In a lot of ways, Fragpunk is much better than I expected it to be.
GIVE THEM BIG HEADS!!!!"
Okay, card-based power-ups are frightfully old news at this stage.
Or at least nottotallyso.
Card-based mechanical twists are old news, yes.
So are team shooters with an overcompensating neon colour palette.
But Fragpunk’s are legit.
The key here is in the chaos.
In playing a highly moreish few hours of it this week, I’ve had a blast.
But the chaos is also Fragpunk’s undoing.
Beyond that though, which is ultimately just superficial, is something more troublesome and more genuinely grotesque.
This isn’t a new thought, of course.
This stuff is, I should emphasise, everywhere in games now.
Or just the very act of gambling with your time on the success or failure of a competitive round.
An orgy of Skinner Boxes and operant conditioning.
Exclamation marks abound, highlighting all those freshly acquired swathes of tat, or tat-accumulating busywork.
Most striking of all, though, is that central conceit.
But there are two big problems.
I just wanted to keep playing."
There’s your issue with Fragpunk.
The hook here isn’t the fun - though it is fun, no doubt about it.
It’s the urge to get dealt another hand.
