When the other team hits you with a crippling mutator, flip it back at them. There’s a mutator for each of the weapons that gives you a superpowered version of that weapon.īut then there are the truly tricky mutators. Some of them alter the graphics, or sound effects, or lighting. Some of them change the rules of scoring, spawning, or even physics. These mutators, as they’re called, are many and varied. But Nexuiz isn’t content with the usual stuff. Unlimited ammo, extra speed, higher jumping, invisibility, and so forth. You’re probably imagining what some of these power might be, and you’re right. A little chaos and control at your fingertips. It’s a bit like Mario Kart for how it’s very random and very powerful, capable of flipping the balance of any situation on its end. You can hang on to them as long as you like, firing off your chosen power - you only get to use one of them! - when the time is right. They then loiter on the lower right side of the screen until you pick which one of them to use. It’s like a pull on a slot machine, and three powers randomly appear. Nexuiz works by the same principle, but instead of predetermined powers you get for a killstreak, you basically roll the dice. These occasional breaks in the usual running and gunning are partly what makes Call of Duty great. Now you can see the other team through walls, or you can drop an explosion directly onto the map, or you can drive a tiny bomb around, or you can summon dogs or helicopters. You could say these powers break the rules of the game. When you get a killstreak in Call of Duty, you unlock a special power. This game, which has a history as a Quake mod, is a throwback to the 90s, as fast as Quake, as slick as Unreal Tournament, and as blissfully unencumbered by narrative as any skill-based shooter.īut if that was all Nexuiz was about, who would need it now that we can play Quake in a web browser? Fortunately, Nexuiz - prounounced “Nexwheeze” in my mind - has something else up its sleeve.Īfter the jump, the dice are as loaded as the guns But no such thing happens in Nexuiz, a game that recalls a time before reload buttons.

I know this because I keep hitting the reload button after firing my gun. It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game like Nexuiz.

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