Samstag, 17. Juli 2021

6 Seasons and a Game (PC) Review

 

6 Seasons and a Game is a fanmade video game for the Community series. It is a Paintball Shooter, reminiscent of the Paintball episodes in the series. 6 Seasons and a Game consists of many references and Easter Eggs to the show (the name itself is already a reference to the often used quote of 6 seasons and a movie, which hasn't so far been fulfilled...)

The gunplay of 6 Seasons and a Game feels satisfying, but requires a little getting used to. There is a bit of a bullet drop, but once I got used to it, I started liking it a lot.   

There is also a so called 'Dodge System', which influences the players health rather than the actual movement. The movement generally feels good and players apparently have lower or higher levels of health, if they move around or stand still. I personally didn't really notice it and am not sure what the purpose of this 'dodge system' is going to be, since running targets are by logic a bit harder to hit (maybe it is supposed to prevent players from camping by making them weaker when standing still). The purpose and influence of this system is a bit unclear to me and I wouldn't have needed it in the game.

All players have identical paint guns, which works well and is pretty balanced. Apart from that, there is however also a special weapon in the form of Senior Chang's Assault Rifle, which can sometimes be found somewhere around the map. It is a lot faster and more precise than the standard paint gun, but can't be refilled. Chang's weapon however is pretty rare and I have only seen it twice in a match.

There is a regular Team Deathmatch mode (8v8) and there is an additional Exploration mode. In this mode players can freely explore Greendale and discover all the cool places at the campus. Unfortunately there is no mode with Bots, for the times, where nobody else is playing. Some other versions of Greendale as additional maps/modes or some further weapons or items would have been a nice addition to the game, which overall seems to lack a bit in content. What is there, is a lot of fun, but 1 map and essentially only 1 weapon don't offer much variety.

The visuals of 6 Seasons and a Game are okay, but honestly not more than that. The visual engine looks considerably old and has a cartoonish style. The details however on the map of the Greendale Campus are very well done. Fans of the show will recognize many places and there are indeed many cool easter eggs to be found. Some of the best are the trampoline in the secret garden, the fussball table, an Abed painting, Shirley's restaurant, the famous study room, the dean's office, the space ship model or the hand statue. 6 Seasons and Game also has two 'safe zones' on opposite sites of the map, which can not be entered by players from the opposing team. One is the cafeteria building and the other is the building with the study room and the dean's office. Overall the map is really well done and great fanservice.

The 7 original members of the study group and Senior Chang are also playable characters (no Hickey, Frankie or Elroy however), which is pretty cool. The dean in addition also makes several announcements during the matches, which is definitely entertaining.

The biggest letdown so far is the lack of players at most times. The game released in January 2021 with some decent (however not amazing) players numbers. You would always find full lobbies and so on, but things have cooled off a lot since than. When I first played the game in march, you would regularly find at least a handful of players in each match. Since April however you will need some luck to find other players. Lobbies with a couple of players still happen, but they have become rare. If you play with less than 5 people, you can have an issue with players camping outside the spawn areas, which you can't even criticize them for (enemy players can only spawn there and if you killed them, there is no real point in going to the opposite site of the map).

There are extensive options for visual and sound customization and all controls can freely be changed as well. For a smaller game, there are quite a few options to switch between.

 

Pro:

- Wonderful Community fanservice

- Satisfying paintball gunplay

- Great Greendale map

- Extensive options customization

 

Contra:

- Small playerbase

- Dodge system a bit unclear

- Relatively small amount of content

 

Result:

6 Seasons and a Game is the kind of game, who's existence I truly appreciate. It is 100 % fan service and done by passionate supporters, who really care and just want to make a game that is fun, instead of releasing some copy paste game to make a quick buck. The game does lack a bit in the quantity of content, but the quality of the map and the gameplay makes up for it. The visuals are merely acceptable, but the Greendale map is filled with so many cool references, that is hard to even notice. Only the lack of active players really holds it back. A lot of times you can't even get a match going. For the other times (or a short trip in exploration mode) the game is well worth a try.

I rate this game as 'Cool Cool Cool' and if you haven't played it yet, you are already Streets behind.

 

7/10

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