Season’s Beatings Review

Overview

I enjoyed Hotline Miami very much, when I saw they made a “Rip off” of their fast and frantic one hit kill style I really wanted to check it out. Turns out the guys at Code Avarice really managed to “Rip off” Hotline Miami while giving a fun twist, making it into an FPS.

The game is really fast paced and action packed, there isn’t a “Right way” to pass any level, they have a lot of different weapons and an awesome soundtrack that will make the experience very addictive.

There is a serious problem with the level optimization and the requirements posted on steam are not accurate, lucky for us other users have reported the issue and posted their system requirements so we have a good reference to see if you’ll be able to fully appreciate the experience.

Price: 10$
Size: 350mb
Genre: One hit, FPS.
Developed by: Code Avarice
Published by: Code Avarice
Reviewed on PC.
Download link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/749410/Seasons_Beatings/

Story

The game doesn’t have any storyline, the Christmas theme is all around the levels soundtracks and enemies, but unlike Hotline Miami, which had a vague but very engaging dark tale that explains to you why you’re going in a homicidal rampage, here you do it just for fun.

Gameplay

Season’s Beatings gameplay is extremely faced paced, and even though the NPCs are pretty dumb, they do have great reflexes and aim, the fact that any hit will kill you means that outgunning an enemy is not easy so you better try outsmarting them. Some of them will stay still others will be patrolling an area, but the pattern will always be the same. The idea of the game is to look for any way to kill everybody on the level.

There are two main kinds of weapons, melee, and guns. While guns clearly pack a bigger punch, they also make a lot of noise that will call the attention of any nearby NPCs, they also have very limited ammo, the good news is that it counts for the NPCs as well, so it’s actually easy to tick them into emptying their mags, after that they will be defenseless, even if there are guns all around them, not very smart. Melee weapons don’t have this issues but you have to get awfully close to very fast bots.

Just like Hotline Miami you can throw your weapons to stun (or in case of the Knife kill) an NPC, however, this won’t make him drop the weapon and you can’t do any damage unharmed… So you better think what you’re doing before throwing that bat, he won’t stay stunned forever.

This game has a serious optimization problem. At first I thought the problem might be my humble PC, but then I find out that other users with better PCs shared the issue, after looking into it I realized that some maps work perfectly while others tank the FPS, this should be an easy fix, but while they work on it, here are the PC specifications of Steam user Mqpg, he reported the issue but said it was not a big deal for the experience, so any PC better than this should have no problems.

Graphics

The game has simple graphics with a solid artwork, they did a great with the level destruction effects, even though I’m not sure if a flying bat will make a door blow up, it’s pretty fun to watch.

However the most important graphics of the genre are the weapons, they have great looking guns and the shoot effects are very cool.

Sound

The soundtrack is one of the best parts of the Season’s Beatings experience, there is something about the way the Christmas themed hard rock mixed with the thumps and bangs that invites you to keep killing bots in cold blood. It’s ok if you die, just keep killing.

Summary

In the end, the guys at Code Avarice got what they wanted from Season’s Beatings, it exploits the fast pace of Hotline Miami, without making it derivative. The same action with a new experience.

There are optimization issues that I’m sure they’ll be able to fix in no time but until then remember to check the requirements above.

Verdict

Fun experience, be careful with the requirements.

Season's Beatings

10
Season's Beatings
8

Gameplay

8.1/10

Graphics & Sound

8.9/10

Story

7.0/10

Cool

  • Fast Paced
  • Action Packed
  • A lot of content

Not Cool

  • Lacks optimization
  • NPCs are too dumb
Buy it on Steam!

Have your say!

0 0
More in Featured, PC, Reviews
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Review

Reviewed on Xbox One; Also available on PlayStation 4 and...

5 Indie Games Currently in Development

Every year we're seeing a dramatic increase in indie video...

Game Pass gets Major Update

The massive announcement today is that Microsoft will be adding...

Close