Monday Night Combat SKIDROW - [Download Game PC]

When Monday Night Combat debuted on Xbox Live Arcade last August, it greeted players with a fairly forgettable introduction. The braying announcer, simplistic action, and limited tutorial didn't paint the whole picture, leaving players to push on and discover the joys of this dynamic and entertaining shooter for themselves. Now available for the PC, Monday Night Combat still begins with the same limp intro, but once again, it soon proves to be a novel and engrossing combat experience. The clever gameplay mechanics that worked so well on the console are in fine form here, and developer Uber Entertainment has made a host of small tweaks that preserve the core action and maintain the balance between character classes. These small changes won't be apparent to most, but the effect will be: Monday Night Combat runs beautifully and feels like a natural fit on the PC. Easy to pick up and packed with a diverse array of satisfying and strategic ways to play, Monday Night Combat is a great new place for shooter fans to flex their itchy trigger fingers.

Monday Night Combat has two core gameplay modes: Blitz and Crossfire. In Blitz, which you can play solo or online with up to three other players, you must defend a shiny disco ball full of money from waves of robot attackers. These greedy bots come in many varieties, and each poses a unique threat, from stout soldiers and bounding gorillas to flying suicide bombers and walking mortar cannons. Killing bots earns you money, which allows you to upgrade your soldier's skills, install defensive turrets at designated locations, and use battlefield hazards to your advantage. Money is also the ultimate tally of your triumph in Blitz mode, and if you successfully defend your money ball, your score gets posted to the online leaderboards. Blitz comes in a few different difficulty levels, and while you can complete the easiest mode by yourself without too much trouble, the tougher ones will strain even experienced teams. Beating these challenges and striving for high scores has some limited appeal, and it's a good way to familiarize yourself with the four different turret varieties; the various soldier-specific skills; and the sharp, responsive controls.

That familiarity comes in handy when you tackle the real attraction in Monday Night Combat: Crossfire. This mode builds on the tower defense-style gameplay of Blitz, challenging you to defend your money ball against waves of hostile robots while earning money, upgrading skills, installing turrets, and the like. The twist is that there is now a team of up to six human soldiers behind those robots. These opposing players are gunning for you, assaulting your defenses, and trying to ensure that those hostile robots do make it to your money ball. Once there, the robots tear down the money ball's shields, making it vulnerable to your human opponents who are trying to destroy it and claim victory. While you are embroiled in this defensive effort, you must also make offensive moves of your own by escorting your friendly robots to the enemy money ball and combating your opponents' defensive efforts. With so many potential objectives on the battlefield, the action is perpetually shifting focus as the two teams struggle to find a way to exploit the enemy's weakness while shoring up their own. This six-on-six struggle is engrossing, and the handful of arenas are designed so that any given area affords different offensive and defensive opportunities at any given moment. It's a hectic, novel twist on objective-based competition.

Crossfire presents a clever challenge, but what makes it truly compelling are the six different soldier classes. Each variety of soldier wields two weapons and an array of skills that allow him or her to contribute to the team in powerful ways. The assault soldier is speedy and tough, best played aggressively thanks to his high-damage assault rifle, remote mines, and ability to fly limited distances. The support soldier, on the other hand, can play a more versatile role; shoring up defenses by repairing turrets and healing allies and then taking the offensive by hacking enemy turrets and calling in mortar strikes. The gunner soldier wields a deadly minigun and an explosive grenade launcher while boasting a room-clearing ground pound and the ability to set himself up as a turret to increase his damage and accuracy. The tank soldier can also make himself into a turret or bull-rush his enemies out of the combat arena, and his fiery jet gun is a great reimagining of the classic flamethrower. The sniper soldier is pretty self-explanatory, but his deployable traps and surprising grapples make him a threat from all ranges. And then there's the assassin soldier, a superquick ninja lady who kills from behind, shoots ricocheting shurikens, and traverses the map with alarming speed.