SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE
Still super, not quite as hot as it once was
Here’s a game with a problem baked into its very existence. Specifically, 2017’s Superhot VR. The first game was a thrilling novelty, a high-concept shooter where time only moved when you did, but the PS VR edition perfected that idea by immersing you in the game’s physics-warping reality and letting you control the impossibly cool action with your own two hands.
This sequel-slash-spinoff (it’s free to anyone who already owns the original Superhot) is left to justify its own existence as a traditional 2D DualShock-controlled shooter. Well, I say ‘traditional’. It’s still a game that gives spacetime a good kicking, allows you to face off against crimson mannequins that shatter like glass when you shoot them, and takes every opportunity to mess with you.
That opportunity is taken about half an hour into Mind Control Delete. After a few opening levels that appear to be regular old Superhot (again, ‘regular’ is relative – within minutes, you’re taking out machine-gunners with a precision-thrown cod), the game… ends. The credits roll, the game seemingly glitches out – and you find yourself one level closer to the real Mind Control Delete.
Which turns out to be, more or less, Superhot done as a roguelike. You move from node to node, each a tiny dungeon containing a handful of levels. Each node has to be beaten all in one go, without dying, or else it’ll reset, shuffling the pre-made rooms in a new order, with new enemies and weapons. This takes away your ability to memorise levels – something previous Superhot games have relied on – but also means it can’t do one-off gimmicks to keep things fresh.
HACK AT IT AGAIN
Instead, novelty comes in the form of upgrades. Between levels, you’ll find occasional upgrade points that offer a choice of two ‘hacks’: buffs which vary from extra lives to a random starting weapon to transforming all throwable items into cluster grenades. These hacks are wiped away at the end of a node, limiting the scope for weird and wonderful character builds, but you do also get to pick your ‘core’. These starter upgrades unlock as you progress, adding some truly chef’s-kiss-worthy abilities. A katana you can throw and summon like Mjölnir, slicing anything it passes through en route, is just as much fun as it sounds.
These boosts to your power are balanced by new enemy types. Spiky ones explode into shards when killed, while ones with a single red body part can’t be damaged anywhere else. Combined with your random selection of powers, it’s enough to put a twist on the familiar formula, but not quite enough to ever reinvent it. As the game’s trademark screen-filling text flashes say at one point: “TWO STEPS FORWARD. ONE STEP BACK.”
VERDICT
Ultimately, it’s more Superhot – stylish, thrilling, reliably weird – and that’s no bad thing. But it’s the first game in the series that doesn’t feel like a revelation. Alex Spencer