Ghostwire Tokyo
LQ: 9.7
Recommended Age: 12+
Skills Used: Flexibility, Working Memory, Reading
Super Monday Night Combat is a free-to-play, online shooter set in the future where arena combat has become a spectator sport. Two teams of five go head-to-head in an effort to destroy the opposing team’s “moneyball.” Players choose from an assortment of unique combatants, each with their own individual abilities, and utilize teamwork to defeat enemy players. The game employs various strategic elements as well, including advancing waves of robots that aid in destroying the enemy team’s powerful defensive turrets. As a shooter, Super Monday Night Combat has players using weapons to eliminate enemies, but the violence is cartoonish and there is no blood or gore. However, the two announcers who commentate each match employ humor that is at times rather dark. For these reasons, we only recommend Super Monday Night Combat to players ages 14 and up.
Adapting and adjusting to changing conditions and expectations.
Flexibility is a big part of a player's success in Super Monday Night Combat. Each match is structured into two teams of five. At the start of a new game, the players on each team choose the combatant they would like to play as. No two players on the same team may choose the same character, and because the game only features a total of 15 combatants, the player will often find that another team-member has already chosen the character he intended to play. Since each character's tools and special abilities are unique, it is important for the player to become adept at using them all.
Super Monday Night Combat also requires that the player be able to shift his goals at a moment's notice on the battlefield. For example, the player may be targeting an enemy turret, trying to push closer to the enemy base, when suddenly the announcers state that the Annihilator is almost ready for use. The Annihilator is a game-changer that both teams fight over. The team that activates it will be able to send down bolts of lightning that destroy all of the opposing team's bots and damage enemy players. Thus, the team that wins an Annihilator strike will be able to make a huge offensive push. This means the player will need to quickly reorient his priorities to get to the Annihilator switch before the enemy team. Losing too many Annihilator battles will almost certainly cost a team the game.
Managing our actions, feelings and behaviors.
Super Monday Night Combat is a game about patience and personal restraint as much as it is about blazing guns and exploding robots. A team of overzealous players that charge into combat without caution can give the enemy a serious advantage. Characters gain experience through each match as they preform tasks like destroying enemy robots and killing enemy players. If a player rushes towards a group of enemy players or turrets, he's likely to be taken out quickly. When a player is defeated, he takes a time penalty before he can rejoin the fight. While he's out of the fight, he gives the opposing team an advantage and allows enemy players to level up their combatants while he sits waiting to return to battle. A good player will exercise caution and slowly try to wear down the enemy team. He'll strike at enemy players when they're vulnerable and gradually trim down the enemy's defenses. Without Self-Control, the player may end up acting to brashly, possibly spending as much time out of the game as he does playing it.
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