Until the rise in popularity of Rocket League, I thought sports games were a dying breed. Year after year we get the same Fifa and Madden games with hardly anything changed, and we’ve accepted it.
Few people discover the numerous indie sports titles that are made yearly with innovative features and genuine interest in their players.
What is Energy Hook
Energy Hook is an Early Access Indie Sports game developed by Happion Labs and released on Steam August 13th, 2015.
Energy hook’s main feature is the swinging mechanic that requires the player to learn each stage to find the fastest shortcuts and the highest accessible hook locations to complete the challenges that each course has to offer.
At the moment, the story doesn’t mean much, but you play as an Energy Hook athlete named Delilah living in a cyberpunk future of sorts. By completing challenges set by other underground Energy Hook Enthusiasts, you earn respect in the underground and gain access to better equipment, but I have yet see this other gear.
Should I buy it? Why?
If you’re a speed freak, Energy Hook was built for you! A large amount, if not all of the challenges you face in Energy hook are time trials that can span a skyscraper’s height, or an entire maps length, and mastering the hook is not exactly something you do overnight.
You don’t need pinpoint accuracy to learn the hook, as it has a wide sensor that will look for any hookable surface above your character and instantly latch onto it and swing. You can use your movement keys to influence your direction in midair but positioning of the hook is just is important for movement, otherwise the hook will snap and you will fall.
The Hook is supposed to be the main attraction because it was designed by the inventor of the web-swinging movement in Spider-man 2, but the reason why the swinging worked so well in that game was because it was used in short bursts, and it was easier to maneuver around the city.
Latching onto building without slamming into them face-first is a chore, and maneuvering midair to catch another hook point is nearly impossible and infuriating.
To assist you in reaching a certain distance, height or just saving you from an accident, you’re also equipped with a multipurpose jetpack you can use to get a short burst into the air, or as a speed boost forward on your hook. Your boost is limited, and can be refilled by doing stunts such as flips in the air with your 1-3 keys.
This all seems well and dandy, until you realize your speed boost increases your descent to your ground when you’re not attached to your hook, and your jetpack only works for 2 seconds before you take a long drop down to the ground to see a wipeout animation and have to start over again.
The wipeout animation triggers any time you don’t land on your feet, such as performing a stunt and hitting the ground with your head, but most likely, you will hit something on your leg like your knee, which still causes a wipeout. The boost still does less harm than good, so it’s a great feature to have.
The game currently has 3 maps, each with their own unique looks and styles of play. Gravship Dock is loaded with cranes and gravity boosters, and Southstar Island is a large city filled with plenty of buildings to climb on. I have yet to unlock Future Island, and the other 4 maps are locked with no estimated percent or coming soon.
Each map comes with their own set of challenges that are found by orange-red beams around the map. Standing in one of these beams starts the challenge, and the timer for the challenge does not stop until it is complete, even if you wipe out or fall off the map. Some challenges are tutorials of sorts that help you learn different tips and tricks, while a majority are time trials against other players on the leaderboards.
Energy hook has other small features such as the ability to go first-person or tune your gear to make it perfect for your style of play. Tuning your jetpack lets you choose between continuous or charged jumps, as well as the strength of your jump jet and boost jet.
There is also quite a bit of tuning for your energy hook, such as the option to simulate wrap around and the radius that your detector beams use to hook to a surface.
What can they do to make it better
If you know what you’re doing, the game is probably smooth and easy-going, but Energy hook is FAR from beginner-friendly. You’re given minor tutorials as you play, but the learning curve is too high for players to understand everything with just one experience.
If you make the controls too easy, you risk the hardcore crowd (if there is any yet) walking out. I don’t have any issues with the game besides the difficulty of control in the air, but that’s the game and you probably won’t have any problems if you dedicate yourself to it.
What to expect out of the finished product
The game will feature a total of 7 full sandbox levels, as well as 10 bonus challenge levels. Happion Labs says most of the game is complete with the exception of the few missing maps, some bug fixes, some added polish, and somer additional tweaking and tuning.
Final Verdict
Luckily I bought the game before I saw the “sports” tag, because I probably would have ran for the hills. I’ve never been a fan of sports of ANY kind, even E-sports.
Finding a sports game that can capture the interest of someone who hates sports, and literally throw them through a loop with an energy hook doesn’t happen too often, so when I say you have to experience this game for yourself, I mean it.
It may not be my go-to game, but what can I say? It’s got me hooked.
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