Hive Jump | A Fun Cooperative Arcade Experience
Hive Jump, a game created by Graphite Lab is a 2D action rogue-like that tasks you and up to 3 other jumpers with clearing alien infested caves using high tech weapons and power-ups. There are plenty of modes to choose from when playing Hive Jump. the campaign, arcade, challenges, and tutorial. However that isnt all there is to do in the game, there is also plenty of lore for those interested. In addition the game has individual save files which is very family PC friendly by being able to have done everything yourself on your own save.
As for the campaign, which is a story mode that is interesting and humorous at times. The mission select screen is a board with a bunch of territories on the map that are shadowed and are unlocked if you've completed an area adjacent to it. After completing a mission the jumpers will claim that territory and set up a post. Which means that it can be taken back by the hive if all soldiers are defeated. To prevent this, you have the option to recruit more soldiers to the post, set up a barricade, and have a mech defend it. All of which is not free. These upgrades require 'ooze' that you find throughout your missions killing hive aliens opening chests found the level or in challenge rooms. The queen of the hive is usually found in one of the last areas on the map, which you can find by choosing to purchase a 'scan for queen' upgrade before jumping in amongst other level modifiers to weaken the level. When you encounter the queen, which is the last area in each chapter of the campaign you can choose to nuke it which has a 2 minute timer or elimate the queen with raw bullets and grit. The nuke has a health bar as well so be sure to protect it from hive aliens or else you have to resort to killing the queen with weaponry or fail the mission.
Arcade is much like the campaign only you can decide how many levels and strength of the game is. Easy through hard determines the amount of boss battles you'll encounter before completing your run or choose to play the queen fight on its own.
To those who want a challenge there is are plenty of modes for you. There are Daily and Weekly challenges which start the player with zero goo and a predetermined loadout and the goal is to get as high of a score as possible. Hardcore which doesn't let you respawn and requires you to go through 12 levels and 5 bosses + the queen on a single life. There is also speedrun and endless which i feel don't need explanation. And finally a tutorial which the game already puts you when you begin a new profile. All your scores should be viewable at the leaderboard section but I can't get it working.
The weapon catalogue is pretty varied so it can suit most playstyles. Although in my opinion getting up close and personal isn't very rewarding and retreating while shooting is recommended. You start off with an assault rifle but can go to a shotgun or a gausse for fairly cheap in the early game. Once you get a hang of the weapons you can choose to upgrade the ones you currently have and rock and roll or hop on a different one and farm goo for that instead. The end game mostly includes you farming for the E.U.V. Light which costs one hundred thousand goo and the grind is quite a few games to being able to obtain the weapon let alone upgrade it. It shoots a beam and constantly rolls elemental effects on whatever it hits for a short amount of time. Other than the grind, the weapons are quite fun.
Grenades are a fun mechanic in this game. Although, they do affect you if you walk in their vicinity it won't be pleasant. Some fun ones are a fire wheel grenade which burns enemies, proximity trigger, which is basically a tripmine, and grenade cluster which is kind of a situational one but looks cool. I personally use the healing grenades because I can't be trusted not to walk into my own grenade.
Lastly in the loadout department, there are the utilities. You start off with a telefrag which destroys all normal enemies nearby when you respawn. It's a nice one but doesn't really help prevent death in my opinion. This area of armory is probably the only way you can change your gameplay in terms of a loadout that isnt just shoot anything you see. What I mean is that there are upgrades like sonar ping,which displays points of interest on the map when used. Another one is rejuvination field, which makes a healing forcefield for you and your allies. Bomb bandolier, which is triples your grenades. And a smart turret which is a machine that is fixed in wherever you're staying and shoots nearby enemies. I list these utilities because there can be significant coordination with you and whomever's playing with you to get as far as you can to obtain the best score of your run or survive the boss battle. There is also solo utilities like quantum blink which teleports you a short distance. Overshield, which i personally use is a shield ontop of your health. Laser sight, which gives better aim and rate of fire, and a couple more. If customization is something you desire they have plenty of insignias, colors, and skins to choose from. A big downside to this game is the lack of players so if you want to be able to play coop I advise collecting a coiuple of friends to join your journey for maximum enjoyment.
According to steamdb.info, Hive Jump goes on sale for $1.99 USD often on big sales so I recommend giving it a shot whenever it does. It's worth the money as someone who spent $20 when it dropped on Steam. I hope this was worth the read and let me know what you thought of if you gave Hive Jump a shot. If not that's ok, there are lots of games on steam to play let alone review. Enjoy your games and see you on the next review.
