Gamers have been shooting down bad guys in video games since I was still in nappies, and although my toilet using abilities have somewhat improved since then the love of shooting hasn’t changed. Now though the masses flock to games where they can shoot their friends online and get angry at teenagers with better aim than them, but in the early noughties things were much simpler. FPS games would have stories, enemies with dodgy AI, and dull corridors to wander around. SPRAWL zero brought me back to this era of shooting, and kept me happy with ridiculous powers and weapons.
There’s a story in SPRAWL zero, but I must admit it was one that I really struggled to care about. You play as an enhanced supersoldier obviously, and in a world full of fascists and cultists you’ve got to kill a lot of people to save the day. For me the narrative outstayed its welcome even if it was mainly limited to mission briefings, but thankfully the shooting comes around pretty fast.
At first the gameplay in SPRAWL zero feels pretty simple, albeit nice and fast paced. Enemies come at you thick and fast, and weapons are very much disposable. There’s no collecting ammo or conserving bullets here, just blasting and grabbing new guns with your magic gravity fist. It’s bombastic, silly, and most of all a lot of fun.
Soon enough SPRAWL zero shows its full hand, and it’s one that’s suitably ridiculous. Alongside all the regular guns, your supersoldier character also gains new powers. The first of these is bullet time, which is as satisfying as ever and rewards you with bonus health pickups for using it. After this you gain a shield which not only blocks bullets for a limited time but also blasts them back. You even have gravity powers you can use to chuck back grenades or throw boxes at fools, which is satisfying as all hell.
I think the best thing about all the powers you get in SPRAWL zero isn’t just the chaos they cause though, it’s how they affect the flow of the game. Not only is your bullet time a great way to restore health, but its limited duration means you’re incentivised to use it to deal with the toughest foes in a room. When you kill the leader of a squad you also reveal the locations of all its members, so suddenly killing this tough foe also allows you to see anyone running your way through walls. You’ve really got to make the most of your skills in clever ways, and it makes every wave of foes exciting.
Fights are also made more exciting by constantly forcing you to use new weapons, as there’s a really nice variety. All guns are colour coded by rarity when you aim at them with your magnet powers, but regardless of their overall strength they’ll help blast a baddie in a pinch. There are all the standard machine guns and shotguns present here, but you’ll also find some slower weapons like rifles and magnums that require a bit more finesse with your powers to use in a frantic fight.
There really are so many engaging elements in SPRAWL zero, but that only serves to make it sadder that the issues really drag the game down. The dull corridors and grey urban areas serve the noughties aesthetic well, but they’re also exactly as unappealing now as they were when I was an angsty teen. The level design is often equally painful, with repetitive stages that just feel like they go on forever. The enemies don’t change much either, making for an experience that all took often feels very familiar even in new chapters.
SPRAWL zero absolutely feels like an early noughties first person shooter, for better and indeed for worse. There’s absolutely no doubt that the gunplay and powers are sensational and lend themselves to seriously tense and creative combat decisions, and it’s a shame that the urban aesthetic and repetitive levels bring that down. SPRAWL zero is very close to being the Nokia 3310 of retro FPS games, and it’s undeniably great fun when shooting if nothing else.
