Review
NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 (Xbox 360)
Splat.
by Coop
Name: NPPL Championship Paintball 2009
Genre: First-Person Shooter, Sport
Platform: PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 (Reviewed on Xbox 360)
I’ve only played paintball once, and it left with a sprained ankle, bloody knee, back full of welts, and a mouth full of paint. It’s strange to be on the field, ducking behind cover and contemplating making a mad dash for the flag, all the while remembering how, no matter what anyone tells you, getting shot stings. It doesn’t hurt too much, like I suppose actually being shot does, but it’s enough of a deterrent that natural instincts tell you to avoid it, if at all possible. The experience is also sort of scary and gives a perspective on war that video games have yet to convey.
Naturally, NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 can’t retain much of the real-world game’s emotional impact, but Sand Grain Studios did a good job of bringing the sport of professional paintball to gaming. It’s a strange sport, one which you might not know about if you haven’t watched ESPN at four in the morning, but it’s also one that translates well to games. Two teams of between two and seven players start on opposite sides of a field and need to complete a task, whether it’s eliminating the opponent or capturing a flag. Instead of slapping a marker in your hand, filling your hopper with paint and sending you on your way, NPPL has a number of tutorials to teach anyone oblivious to paintball the rules of the game. They aren’t all too different than that of any other shooter, focusing on running, cover, teamwork, and not getting shot, but it’s good to have a structured tutorial where players can learn the rules before being thrown on the field. The main difference is that the sport aspect is emphasized over the combat, and the tournaments all feel like organized competitions instead of chance skirmishes.
NPPL 2009 doesn’t control too differently from a standard shooter, allowing players to sprint, jump, and slide around the course while shooting at the other team, but the typical rules of paintball apply: once you’re hit, you’re out. There’s a “cheat” meter that pops up after being shot that works like active reload from Gears of War, and if you’re able to time it right the hit can bounce off and not count. It might seem strange to have unsportsmanlike conduct as such an integral part of the sports title, but as a major part of professional paintball it would feel strange to leave it out completely, and as EA says, “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.” At first it seems impossible to time it perfectly, but before long it becomes such second-nature that its best to play with the option turned off, so that there’s still a challenge.
Either way, effective use of cover is a vital a part of NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 as it is of any shooter. Instead of sticking to the wall, like in Rainbow Six: Vegas or Gears of War, different buttons lean out to peek and shoot at enemies while maintaining some sense of protection. It’s part of the simulation feel, and while it isn’t as fluid or useful as it might be in other shooters, taking cover still does its job of protecting the player from being splattered with paint. The game’s phenomenal sound is best heard from behind cover, as the paintballs whiz overhead or smack into the ground. This helps give players a sense of fear similar to what you’d feel while playing the actual game, but without the whole “actually getting shot” thing.
Tournament levels take place on professional Speedball fields, which at first look very similar, consisting of a grass field and large, multicolored sandbags which provide cover. After playing for a while and getting to know the areas… they still look very similar. There’s very little variety, and even the level creator only allows the creation of Speedball levels. In exhibition mode, players can play Woodsball in, you guessed it, outdoor forest environments, but even these seem to all blend together into one map. However, just because they look the same, doesn’t mean the same tactics will work on all of them. The placement of the cover varies from level to level and it’s important to study the layouts before deciding which way to run once the referee signals the start of a match.
As the captain, the player is able to assemble a team of “well known” professional paintball players. They are supposedly based on real people, which is likely true, but behind the mask it’s hard to tell that the player is human, let alone a specific athlete. Each team member has different stats that can be upgraded like speed and accuracy, and the player’s statistics seem even more important and influential than the unlockable gear awarded for competing in tournaments. In an apparent attempt to liken itself to popular sports titles, the developers seem to have lessened the game’s simulation feel by assigning these scores and allowing them to be changed, and it might have been better to leave statistics out of the game, or at least make them less important than equipment.
After a tournament match ends and a winner is decided the next tournament round is unlocked. Then, after that is completed, the next one is made available. Then the next. Then the next. None are too different than the last, and it gets repetitive after a while. Luckily, there’s online multiplayer to extend the replayability a bit, but even that will quickly grow old to anyone who isn’t a fan of the sport, just as Madden would be boring to someone who doesn’t care much about football.
In the end, NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 is exactly what it advertises itself as – a paintball game made for paintball fans. Some aspects of the simulation are missed due to what appears to be a lower than typical budget, like downed opponents simply fading away upon being eliminated, but it still works as simulation, sports, and shooter. The difference between this game and, say, Deer Hunter Tournament, is that Sand Grain Studios was able to reach out to make the game accessible to everyone, instead of only catering to those already familiar with the sport. Fans of paintball should be able to get over the repetitive nature that will surely knock it down a notch for everyone else, and the online multiplayer is rather desolate and empty, but the game is at least worth a try for anyone interested in the sport. It definitely isn’t the best shooter of the holiday season, but for paintball fans it’s a welcome departure from the norm.
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