SPRAWL zero review

Games like Trepang2, Turbo Overkill, and Severed Steel have been some of the best first-person shooters of the last few years. While each delivered its own mechanical flourishes, none of these titles has truly tried to revolutionize the genre. Instead, they’ve delivered potent feasts of gunplay as you mow down legions of foes, which is probably sufficient for anyone craving some ballistic-based showdowns.

Undoubtedly, SPRAWL zero also belongs in that rather exclusive boomer-shooter club, as players take on the role of FIVE, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier armed with Gravity-Gloves. But while its pacing earns comparison to beside contemporary retro shooters, its true inspirations come from a slightly later time period. Yes, SPRAWL zero isn’t far removed from early-2000s shooters such as F.E.A.R., Halo, and Half-Life 2. That was when the genre favored enemy coordination, weighty movement, and physics-based action And much like how Agent 64: Spies Never Die recently rekindled my love for 007: Goldeneye and TimeSplitters-style mischief, developer MAETH has performed a similar feat.

FIVE Against the Fanatical

As FIVE, you work for a military regime that’s struggling to maintain control of a collapsing cyberpunk city. As such, you’re immediate assignment SILAS, leader of the techno-religious IMAGO-DEI movement. Fortunately, no familiarity with the original SPRAWL, is required. And honestly, the plot is more functional than fun. Much of the exposition comes via radio conversations during combat. Here, you’re probably more interested in surviving than in making sense of the names, allegiances, and ideological differences. Sure, missions do strive to fill in the blanks, but FIVE’s story mostly exists to push you into the next combat zone.

And that’s perfectly acceptable because your Gravity-Gloves endow SPRAWL zero with an identify. With a button push, FIVE can yank firearms and loose objects from a distance, then hurl them across the room. Explosive barrels become improvised grenades, while discarded equipment becomes a projectile. One of the cooler techniques is drawing in a health pod, eliminating the need for a mad dash through a rainstorm of firepower. Additionally, the gloves can deliver a slow but powerful punch, tear through weakened walls, destroy use boxes, and eventually become potent enough to toss enemies around.

Glove at First (and Last) Fight

Best of all, the gloves are built around one of SPRAWL zero’s most interesting decisions: guns cannot be reloaded. FIVE carries only one firearm at a time, and each weapon comes with a limited supply of ammunition. Once the magazine is empty, you throw the gun at someone’s head and use the gloves to snatch another from the floor.

Undoubtedly, this design decision could have been annoying; engaging gunplay matched with restricted ammo is often a recipe for frustration. But in practice, the approach leads to some wild gunfights. Instead of sticking with a crown-clearing shotgun through an entire stage, you fire whatever lands in your hands. A gunfight might begin with dumping rifle rounds, pivoting to a few point-blank shotgun blasts, before ending with a empty pistol bouncing off someone’s helmet as you snatch a rocket launcher from the opposite side of the room.

While SPRAWL zero’s rhythm can feel choppy at first, the sequence of shooting, throwing, grabbing, and firing again can create a catchy cadence. I appreciate how there’s no time to evaluate weaponry in the heat of battle. Much of the time, you pull the trigger and work with what you picked up.

Your arsenal contains more than forty weapons, that spans pistols, SMGs, shotguns, sniper rifles, to explosives. Color-coded tiers make it fairly easy to identify strength in the middle of the carnage. But part of the fun is that you rarely know what your getting. Even when a gun is in your Gravity-Glove, it’s stubby rendering can make it hard to distinguish. Naturally, there’s some low-grade junk that you’ll pick up too and I found myself cursing as I angrily flung it at the nearest adversary.

The Bullets Fly, But Time Doesn’t Have To

Three different abilities complement your Gravity-Glove-based powers. Bullet-Time slows the action and allows FIVE’s shots to bend toward targets. Kills made during slow motion also help restore health, so the ability becomes critical on the game’s higher difficulties. Gravity Shield provides the defensive option, suspending incoming gunfire before flinging the captured volley back toward its source. It is especially effective against flying enemies and thankfully, MAETH provides plenty of time for a Black Panther-style reversal. Meanwhile, Rushdown takes the opposite approach, temporarily granting FIVE invulnerability as he surges forward to deliver some massively overpowered punches. These upgrades happen at predetermined points rather than through an elaborate skill tree, keeping attention on combat.

Pleasingly, enemy squads don’t wait around to become Glove fodder. Soldiers might try to flank you, lay down covering fire, or use grenades to lure you from hiding spots. Eliminating a squad leader can temporarily reveal the remaining troops, providing an incentive to prioritize targets. At its best, the combination of moving enemies and disposable firearms creates some pretty exhilarating showdowns.

When the Glove Come Off

But unfortunately, fights become a bit frustrating later in the campaign. Shielded soldiers break the shoot-and-throw rhythm because bypassing their defenses usually requires discarding your current weapon to throw one of those slow punches. Others opponents can absorb so much damage that the weapon-swapping system starts to buckle. Worst of all, missiles from airborne opponents can arrive faster than your gravity systems can handle. Although encounters are never impossible, they don’t feel as playful and spontaneous as the game’s best firefights. And levels have their own issues, often scattering objectives across environments that can be difficult to distinguish from. Yes, the drab browns and grays are part of the early 2000’s vibe and there is a viewpoint scan to provide assistance. But occasionally, and can get lost looking for the next arena.

Despite some late-game frustrations, SPRAWL zero earns its place alongside today’s better throwback shooters. Here, every weapon is an invitation to improvise, and few FPS games make grabbing a random gun, exhausting its magazine, and bouncing it off an enemy’s skull feel this satisfying. When the Gravity-Gloves are mastered, FIVE’s campaign delivers the kind of scrappy mayhem that we don’t see enough of anymore.

SPRAWL zero was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher