Following up from the day-before-yesterday’s article, I’d like to talk about a few things Red Eclipse does which differentiates itself from other games of the same genre.

In Red Eclipse there no armour drops, no health packs and no power-ups. Whilst commonplace in other arena shooters, we see them as distractions from having fun. Instead of having to take mind of where items are (for every map) and knowing their respawn times, then appropiately planning your movements (‘map control’), RE hopes to let player continue a course to hunt down and murder their foes unhindered.

What we have in place are explosives scattered around maps, greatly limiting the necessity of knowing maps inside out to be a competitive player, used for a laugh. Grenades are effective as arena deniers that spawn on maps frequently but are usually not worth the time otherwise, having to load up and fire when you could be using your loadout weapons. Mines act similarly, with predicting how others will move across a map can make hiding mines an art form in itself. They can lead to hilarious scenarios yet any good player can easily avoid mine-prone zones. Rockets are tools of total destruction, but they can be rewarding in so much one has to divert time to meet objectives.

RE also features health regeneration to compliment the lack of health drops. This is something many of new era, slower-paced shooters have implemented. However, it’s generally looked down upon in competitive communities, but we think that without any other means to gain HP and careful considerations to the magnitude and timings of the actual regeneration rates it works well. You only need to focus on your opponents and completing objectives as opposed to worrying about health, without making fragging a chore.

Another mechanic implemented is radar to keep the pace of the match like with regen. Whilst in something like Counter Strike there is great depth in predicting enemy movements, in fast-paced Quake-likes a lot of encounters are random. With a lack of emphasis for map control, it seems especially appropriate for Red Eclipse. Instead of conserving your impulse and moving slowly, you can be more certain of when and where you will meet the enemy to not waste any time.

And hey, a great benefit to RE is the range of mutators that you can vote on for each match. Whilst we hope for players to appreciate the decisions made, if you find the items in place are a silly nuisance or don’t like radar and health regen, maybe just want to try it out, you can vote for the basic and hard mutators respectively.

Have fun fragging! ~Honno