Showdown Effect is a online multiplayer 2D shooter. The only single-player element in the game is a tutorial in the form of a time-trial event. This tasks you with destroying several stationary targets scattered around the map. It doesn't give you much scope for honing your skills, especially for frantic situations, so you will have to learn the hard-way in the multiplayer mode.
There are Ranked and Unranked matches, and a few different game modes to play. However, I played the game late and barely found any Ranked matches. After a few months it was impossible to find any Ranked games, since the small community spends its time in Unranked.
Each of the eight characters in the roster are a cliché action movie caricature. Only a couple are available from the start, with the rest purchased with your Awesome Points which are awarded based on your performance in the matches. Various guns are also available which have different ranges and power. The shotgun is for close combat, whereas the rifle is for long range. Costumes and weapon skins change the aesthetics but not the ability of your player or weapon.
The Showdown Effect has a cartoony art style rendered in 2.5D. There are six maps over three themes; Medieval, Downtown and Western.
Your character is very agile and can perform jumps, wall climbs, slide, and dive in order to traverse the environment and avoid danger. The stages have enough verticality to them for some enjoyable platforming and strategy. Your character has limited sight which depends on roofs and objects etc, leading to a bit of guesswork and audio cues to work out where your enemies are.
You can slip through grates by jumping downward, double tap the A or D makes you roll, holding A or D against a wall slides or wall runs depending on your movement. Shift throws a projectile weapon if you have one and Ctrl triggers your special ability. Holding B makes your character heal themselves with bandages. Pressing R reloads which uses an active reload system. Hitting the sweet-spot gives you a fast reload but missing it causes a very slow one.
You have two combat styles that you switch between; mêlée and ranged. With ranged combat, your guns work a bit different from expected which relies on a higher degree of skill. Since you have to place your cursor directly on your target, placing the cursor in front or behind will miss. It's easier said than done though since trying to get a hit on someone when they are bouncing off walls, sliding along the floor, or leaping into the air can be challenging. Melée weapons are simpler to use, a simple left click to take a swipe, and the right click to block which can deflect bullets as well as blocking mêlée attacks. Additional mêlée weapons are placed throughout the maps. These usually do less damage but can be better in other ways like being stronger defensively. I tended to shoot from range, then quickly switch to mêlée to finish them off.
In the standard matches, you have a couple of minutes to achieve the highest amount of kills. Dying causes you to respawn and so you are thrown straight back into the action. In the final moment of the match, you enter a Showdown. Each player now only has one life and you play for the last man standing, where the winner gets lots of bonus points.
I think Showdown Effect is a really fun game due to the great mechanics and the fast paced action. If you are good at it, then it is brilliant, otherwise expect to die a lot. Sadly, the community is weak in terms of numbers and is mainly made up of skilful players which can take you down in seconds. It's bad judging a game by the quantity of online players, but when it is online only, it does devalue what is a great game.