14 DAY TRIAL // 
Minimum stems from a pretty interesting idea, with a recipe that consists of a mashup of Unreal Tournament gameplay and a weapon and armor crafting system, together with interesting minimalistic visuals, which, when taken all together, make for a pretty appealing cocktail.
The graphics are weirdly suitable, in spite of the lack of detail, but that is also due to the fact that the overall level design, introducing a lot of Z-axis action, is pretty inspired and feels quite fresh.
What is not so inspired, however, is the fact that there is no hard information on what weapons actually do, so when an opponent kills you and you look for their gun in order to equip it when you next respawn, you'll only be met with disappointment.
In any case, Minimum is very affordable and at first glance looks like a real steal and a lot of fun, so let's jump in and see.
Gameplay
There are three different game types to choose from, from standard 5v5 team deathmatch to Titan mode and a 4-player Horde mode, where you defend against successive waves of enemies to enjoy.
While playing, you can gather materials from enemies you defeat, which can then be used to craft various armor sets and upgrades, which will imbue you with special abilities over the course of the match.
Additionally, each time you respawn, you can choose to start the game with a different loadout of primary, secondary and usable items, in order to better fit into the role you perceive as suitable for the map or current game dynamic.
There are all kinds of weapons, slow and powerful, long-range snipers, low-accuracy miniguns, and even a bunch of katanas for melee combat, which is definitely a strong point of the game, as close quarters combat is hectic and satisfying, with enemies usually falling much faster to the blade than to the other weapons.
As you start out, you'll have a bunch of different crafting materials at your disposal, and you can earn more by taking part in online matches and contributing to your team's victory.
The amount of weapons and armor pieces are limited in the beginning, and you'll have to unlock other designs and then craft them in order to be able to include them in your loadouts or mid-match crafting options.
The shooting part is very dynamic and manages to evoke the glory days of arena shooters pretty well, and merging those with team-based gameplay seems like a genius idea on paper. In real life, it's still enjoyable, only more hectic.
The mid-match crafting works really well in order to fine-tune your combat potential, being able to get certain bonuses such as increased damage but lower life when you're sniping, or increased running speed and a lower life total for when you're playing samurai on maps that encourage close-quarters encounters.
The level design is pretty good too, especially for a twitch shooter, there are no tactical chokepoints to guard, there are usually a lot of alternatives for getting from one area to another, and once you get a hang of the maps, you'll appreciate the wealth of navigation options at your disposal.
The weapons themselves are pretty well made, and my main gripe with them is that it just takes too many shots to kill people, with no option to increase precision by standing still or aiming through sights or any of that modern shooter stuff, which overall makes most guns seem really underpowered, especially when you come across someone using a new weapon that seemingly kills you instantly.
Crafting is one of the game's strong points, but it might also be one of the primary sources of frustration. The in-game currency is accumulated at a slow crawl, there's not much you can do to hasten the rate at which you get points, and the fact that you have to unlock and then craft each and every piece makes the whole thing seem excessively grinding.
Granted, it's hard to strike a balance between playing for fun and grinding for better items, but so far it's difficult to properly enjoy the game as it is, especially since there are no stats to compare when choosing between weapons, or a trial mode that would enable you to take the gun for a spin before spending currency on unlocking it.
There is another questionable design decision marring gameplay, in the form of kill streaks. I don't know which Call of Duty hothead decided that killing a lot of people should make it easier to kill some more, but weapons get increasingly powerful as you kill people.
So, instead of doing stuff the usual way, like it was in Quake, where you would think that you liked to kill people faster, and so you jumped through hoops and got to the Quad Damage buff the first, soliciting unwanted attention in the process and painting a target on your head in order to get more power, with kill streaks, if you happen to be better than some other players or simply luckier, you're guaranteed to get a boost in power, with no downside, which will essentially enable you to snowball.
That, however, is not enough to offset the otherwise fun and engaging experience that Minimum can offer. It has good controls, solid movement and some interesting ideas thrown into the mix, not to mention melee combat that can actually be very effective.
The addition of the Titan Mode, heavily influenced by multiplayer online battle arena titles such as Dota and League of Legends, introduces a whole new gameplay dimension to the standard run and gun paradigm, by also factoring in momentum and timing, aside from individual skill.
The game is fresh out of Early Access, and there are many facets that need more polishing, but the core experience is pretty solid, with only a couple of exceptions, which can be offset pretty easily by simply picking a different loadout and changing your play style, for the most part.
What can't be addressed as easily is the fact that your standard rifle takes ages to kill anyone, and oftentimes you'll be staring an approaching enemy in the face while shooting at him, and he'll just shake your bullets off and casually slice you open, which shouldn't really happen like that and will always feel like bad design.
And in case you'd like to hit anything with the minigun, you'd be better off trying to hit them over the head with it than actually firing, which seems really counter-intuitive after watching countless '80s action hero movies.
Sound and visuals
The team at Human Head Studios attempted to mix the furious gameplay of classic arena shooters with a rectangular and minimalistic art style, offering a pretty interesting visual experience.
The game looks pretty good, when taking into account the simplistic manner in which everything is created, from players to weapons and the overall level decorations.
The simplicity is, however, also detrimental to a certain degree, as the basic shapes used along with the simple color scheme and the damage effects on players will make enemies indistinguishable from friends most of the time, especially when you're fighting at close range or meleeing.
The sounds are okay, they're pretty much the standard shooter bunch of assorted bullet, laser and impact noises, complementing the action quite nicely, with a bit of background music that's neither good nor bad, bearable while playing, but quickly replaced with your own custom playlist.
The Good
- Old-school shooting action
- Pretty good melee combat
- Crafting keeps you engaged and adds versatility
- Multiple loadouts make gameplay very flexible
- A lot of stuff coming
The Bad
- Guns feel underpowered
- Kill streaks ruin balance
- You have to grind to get new weapons
- Can't test new guns before buying
Conclusion
Unfortunately, it has many issues that detract from the whole experience, including some shoddy weapon balance and the fact that you can sort of pay to win instead of grinding for some of the more powerful items. I haven't encountered anything purchasable that gives you an advantage you could not otherwise get, so it's not that bad, and it's only frustrating until you get some more armor pieces and weapons of your own.
Also, it takes some time to get used to, so at first you'll be going against seemingly overpowered opponents and end up pretty frustrated, especially when your bullets seem to be doing no damage, and you'll be wondering why you can't get a gun that's good at killing people from the get-go.
The main problem that the game has is getting in online matches, seeing someone that kills you in one hit, and not being able to use the same gun they did. This is what makes the game lose a lot of points, as in titles such as Quake 3, the playing field was pretty level, everyone could get everything, and you never wondered why you had to shoot that much in order to take an opponent down and where all the guns that actually killed people were.
Although the developers are still tweaking the game, the steep learning curve and initial frustration at not being able to kill opponents in a timely manner, while at the same time seeing someone simply one-shot you are still things that need to be taken care of for the long-term health of Minimum.
