Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball

I'll play any obscure game out there. If it's offbeat and a little out of the ordinary, I'll be all over it. Yep, whether it's a music mixing title like MTV Music Generator, or a casino game like Bicycle Casino, I am caught playing non-mainstream games whenever I can. So when I first heard about a paintball game coming to the Xbox , I was intrigued to say the least. Being the first game I would ever play of this “sport,” and one of the only in it's genre, I can say that I was a bit anxious to check out this title; and with a name like Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball , you just know it has got to be good.

After beating the Halo 2 campaign mode and logging countless hours on Xbox Live, I yearned for something new. That fateful day of November 9th came and went with much excitement, but what I needed now was an unanticipated title to thrill me where duel-wielding SMG's no longer applied, and one-hit kills ruled the realm. I was ridiculed by my fellow Xbox-Live teammates with such a purchase; but then again, these guys proclaim “Master Chief” to be their messiah. Would I prove them wrong and uncover a good game? After all, a paintball videogame has just got entertainment value written all over it, right?

Since this “Tournament Paintball ,” you compete in tournaments to progress through the game. Unfortunately for the gamer, this is the only way you can play the game offline. You can choose between the actual campaign mode, which is simply a collection of tournaments that get progressively harder throughout the game, or you can choose smaller brackets in “arcade” mode. Either way, if you can't utilize the system link or Live support, don't call your friends over to play paintball on your Xbox as this title is only single player when using one console.

Game variations include the obligatory “Elimination” or deathmatch mode, and two versions of “Capture the Flag,” one with one flag in the center and one with a flag at either team's starting point. Controlling your opponent on the playing field is decently easy to learn, and with a tutorial to start off the game, you will quickly become familiar with how to crouch, crawl, as well as other maneuvers that will greatly help you throughout some of the harder tournament brackets where stealth and strategy become essential in order to achieve victory.

To those unacquainted, paintball calls for one-shot kills. If you get shot once, you're out of the game, only to walk onto the sidelines with a paintball bruise on your body. But developer WXP (known for their horrendous rendition of LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring game back in 2001) implemented a system in which you will actually be able to cheat… that's right kids, leave your Action Replays aside for this one. If you get hit, you will have a chance to wipe off the paint or have the paintball take a “bounce,” meaning it did not break on you. For this to happen, a pendulum-like device will pop up on top of your screen. To walk away clean, you need to stop the indicator at a specific spot. If you fail to do so, you will be eliminated. Also, hitting various penalization points on the scale will eliminate 1 or 3 other teammates along with you! It most certainly makes you choose between the risk of getting caught and returning to the game untouched. If you wipe off the paint successfully and get another chance, the next time you get shot will be increasingly difficult to stop the indicator at the right spot. I found this to be a nice loophole around the rule of getting hit and being eliminated.

The campaign mode is pretty moot as far as depth goes. It's pretty much a straight-up paintball game that allows you to control what teammates you select going into matches (that's right, there's no flying solo here, but rather playing on a team). As you complete matches, you will earn points to purchase various paintball guns, barrels, helmets, clothing, etc. Sadly, besides purchasing better guns, there is little other reward to putting your time and effort into this game offline. I've found that purchasing better equipment made virtually no improvement to my performance, making the whole process of buying better gear pretty much unnecessary; it seems more like a failed attempt to look like a deeper game than it actually is.

It's hard to sit here and compare a paintball game to any other first person shooter. But unfortunately, it is. I can't tell you if Greg Hastings and Master Chief got into a fight, who would win (well, maybe I could), but what I can say is that this game suffers from a few quirks here and there, to make what was supposed to be a pleasant surprise, into an annoyance. Sure, there are no rocket launchers like in some other FPS's; this is not to be expected in a paintball title. In fact, I think that since the critics did not know what to expect is why this game has been receiving surprisingly positive press. I've done my research and have found out that you can actually play paintball and use paint grenades. Heck, I found a website that offered paintball mortars! Imagine if this were an unlockable weapon, it would have kicked the replay value up a notch. To some, this may be a weak point to make, but to the outside gamer that does not know a thing about paintball , this may be a particular point of interest. After all, once I heard they made paintball grenades, I immediately wished for them to be supplied in the game, I was sorely disappointed when I found out they were not.

After being let down with the offline version of the game, I headed onto Xbox Live. With most titles, a good portion of the fun to be had can be found online. Playing offline, and using patience and strategy to achieve victory got me nowhere on Live as I got destroyed by a bunch of 13 year olds running around aimlessly. If I hear the phrase: “You got OWNED” by a prepubescent boy one more time while getting shot in the face by a paintball , I'm using this game as a frisbee, or a beverage coaster.

The offline AI became increasingly challenging as the game progressed, so I figured that I would be evenly-matched when taking this game online. But the AI played nothing like ordinary human beings. As mentioned, all the strategy that was supposed to be implemented in a game of paintball is completely thrown out the window, as I found myself getting rushed and surrounded within a matter of seconds. I guess I really can't fault WXP games for this one, but it certainly annihilates any fun to be had while playing online. Though for the most part, connection to this game on Live was pretty sufficient as I honestly experienced minimal lag, even when a game would load up with the maximum of 14 players.

The graphics were nothing to write home about. A few lighting affects seemed to be overused during some “dawn” and “dusk” playing times. It may be an attempt to seem realistic, but only ends up being annoying; though I'd being lying if I told you this game looked bad. I found a decent frame rate with little slowdown, this was a breathe of fresh air since some of the biggest titles these days are flooded with this problem.

What I found to be a nice feature that most third parties don't go out of their way to offer is the addition of “custom soundtracks.” Since this title was “Xbox Exclusive,” I bet they figured to take advantage of this feature. It's seamless addition into the game works great with such short matches, as you will find your tracks continuing from where they left off when you play the next bracket in the tournament. I appreciated this addition by WXP. While the sound effects are nothing extraordinary, the music already supplied in the game is surprisingly decent; but this still won't stop me from pumping up my own tracks.

Looking back on this purchase, I'm thankful that I picked it up on sale for a mere $20, while other gamers that spend $40 for the same game will not be as lucky. The game even gloats that you can play with real-life pros like Chris Lasoya, Nicky Cuba , and Keely Watson; like you and I would have any clue who these people were. But I do take note that they at least tried to make this the most realistic paintball game out there; even with the wall to wall promotion and licensing of countless paintball companies plastered over every inch of this game. I will say that it was an interesting spin to play, but it could not hold my attention long enough to really enjoy it. My excitement was diminished after a good 20 minutes or so, and the tactics I was looking to learn from this title did not transpire when playing Halo 2. And in the end, my comrades over on Xbox Live were still there to ridicule me of my purchase, so I am here to inform you not to make the same mistake I have. Stay away from this one unless you are in dire need of an on-demand paintball experience.