ between levels, but they are of the same type depending on the map.

The fast-paced gameplay mechanics are not usually a problem, but in this case they are not precise enough to reward quick reflexes. Thus, the monsters swarm around you in a matter of seconds, and there’s no way to deal with them that quickly, regardless of how experienced you are. The weapons are very weak as well, not to mention the bugs and glitches that prevent you from taking good shots.

Lastly, the graphics are disappointing as well, although the post-processing effects are not bad. It’s annoying to look at the repetitive levels and boring textures for more than a few minutes, on the other hand, not to mention the indigo monsters that just keep spawning all around you. The music gets annoying after a while too, although that can be disabled.

All things being equal, Needles could have easily been a lot better than this, but the lazy level design and the lack of proper gameplay mechanics made it a lot tougher to enjoy the game. Moreover, there are no original elements whatsoever when it comes to mechanics.