Echo Point Nova seems out to improve the diverse world of FPS games, through the simple act of making things go really really fast. While we’ve recently moved away from generic CoD clones with the more hyper aggressive Boomer Shooters, this upcoming game, which was playable at Steam Next Fest, makes a case for its own subgenre with its high-speed combat.
In Echo Point Nova, the objective is obvious- run around, kill everything. You have a pretty standard set of guns, from SMGs to shotguns to pistols as you mow down your enemies. However, that’s not where the sauce is- instead, said sauce is draped on by every other option at your disposal.
Your sprint, for example, is a hoverboard. You accelerate really fast, can wall ride, and it pairs well with your double jump. On top of that there’s a grappling hook and even a magic tornado blast to launch enemies into the air.
It’s basically a bunch of flashy combo tools that pair well with the game’s floating island aesthetic. I will confess the grappling hook is a little lackluster- you can’t grab enemies and the cooldown is such that if you mess up your aim with it you might very well shoot yourself in the foot.
Still, there’s nothing wrong with being relegated to a pure movement tool- I’ve had more than my fair share of overshoots, and at the end of the day it’s the grappling hook that usually comes to my aid.
Echo Point Nova Is All About The Speed
Of course, where it really comes together is with the destruction system. Similar to The Finals, almost anything can be destroyed. I’d gotten the jump on some enemies by launching myself off one island with my hoverboard, smashing the floor from under them then grappling my way into the building.
Combined with the movement system, the idea for Echo Point Nova seems to be that you’re never really at a disadvantage- as long as you can grapple to a ledge you’re alive, and the entire way back you’re still good to shoot some poor fool.
It’s all just fresh and good- the more standard lineup of guns doesn’t feel so bad when everything else you can do is so spectacular. Having the arenas built to accommodate these huge movement options feels great, especially with so much of the terrain built to accommodate your violent war on bricks and walls.
Admittedly I opted for the Zoomer Shooter moniker as more of a pun on the game’s hoverboard- but I do feel like the game’s combat brings a little more flavor to it than the explosion-filled cacophony of games like Doom Eternal or Ultrakill. There’s violence, yes, but not so much violence as there is speed. You are a perpetual drive-by machine, that is your purpose.
Echo Point Nova doesn’t have a release date just yet- though from what I’ve played of it so far I really hope it enters the venerated hall of indie FPS alongside games like Ultrakill. It’s fast, it’s clean and it does so much with the tools it has that I simply can’t get enough of it.
