1 second, open the game; 10 seconds, complete the match; After 4 minutes, the game was over, and before I could recall the victory just now, the banyaki chicken leg burger set I ordered began to call.
The above is a realistic portrayal of McDonald's at lunchtime, where I played T3 Arena between orders. Today, the shooter has just started its national beta, and I have been playing it in international servers for a while.
As a gamer who is eager to play a shooter mobile game, many times I have conflicted feelings when I refuse this type of game. On the one hand, mobile gaming is already an important social tool at the moment, and I would love to integrate into the new circle it can provide me. On the other hand, they are a little afraid of the intensity of the shooting game, afraid that they will have to put in too much effort to play, and they will have to worry about pitting their teammates.
But in Firesoda, I don't have to worry about that, and I don't think about it. The ultra-short single-game game duration and the operation that can be done with the lowest two fingers have given me the motivation to pick up my phone and turn it on at any time, as well as a burden-free gaming experience.
While retaining the basic depth, this game features a minus from shooters.
1
In fact, judging from the name of the game alone, the main feeling of "Firepower Soda" is relaxation and release.
In the hot summer, open a can of can pull ring that has just been taken out of the refrigerator, and the sound of soda is like a natural coolness, which can relieve the heat without drinking. The art and music style of "Firepower Soda" has more or less inherited the impression it has brought to players since its name.
When I first entered the game, the first thing that caught my attention was not the content of the game, but a background song that automatically played on the main interface. The street-inspired jazzy track wraps the player in a relaxed and stylish atmosphere, and then starts the game with this tone.
So when I heard that their latest promotional song was partnered with the band Secondhand Roses, it was not surprising at all. Shake with the "godmother of rock and roll" in strange costumes, with a high-pitched howl, there may be nothing more liberating than this.
The casualness of the painting style is equally conspicuous in "Firepower Soda". The colorful cartoon rendering style and the proportions of the four-headed characters are different from many FPS and TPS games that are benchmarked by realism and realism, sweeping away the cruel and cold battlefield atmosphere, as if entering a carnival party.
Even if there are other art elements to be incorporated into the style depending on the theme of the event, "Firesoda" can also maintain a relaxed main tone. Even if the art style is ever-changing, it is always as open as an anime.
For example, the two styles of the new season
This series of foreshadowing makes players like carrying a colorful water gun into the amusement park, regardless of the practical significance related to shooting, only the cheerfulness of shooting itself.
Then on this basis, then extending lightweight to gameplay has become the top priority of this game. Fortunately, "Firesoda" still made me feel its leisure.
2
The hardcore of shooting mobile games often does not come from its tactical strategy game, but from its operation. I don't play much shooter games, and I asked a few friends around me who also played less, and their reasons were basically the same as mine, more because of the exhaustion of running a high load at the same time as my hand and brain.
The best thing that "Firepower Soda" does to reduce the burden of the game is not to blindly reduce its richness in design, but to find the core and try to lighten the player's operation at hand first.
One of the biggest changes is the addition of the "automatic fire" function. As long as the player points the very center of the screen at the enemy while moving the perspective, the system will automatically fire without having to hit the fire button.
The advantage of this is that players like me who prefer "two-finger operation" have been liberated. Only need the two thumbs of the left and right hands to complete the most basic experience of shooting games while controlling the perspective and movement, and the other fingers only need to hold the mobile phone, which is very close to the dual joystick experience of the gameplay.
It not only avoids the "C-shaped hand" that requires an extra finger to tap the screen, but also eliminates the need for frequent clicks, does not have to play so tired, and also removes a large barrier of entry between new players and shooting mobile games.
For players who are used to three- and four-finger controls, auto-fire also frees up one finger, leaving more room for other actions and skills. If you play a hero with few bullets and slow bullet changes, when you don't need this feature, turning off automatic fire is also just a matter of setting. In terms of operator comfort, Firepower Soda gives players plenty of freedom.
Each skill can adjust the position and size of the keys at will
On this basis, the game began to make a fuss about the lightness of the mode. Unlike games that start in ten minutes, the 3v3 mode in Firesoda requires a very low time cost.
Whether it's a team confrontation, a personal brawl or a crystal attack and defense, it only takes 3 to 5 minutes to complete a fight. If the kill conditions of this mode can be met in advance, it is completely possible to play in 1 minute.
There is no need to execute tactics in these maps, just like modes such as "Smash Bros." or "Transport Ship", which pursue casual pleasure without rules or martial arts. Fast and efficient positive feedback from the game, combined with a low load on operation, makes opening the game a casual and enjoyable affair.
The voice function built into the game, I think was meant to allow players to discuss tactics with each other. However, when I played it in black with my friends, it was basically only used for gags and chatter, and occasionally said what I play and what you change, and the game passed one game after another, which also made "Fire Soda" one of the apps I opened most frequently these days.
This fits well with my original vision of it, a social app. And as I played more and more, the competitiveness of shooters, which I had previously ignored, gradually became three-dimensional.
3
Most of the new FPS and TPS games we can see now rarely appear in the category of only fighting marksmanship, but are more inclined to make composite shooters that incorporate more other elements, either in the performance of the characters, or in the underlying gameplay innovation.
"Firepower Soda" is no exception, essentially still based on shooters, through skills, attack power and health and other elements to make character differentiation a game.
Since there are differences, there must be team positioning. Some people are good at killing enemies in a plundering formation, and some people are good at sniper assassination, then it is doomed that some people are good at blood return assistance, and some people are good at shield cover. Once you've crossed the entry threshold, you'll inevitably want to play something more challenging, so in later versions, Firepower Soda added a 5v5 mode that played to its due advantage.
The aforementioned casual gameplay, while enjoyable to play, doesn't quite capture the depth of character and skill that team tactics can achieve. It is no longer just about rushing forward with pleasure, occupying strongholds, escorting vehicles and other tasks, so that the gains and losses of team combat are highlighted, and it is also on top of the simple kill feedback, which constitutes another important sense of achievement in the game experience.
With the addition of the 5v5 mode, each hero in "Firepower Soda" has added 1 small skill to the original 1 big move and 1 small skill. In order to make the positioning of different characters in specific positions clearer in larger campaigns.
This change isn't just about adding a skill. There is a hero in the game, who was called the "Single-handedness Queen" by players in the previous 3v3, because she can fight and milk, and she is very versatile. After the 5v5 mode update, it not only added 1 auxiliary small skill, but also weakened the damage and body board to varying degrees, which is more in line with the positioning of an auxiliary board, which enhances the long board and reduces the short board.
The 5v5 mode of Firepower Soda also weakens the two functions of auto-aim and auto-fire to some extent. As an enhancement to the game's competitive nature, these two lower-threshold features are also not as high a priority as in 3v3 casual mode. As a shooting game, in addition to tactics, marksmanship is definitely the underlying foundation of the game's competitive nature.
When the game's competitiveness increases, its self-made claim of the attribute of "automatic" will definitely affect the accuracy of the operation of the master who does not need much help, but it is self-defeating. What's more, in the game, there are special mechanisms for heroes to change bullets to achieve blood return, and if automatic shooting or automatic bullet change is turned on, it will seriously affect the operation.
From the perspective of mechanism, the "automatic fire" and "self-aiming" provided in the game are essentially different, and there is no guarantee that only when they hit will shoot, but they will probably shoot when they enter the crosshair, which is the same as auxiliary aiming, in fact, it is still a measure to lower the threshold of operation, and it is not for competitive services.
In the larger 5v5 map, the competitive potential of the game in terms of marksmanship accuracy, team cooperation, class matching and tactical strategy is better tapped. Let the game go up from a 3v3 basically casual shooting game, and become a shooting game with depth.
Of course, the main tone of "Firepower Soda" is relaxed and easy to play, and it will certainly not be overshadowed by the depth of the game.
The game is extended, and it is still ten minutes to end a round of fragmented battles, the increase in the intensity of the operation remains within the comfort range, and its cartoonish and relaxing music and graphics will not change.
4
For Firesoda, the 3v3 and 5v5 modes are not so much the two legs it uses to walk, but more like its simultaneous exploration of the upper and lower limits of the shooting mobile game.
Its lightweighting first breaks through operational comfort, reducing the cost of players entering and learning games, and then making a fuss about fast-paced combat content. The burden reduction of the game does not fundamentally sacrifice the competitiveness of the game, and in a relaxed and casual state, it can still achieve the positive feedback given to players by shooting mobile games, which also gives them the opportunity to explore the upper limit of the game later.
Therefore, when they added competitiveness to the game at the request of players, they could continue to maintain the main tone of casual and relaxed gameplay, and successfully added a 5v5 mode focusing on teamwork, so that the two parallel modes can have their own advantages and common ease characteristics.
The low threshold opens the door to more players, the high ceiling gives deep players a reason to stay in the game, and both modes give different players the same comfortable choice, and also give the game a richer level of gameplay.
The most valuable point of "Firepower Soda", in my opinion, is that they understand that many games are shouting about lightweighting and load reduction, which does not mean to subtract something, and sometimes they help more players to consider, to add something, may be the right answer to game load reduction.
Friends who are interested in the game can go to the TapTap page of "Firepower Soda" for more information. On June 13, the official live broadcast room will also refresh the figure of Japanese music group GARNiDELiA - in this live broadcast linkage, players will feel the competitive fun of easy shooting with Mei Yi Liya and Teku, and everyone who just listened to "The Way Home" should not miss it.