Greg Hasting’s Tournament Paintball – XB – Review

Greg Hastings might not be
a household name but those who have been following the masters of a little sport
called paintball know that this man is the Tony Hawk of the mock battlefield.
Raising his marker (the sport’s lingo for the paintball gun), Greg and his
teammates have dominated the field, splattering opponents with colorful paint
pellets.  Fun as the game is to play in person; it makes me wonder if Greg
Hastings’ Tournament Paintball on the Xbox translates into gaming joy.  The
result, as it turns out, is actually quite surprisingly good.

Played like a first-person
shooter with just a few options, Tournament Paintball puts you in the sneakers
of a rookie paintball player of your choosing.  You start off with two other
allies for three-on-three matches in small arenas filled with suitable spots to
take cover such as carefully placed boxes, inflatable objects or even trees.
Each tournament has three stages: Preliminary, Semi Finals and Finals.
Depending on how many matches you win, you take the first, second or third
place. 

The main mode of playing
the game is the Single Player mode, which does not feature a story nor any cut
scenes that make you believe you’re really taking your character from rookie to
paintball tournament champion.  The heart and soul of the game, however, is the
actual paintball tournaments which include lightning-fast shoot-um-up rounds to
a great variation of Capture the Flag.  Many of the matches move from
three-on-three to five-on-five matches and thus have you working alongside AI
teammates that do a pretty good job of tagging out opponents.  To top things
off, winning matches earns you credits towards purchasing items like better
shoes, goggles, pants and even better markers (guns) and barrels that can allow
you to shoot a bit farther.  You can even purchase pod harnesses to carry more
paint pods and air systems to increase the velocity of your shot.

The tournament places you
in some cramp outdoor arenas throughout the world (you’ll go as far as England
and Germany in this game) attempting to dominate the field by taking out rival
teams.  The controls, one of the game’s best features, allows you to move
smoothly across the field and also allows you to crouch and drop on your stomach
in Ghost Recon fashion.  You can peek around corners for quick shots and you can
even rush across the field.  The game also allows you to cheat, which comes in
the form of a meter that swings around in a circular motion.  If you hit the
green area, the referee will count the hit as a bounce (meaning the pellet
bounced off you rather than splatter you) or you were able to wipe the paint
away quickly.  Beware though, hit the red and the referee might not only
disqualify you but penalize up to three of your teammates as well.  If you’re
hit in the head–seen as paint splatter across your goggles, you’re instantly
kicked off the field and forced to play as one of your teammates.

You will be quite glad
that the game’s controls are this solid because your opponents are not at all
dumb.  In fact, they’re able to strategize well enough that they’ll attempt to
out flank you or flush you out of your cover quite impressively.  Your
computer-controlled teammates (all of which you can trade in for better rookies,
novices, amateurs or professionals like Lisa Harvey) can do the same but without
the ability to communicate with them they often find themselves getting tagged
quite easily.  They get easily tagged out, actually.  This is especially
frustrating when you’re up against some of the pros when you advance to the
Finals. 

The trouble with
Tournament Paintball is the fact that since you’re not personally invested in
the game’s tournament some gamers might not want to see it through to the very
end.  It’s understandable since the only real advancements your character makes
is in the fact that you can increase his or her speed, accuracy, marker and
reloading speed RPG-style in between tournaments.  This is too bad since the
game is actually very addictive and fun.  What does make up for this is the
ability to play the game on Xbox Live.  The online multiplayer game remedies
some of the problems you have with your AI teammates because here you can
strategize with other players who will do a better job of covering you and
flushing out opponents.  Seven-on-seven player matches move smoothly without any
stutter and that’s a good thing since the quick action rounds will hook you with
its intense fast-paced action.

Graphically speaking,
Tournament Paintball is not the prettiest Xbox first-person shooter but it’s
decent amount of detail and character models aren’t bad at all.  The arenas look
great and watching paint splatter across an opponent’s body looks even greater.
There are times when the framerate drops a little but it’s nothing that gets in
the way of the action.  There are also some baffling environmental objects,
particularly in the forest settings, which are quite an eyesore.

The game’s sound isn’t bad
either especially since you’ll be able to tell where your opponent is shooting
at you.  You’ll hear pellets zip by your head and pound the cover you’re hiding
behind.  You’ll hear your opponents (as well as your own teammates) declare out
loud that they’ve been hit or eliminated another player.  As for the game’s
soundtrack, filled with rocking tunes from some unknown artists, it’s actually
not a bad selection of songs and they do the trick nicely.

Surprisingly enough, Greg
Hastings’ Tournament Paintball is a solid first-person shooter sports game that
is wonderfully addictive and true to the very sport it tries to bring to virtual
life.  With great AI opponents and plenty of paint splattering fun online and
off, this is a game you’ll have tons of fun with when you can’t do the real
thing.

#Review Scoring Details for Greg Hastings’ Tournament Paintball

Gameplay: 8.0
A great control scheme and perfect
opponent AI makes this a fast-paced first-person shooter done right despite the
often crammed-in feel of some of the arenas.  It’s quite fun building up your
character’s stats but no story really does not give us enough of an excuse to
want to see the tournament to the very end.  The ability to cheat is a great
idea.

Graphics: 7.5
Visually, Tournament Paintball is
not an incredibly detailed game and there are times when the framerate drops
just a little but the graphics are decent enough that you can tell your
teammates apart from opposing team.  The arenas look great and splattering an
opponent looks satisfyingly neat.

Sound: 7.0
Good use of directional sound will
have you knowing exactly where the shots came from and you’ll even hear when
your teammates get hit.  The soundtrack offers quite an assortment of tunes that
are actually not bad at all but there’s always the option to customize your own
soundtrack.

Difficulty: Medium
The enemy AI is sharp and has enough
sense to duck for cover and try to outflank you.   This adds to the challenge
since there is hardly a time when your opponent foolishly exposes him or
herself.  You can also cheat, although the second and third time you attempt a
cheat could penalize up to three members on your team.

Concept: 7.5
Tournament Paintball does a
magnificent job of recreating all the thrills associated with the sport enough
that hardcore paintball fans would fall in love with it.  The single player
tournament is short and sweet (albeit lacking a story or a real reason to play
on) and the various goodies to unlock are great additions. 

Multiplayer: 8.0
The game supports System Link play
for up to fourteen players on screen at once and there’s even Xbox Live support
with the usual assortment of extras such as Scoreboards and Friend List
challenges.  Online the game runs smoothly enough and the seven-on-seven team
play matches are worth the price of admission.  Paintball, anyone?

Overall: 8.0
Tournament Paintball an entertaining
and addictive first-person shooter sans the blood and violence seen in most FPS
games.  This is a highly competitive sport and the game does a brilliant job of
representing it throughout the single and multiplayer matches.  While there are
things I would have liked to see remedied (no rivalries or story to speak of
means no real need to see the tournament to the very end); fans of paintball new
and old will surely enjoy this title.