Please note that Super Animal Royale was my first Battle Royale game.
This huge explosion of Battle Royale games in the late 2010's was fleeting almost as soon as it began, and now it's looked back on in retrospect as a fad with little room in its formula for shakeups to help its longevity. Super Animal Royale was a game made to put its own spin on the Battle Royale genre. It does this by having an isometric view, vector graphics art style, and consisting of cute animals as your playable characters. Despite these distinctions however, it still doesn't do much to justify itself, and feels like a cheap means to trend-chase.
The first thing that immediately stood out to me was how slapdash and lazy the graphics and animation looked. It's very reminiscent of the "corporate artstyle" that's so common nowadays. But where the lack of inspiration really shows through is in its repetition. You have a huge variety of animals, and an endless supply of cosmetics, yet they're all the exact same character model. The 'Quantity Over Quality' approach was taken to their character design. Potentially dozens of different animal designs could be pumped out and rendered into the game in a matter of minutes. At least the map, depending on which area you're in, is a bit more impressive in terms of detail; I just still find it to be visually unimaginative and nothing to write home about.
Repetition unfortunately digs deep into the gameplay as well. While you do have alternative game modes like Bwoking Dead, we can all agree the main attraction is its Main Survival Mode. There's only one huge map, and areas of that map are shuffled at random for every match. Once you figure out the meta, or even get good with whatever weapon you main, there's no stopping you from going for that same area and weapon every time to almost guarantee winning.
The worst part about it all is that enhancing the overall experience was as simple as emphasizing the absurdity of cute animals killing each other with actual guns. The game could play up the juxtaposition - cute innocent animals paired with cold bloody gun violence and murder. An award winning gimmick was right there in plain sight and it was squandered. That may not have ever been the artistic vision for this game, but at least that's my ideal Super Animal Royale aesthetic.
Overall, Super Animal Royale in my opinion completely fails to impress. It was a pathetic attempt at a battle royale game that made seemingly no impact. Say what you will about PUBG and Fortnite. For better or for worse, those games will be remembered. And Super Animal Royale is free to play.
I only found writing this review necessary because of the embarrassing amount of time I regret having wasted on it.
This huge explosion of Battle Royale games in the late 2010's was fleeting almost as soon as it began, and now it's looked back on in retrospect as a fad with little room in its formula for shakeups to help its longevity. Super Animal Royale was a game made to put its own spin on the Battle Royale genre. It does this by having an isometric view, vector graphics art style, and consisting of cute animals as your playable characters. Despite these distinctions however, it still doesn't do much to justify itself, and feels like a cheap means to trend-chase.
The first thing that immediately stood out to me was how slapdash and lazy the graphics and animation looked. It's very reminiscent of the "corporate artstyle" that's so common nowadays. But where the lack of inspiration really shows through is in its repetition. You have a huge variety of animals, and an endless supply of cosmetics, yet they're all the exact same character model. The 'Quantity Over Quality' approach was taken to their character design. Potentially dozens of different animal designs could be pumped out and rendered into the game in a matter of minutes. At least the map, depending on which area you're in, is a bit more impressive in terms of detail; I just still find it to be visually unimaginative and nothing to write home about.
Repetition unfortunately digs deep into the gameplay as well. While you do have alternative game modes like Bwoking Dead, we can all agree the main attraction is its Main Survival Mode. There's only one huge map, and areas of that map are shuffled at random for every match. Once you figure out the meta, or even get good with whatever weapon you main, there's no stopping you from going for that same area and weapon every time to almost guarantee winning.
The worst part about it all is that enhancing the overall experience was as simple as emphasizing the absurdity of cute animals killing each other with actual guns. The game could play up the juxtaposition - cute innocent animals paired with cold bloody gun violence and murder. An award winning gimmick was right there in plain sight and it was squandered. That may not have ever been the artistic vision for this game, but at least that's my ideal Super Animal Royale aesthetic.
Overall, Super Animal Royale in my opinion completely fails to impress. It was a pathetic attempt at a battle royale game that made seemingly no impact. Say what you will about PUBG and Fortnite. For better or for worse, those games will be remembered. And Super Animal Royale is free to play.
I only found writing this review necessary because of the embarrassing amount of time I regret having wasted on it.