When you think of a ‘boomer shooter,’ of course, essentials like Doom and Quake come to mind as they helped define the genre and revolutionized the game industry to be how we know it today. In fact, an early Quake tournament is why we even use WASD, thank you, legend Dennis “Thresh” Fong. But when it comes to modern renditions of the genre, very few come close to 2023’s SPRAWL.
Set in a dystopian cyberpunk megalopolis, you play as SEVEN, a soldier with the skills to survive, and betrayed by the system, you must find the secrets of the SPIRE. A simple premise of the story, and it feels really fleshed out and well done. But speaking personally, that won’t be my main takeaway from the game. The best part about SPRAWL is how smooth and fleshed out the movement and combat system is.
One quintessential aspect of a game is how responsive the input is. If a game is well designed, you will hardly notice any input lag and simply find yourself immersed in gameplay. SPRAWL does exactly that; each button input feels clean. It didn’t matter if I used a mouse and keyboard or my controller (which I used for the majority of my time playing); the combat felt fluid. Another interesting aspect of the movement is having jump assigned to the left bumper on controller. An interesting decision that becomes a natural feeling input only after playing for a short period of time. Highlighting that breaking from the mold in terms of button placement can be a good thing and increase the overall game feel. Making the movement come to be second nature and when considering other placements this does feel like an optimal button for it. This is especially important when you bring to mind one key ability you have in the game: the ability to slow down time, aka bullet time.
Despite that, SPRAWL keeps you on your feet with fast movement and a rocking soundtrack; it also lets you dictate that pace. Each enemy drops your health, ammo, and stamina, which allows you to go into bullet time. This becomes especially important when you face wave after wave of enemies, where eliminating them as fast as possible is the name of the game. From standard grunts to starships and everything in between, the enemy design feels well put together and well thought out. Where even when you have faced your hundredth grunt, it still feels like a challenge and interesting.
Each weapon feels unique and usable for any scenario, from your simple pistol and knife to electric weapons and a classic shotgun. Gunplay itself feels excellent, where some give slight knockback, which you can use for classic rocket jumps just like in Quake. Unlocking new guns feels rewarding, and due to how often you find ammo, it doesn’t feel like you have to hold on to your lower ammo gun for special circumstances. That is not to say there aren’t moments where you are out of ammo, typically within a boss fight or large arena battle. When you are running low, it feels rewarding to use your variety of weapons to get through an area, especially with how easy it is to rotate through each one.
Outside of gameplay, the design of the world is outstanding. First of all, the environment is a mix of pixel art and 3D models, where you are walking on a pixelated floor, shooting a rocket launcher at an enemy. That clash of texture works due to the moody atmosphere. Making it feel unique but also reminiscent of classic Boomer Shooters that came before it. The world itself feels relatively open at times despite how narrow it actually is. This is due to excellent level design that perfectly moves the player through the environment despite how fast pace the movement is. Even then, there are blink and you miss details like scattered QR codes spread throughout the game that add onto the lore of it all.
One last highlight is the amazing soundtrack that feels reminiscent of Doom’s classic in its rocking metal way. It fuels you with high energy moments, making you want to just keep on going. But it doesn’t just have loud audio all the time; it keeps low moments so that when the action comes, it can come booming back.
Overall, SPRAWL is close to a perfect game. I did have some small complaints, like how when swapping weapons, you sometimes get the wrong one, but that is a minor aspect of an amazing game. SPRAWL is a game I would recommend to anyone who enjoys classic boomer shooters or shooters in general, and especially for someone who just wants a good time.