ShootMania Storm – Best trailer ever?

Okay, advertising world, it’s time to give up. Gaming world as well, in fact. I’ve just watched the most exciting game trailer I’ve seen in a while, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to watch a trailer the same way again. That trailer, ladies and gentlemen, is for the rather interesting looking game ShootMania Storm.

In all seriousness, you do have to admit that trailer was pretty exciting. What you just watched is the FPS child from TrackMania developer Nadeo, and as you can see, it’s got adrenaline and then some.

The game advertises itself as a sort-of evolution of e-sports. Instead of violent gibbing and gore, you’ve got an “EXTREME LASER TAG HARDCORE” vibe going on. Players really only have to worry about six buttons. Four directional movement keys, the shoot button, and the sprint-jump button. Simplified, but with subtle variations.

For instance, there won’t be any xp or weapons to unlock. Guns are changed by stepping on different pads located on the map, and the amount of energy dedicated to shooting and running-jumping can be altered in matches to create more firepower-focused or more movement-focused characters.

One of the biggest draws will be the map editor, a staple of all ____Mania games. The in-game currency system (that has no plans to be tied with real-life currency) will be used to purchase new blocks and objects for map-editing, and if that map-editing is anything like TrackMania’s, we should all be prepared to spend 50% of our time running down vertical cliffs.

Either way, the game looks terribly exciting, and this poor journalist is all worked up. How about the rest of you lot?