ShootMania Storm Surprises With Fun Gameplay - The UpStream

One of the heights of the Ubisoft presser this year was the gameplay shown off for the goofy-named ShootMania Storm. The title is part of Nadeo's Mania series, like TrackMania, which we got excited about last year. The title is a heavily-moddable FPS that implements the same modding engine employed in their highly addictive racing game. The engine, called ManiaScript, allows for almost full customization of all aspects of the game.

For example, if you want to speed up a character, create a map, the size of a team or even what weapons are available in certain parts of a map, it is all possible. Project manager Edouard Beauchemin describes it as working with virtual Logo pieces.

Beauchemin believes that the PC-only title will not only be a fun consumer game, he also believes it has a place in the eSports world as well. Hit the break to find out why and to see the trailer.

Most of his team are admittedly hardcore Counter-Strike and Quake players, so the game was designed from the beginning to be both playable and watchable. He told Kotaku,

We wanted to have a game that everybody could watch. We wanted it to be something you could watch with your son without having this feeling like ewww there's more blood and there's some brain cells all over the place... it's not that we're against violence or are against violent games, it's just that for a competitive gaming scene it's actually better to have something where people are not dying, where they've just been eliminated and then the game carries on. Nobody's asking football players to kill each other.

Combine that will customisable, ever-changing gameplay that is fun and addicting, and you have a title that could totally become a successful eSports game. It would be nice to have a new title for those of us who like to watch.