If there is a horror movie, sooner or later an asymmetrical online action game will be made based on it. And now they have reached “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” – more people now know about the cult horror from 1988. The IllFonic team , known for Friday the 13th: The Game , Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed and Predator: Hunting Grounds , released the game Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game , trying to implement new ideas in a familiar genre.
Pathetic little people
The main difference between the new product and many other asymmetrical action games is the number of participants in the match. If usually one player controls the villain and ruins the lives of four or seven poor guys, then here the structure is different. Three clowns fight against seven teenagers – something like in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre . Often such action games resemble a game of cat and mouse: almost defenseless people hide in corners, try not to catch the monster’s eye and not make noise. Here there is no such tension – people can fight back their opponents, and the clowns do not seem omnipotent.
There is no full tutorial – instead, you are offered to watch a slide show describing the basic mechanics. At the beginning of the match, people and clowns are sent to one of five maps and begin to complete tasks. People must find a way to escape, and clowns, accordingly, try to kill all the people. They are given 15 minutes for everything, after which the clownpocalypse begins, and not a single person will remain alive.
There is a gathering point at the location – when a teenager approaches it, he is shown the location of four escape routes:
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Bunker – you need to bring a canister of fuel and a key card there, after which the door will open and up to three people will be able to enter.
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Damaged boat – can be repaired with a spark plug and a can of fuel. Holds up to three people, but there’s nothing stopping you from leaving everyone behind and sailing away alone.
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Blocked Passage – First you need to destroy the barricade (quite a noisy process), then use the key to the iron gate. The passage will collapse if too many people use it.
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Portal – it is activated by two spark plugs, and when you press the levers, the portal opens. In order for people to escape, the levers must be held – if you release them, the portal will disappear after a couple of seconds.
The items needed to interact with all these exit points are scattered around the map – some are just lying around, and some are hidden in mini-fridges and boxes that you need to search. There’s plenty of other junk there, too, including bats, revolvers, first aid kits, balls that you can throw at the clowns to stun them, and so on. Each time, the items are lying around in different places – you just need to remember which ones are needed for what, and tell the team about your finds. If everyone has abandoned you (or you couldn’t find anything you need), there’s still one more chance to save yourself: 30 seconds before the clownpocalypse begins, an additional exit will open, but the clowns will probably be waiting for you there.
Death in Killer Klowns does not mean the end of the game – once per match, the remaining survivors can resurrect their dead friends. In this case, you do not just sit and wait, but help yourself and your comrades by participating in simple mini-games. By pressing the buttons at the right time, you unlock consumables that you can either keep for yourself (for the future, when you are resurrected), or give to your friends with the power of thought. These are weapons, first aid kits, and other useful things – for example, if someone is running away from a clown, he will need food that restores stamina. The idea is good, but the mini-games are very primitive, so interest in them begins to fade quite quickly.
Playing for people is quite fun, including due to the chaotic nature of the matches – when there are many partners in misfortune, the maps are large, and there are ways to protect yourself, the game does not turn into boring gatherings in dark corners. However, after some time, the gameplay becomes monotonous, since there are only five maps and the escape routes on them are absolutely identical. For example, in most matches I was fixing the boat: looking for a spark plug and carrying a canister to the pier, after which I tried to attract the attention of other people to this place. If a clown suddenly appeared, I escaped alone, so as not to let the opponents beat us dry. Even if a player escapes, he can still participate in mini-games and generate gifts for his comrades.
It doesn’t help that the character archetypes you unlock for reaching new levels are not very different from each other. At first, only the athlete is available – he has a lot of stamina and a high running speed, but he’s not a good fighter. Then you unlock the rebel, who is slightly stronger, and then an even more powerful hero (yes, that’s the name of the archetype). The most desirable class is the one available at level 42 – he is the strongest, but his other stats are really bad. Alone, he can’t do much, but he can easily protect a squad if you run with him. When playing with random users, teamwork is a dream, so I found the first archetypes more suitable for solo play. However, such minor differences are not enough to make the gameplay varied – after a couple of evenings, you are doing more or less the same thing.
Circus without horses
Clowns have completely different tasks – as in the film, they arrived on Earth to absorb people. To do this, they use not only various guns, but also cocoons scattered around the map – they need to be hung on generators placed in the location to summon small lackeys. In case of victory over a person, he will also turn into a cocoon, and if all the generators are hung with them (16 pieces are needed), the clown apocalypse will begin before the timer expires. The success of the clown depends on how attentive he is to the environment, including whether he reacts to extraneous noises and other sounds made by people. Lackeys help with this – they, for example, attack teenagers and thereby inform the clowns of someone’s presence.
Clowns have much richer customization. Firstly, their archetypes differ significantly in appearance: the trap master is a small character, which shows that he is weak and very agile, and the tank is a large and fat clown, which you do not want to approach. Unlike people, clowns appear on locations already armed, and the choice here is quite large: a laser gun, something like a shotgun, a hammer, a popcorn bazooka (just like in the movie!), boxing gloves and so on.
Finally, the clowns have unique abilities that take about a minute to cool down after use. The villains can instantly move around the map, activate a kind of berserker mode with increased speed and strength, and can also pull targets to themselves or use other abilities that are gradually unlocked with new levels. The balance between the teams is achieved due to the fact that the clowns do not know the location of the escape routes, and this is why they need to use the hints of the lackeys and carefully monitor what is happening themselves. If they see some poor guy who has no way to defend himself, this often means his death – the clown guns have an unlimited supply of shells, and running in a zigzag pattern does not always help people.
It sounds fun, and it really is. The gameplay doesn’t descend into boring dragging cocoons – although there are moments when there is nothing to do and you are just wandering around the empty streets, some kind of trouble starts very quickly. You hear a noise, you see icons symbolizing a fuss in one of the districts, or you just meet a person on the street and start a game of tag with him. You use abilities like an inflatable dog, showing in which direction there are people. Or you teleport to a point where people are about to escape. There was a moment when a man opened the door to the bunker, I quickly moved to him, stunned him and then we fought over whether he would escape or end up in a cocoon. Another advantage of playing as a clown is the impossibility of dying forever. If you die, you will be reborn in less than a minute, and this can happen endlessly.
At the same time, when playing as clowns, one of the main problems of Killer Klowns from Outer Space becomes noticeable – a boring entourage. There is no horror atmosphere here, but at the same time there was no room for anything comedic. It seems like the developers did not quite understand what mood they should convey. The main menu plays ominous music, and the clowns make scary faces, but in the game itself they run amusingly, and their rubber boots squeak amusingly. There are finishing moves in the spirit of Mortal Kombat , but instead of blood splashes, dozens of balloons are shown. And the equally dark locations are very similar to each other – there is a feeling that you are running around the same map.
It’s hard to give recommendations for yet another asymmetrical action game. Especially when it’s an action game based on an old movie – it’s hard to imagine how it will be supported with new content, or if it will be at all. Overall, I liked Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game – it’s much more dynamic than many similar projects, no matter which side you play for. In the case of people, the gameplay seems more monotonous than when playing for clowns, but the game still generates funny situations quite often. If the genre is close to you and you’re not worried that the game is unlikely to remain relevant until next year, it’s worth checking out. The gameplay is fun enough to have a community of devoted fans built around it.
Pros: asymmetrical action with ten players in one match – the dynamics here are higher than in other similar games; funny situations when playing for any of the sides of the conflict; funny abilities of clowns; the gameplay is exciting, and the search for players happens quickly, so after another match you want to start the next one; an interesting idea with mini-games in case of death…
Cons: …it’s a pity that these mini-games are very primitive; there is no proper training; the difference between people is minimal; people’s escape routes are the same on all maps; boring surroundings.