Sometimes gaming isn’t all about killing monsters, dragons, zombies, or even fellow humans. Gaming can be about mobility, movement, or ideas such as revolution and rebellion. Hover: Revolt of Gamers is one such gaming experience, about free-running, movement, and overthrowing a corrupt dictatorship bent on subjugating humanity.
Hover: Revolt of Gamers is set in the city of ECP17 or “Hover City” as its inhabitants call it. Located on a distant planet, Hover City suffers due to a dictatorship caused by separation from the Galactic Union. Having fun has become illegal in Hover City, and all forms of entertainment have been banned, but this is where you come in. You are in charge of “The Gamers” a resistance group eager to take down the dictatorship and fight against the new anti-leisure laws.
The Gamers are equipped with high-tech gear, which allows them to pull off amazing jumps, tricks, and speed. With this gear, they are able to help the citizens of Hover City, sabotage the dictatorship and its media propaganda, and more while they seek to reach the Orbital Station so they can warn the Galactic Union of what is happening to their home.
An interesting thing about Hover: Revolt of Gamers is that it can be seamlessly played offline or online; this allows you to switch from offline to online mode, joining your friends worldwide, and either working cooperatively with them or against them as rivals. Hover: Revolt of Gamers is also designed to be community driven, so players can create missions or mini games in the level editor to fit their own personal playstyle and needs, and then share them with others. There are also leaderboards for quests and things so that you can see what the community is like in terms of skill.
Hover City is vast, huge both vertically and horizontally. There are underground portions, high sky rise buildings, and all sorts of places to do tricks, and navigate. As a player, you have total freedom to go, see, and do whatever you feel like in this huge parkour playground that the developers have created. There are ten different characters to unlock, each with upgradable skills and customizable colors. You can also gain experience, or collect chips which enhance your team members; though you can easily trade in chips you don’t want by using the E-Swap trading system in order to get better chips.
I really like how fluid and easy the movement is in Hover: Revolt of Gamers. It feels great to play with a controller, and the atmosphere has a very clear Jet Set Radio influence that makes it even more interesting to play. There is so much to do in Hover City, and just exploring in itself is enough to keep you busy for hours. I feel like the developers of Hover: Revolt of Gamers also may have been inspired by games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and the Skate series of games, as they all have a similar sort of feel to them (in my opinion.)
I do have a problem with how tightly zoomed in the camera is most of the time. In exploration games like Mirror’s Edge or even in free-moving action games like Assassin’s Creed, I vastly prefer being able to alter the camera not only in rotating it but zooming in and out. In the case of Mirror’s Edge, normally I dislike first person views, but I find it does very well at showing you how far you are from what you are trying to reach.
With Hover: Revolt of Gamers I find that being able to switch from first to third-person works well, but the first-person view is very disorienting and hard to really work with. While I love the way the game controls and feels, the camera is a big issue and really needs some work. I also feel like Hover: Revolt of Gamers could benefit from a map, which would show nearby quests or even places of interest.
I really like how open Hover: Revolt of Gamers feels, though in some aspects it feels like an MMORPG that can be played offline. Part of the fun of the game is indulging with other people because a big environment like Hover City definitely benefits from a wide variety of characters and players interacting. There are times in Hover: Revolt of Gamers where playing in single-player can feel almost overwhelming, in how vast the city is, making it sometimes difficult to track down quests.
I’m terrible at racing and things that need to be done in a time limit, but there are all kinds of other quests that will mix things up for you. The different things to collect add variety as well, from upgrades to your character, all the way to new graffiti that you can use to destabilize the dictatorship’s hold on the populace. There is great attention to detail in your surroundings, and I found myself just wandering around to see what Hover City had to offer.
If you like games that put a focus on movement and mobility, then Hover: Revolt of Gamers is definitely a game for you. Sure, it isn’t perfect, but there is plenty to sink your teeth into both single-player and in multiplayer. The progression system is engaging and interesting, the environments are beautiful and colorful, and there is plenty of content here to keep you and your friends busy for a long while.
A PC Review Copy of Hover: Revolt of Gamers was provided by Playdius Int for the purpose of this review.