Offensive Combat: Redux! (PC)

Thank you Three Gates AB for sending us this game to review!

Offensive Combat was a browser based free to play first person shooter. Since I don’t play games on Facebook, I have no experience with the original title. It has since been abandoned and much of its community was heartbroken. Offensive Combat: Redux! has enhanced the visuals and changed the business model by making the game playable without spending any additional money outside of its $19.99 asking price.

Offensive Combat: Redux! is a solid first person shooter that offers your typical Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag game modes. With the in-game currency you can customize your character’s appearance with a plethora of options to choose from. Some of the selections include a banana, panda, alien, rooster, or even a "Donald Drumpf" mask. You begin the game with a decent amount of starting money, but you can earn more by simply shooting your opponents in game. Weapon upgrades can be done in a similar fashion.

Though killing your opponents in a first person shooter is typical, players are rewarded more for "pwning" their victims afterward. Not only are the intimidating gestures funny, they can randomly drop character customization items. Some of the pwning gestures include armpit tooting or squatting and farting on the recently departed. Some more crude options like tea bagging or using a wanker hand gesture are possible as well. The mooning animation merely consists of waving your character's butt around while remaining covered. 

At the end of a ten minute round, the player’s pwn, kill, and death counts are tallied up for a final score. Pwns are worth the most since they are risky to do. The gestures take between three and five seconds to complete and your character is vulnerable while performing them.

Each of the six maps have various power-ups scattered on them. Health is not needed since players regain health automatically if they are not shot at for a few seconds. Damage and speed multipliers are usually available though. Armor is handy to find and equip as well. An unnamed powerful gun is available on most maps. Out of habit, I call it a Redeemer and the heavenly music that plays while equipping it makes the name fit.

There is plenty of map variety and they are all designed exceptionally well. Each map has plenty of places to hide, snipe, and duck for cover. Many of the maps are huge too which is great when you have ten or more people online. Sadly, I rarely encountered more than four. Searching for one or two players on a gigantic map isn’t very fun. The mini map on the upper left hand side is helpful for locating power-ups and players.

Due to the lack of players, I was only able to play the regular Deathmatch mode. I have not seen any active Capture the Flag or Team Deathmatch games to join. If you’re by yourself, you can play against the bots which are pretty competent, but you cannot adjust their difficulty at all. There is also a shooting range and a map exploration mode. This game would be great for LAN parties, but I don’t see any options for setting up private or local only matches.

The developers have plans for adding more maps, pwns, and character customizations. Despite the title, this game isn't as offensive as other titles that we have reviewed. I don’t know what future DLC will contain though. Violence is a given, but there isn’t any blood or gore to be seen. Some of the guns are electricity based and kill via electrocution.

The promise of updates is good but the lack of players is very discouraging. Because of that, I would recommend holding off on this game unless it goes on sale. My kids find this title hilarious but $20 is a bit much for them to spend and not be able to enjoy it fully.