Skip to main content

Hybrid review: A cover-focused shooter

It takes a brave developer to build a game around the idea of turning a dirty word like “camper” into the operative word. Then again, this is 5th Cell we’re talking about, the same folks behind the wordplay of Scribblenauts. Xbox Live Summer of Arcade release Hybrid, the studio’s latest, couldn’t be further removed from the adorably cute puzzle-platforming  of that earlier word game. Instead we have a slick, stylish third-person online shooter whose gameplay is built entirely around one core concept: cowering behind a wall. This isn’t a cover-based shooter; this is a cover-focused shooter.

Hybrid‘s chief gimmick as a multiplayer shooter is that your movement around each map is constrained to left and right shuffles behind cover and quick jetpack bursts through the air as you move from one point to the next. You’re free to go wherever you like within that context, and you can also do things like change your course in mid-flight or retreat back to a previous position with nothing more than a button press. At the core though, the game’s 3v3 combat scenarios unfold with each squad trading fire from behind cover.

Recommended Videos

What’s surprising is how fast the action tends to move when, essentially, your primary strategy involves camping. There aren’t enough bodies on the ground with three-player teams to cover all of the angles on most maps, and so there’s a constant game of trying to flank while protecting your flanks. Kill streak unlocks also come very quickly, with players able to spawn different types of combat drones at one, three, and five kills, respectively, all of which amounts to the potential for a lot of lethal firepower concentrated in a single direction for each player.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The core gimmick works, but there are still a few rough edges. Hybrid ships with a fair number of maps, but they tend to feel largely the same due to the restrictions imposed by the unique gameplay rules. The environments might change, but the general layouts tend to mirror one another by necessity. The result is a shooter that doesn’t hold up over long play sessions. Hybrid is fun in bursts, but it’s not a game that most will be sitting down with for hours at a time.

It’s unfortunate, then, that there’s actually a well-developed meta-game and a level progression-based system of dangling carrots. Some items unlock at specific levels while others are unlocked as a category selection. So, for example, you might receive a Light Machine Gun token that you can then spend in the associated category on the weapon of your choice. It’s a neat approach to offering players more control over how they customize their character, though the selection of weapons and tools is ultimately rather limited. There’s also an unfortunate microtransaction element that allows you to skirt around progression-based unlocks in exchange for money.

Then you’ve got the meta-game, which is built around a worldwide war (minus Australia, oddly) between two warring factions. When you fire up the game for the first time, you’re asked to pick a faction without any real explanation as to what that means or what either one stands for. You’re offered an experience bonus for joining one or the other, likely 5th Cell’s tactic for balancing the overall numbers between the two factions.

As it turns out, there’s no real difference between the factions beyond the cosmetic. Regardless of which you choose, you’ll have access to the same weapons and the same level unlocks. On the gameplay side, the war between the two groups is charted in real time on a map of the world divided up into continents. Each continent is then further divided into smaller districts, and each one of those is where the battle for supremacy unfolds. You stand to earn XP bonuses for fighting in hotly contested territories, and there are additional bonuses as well for fighting in a specific district repeatedly and leveling up the base there. Again, it’s all very complex and poorly explained in the game, though 5th Cell has at least one video out there running through how things work.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Functionally, the game runs great at a nice 60fps clip. The only complaint I can level here is at the load times. There are a lot of them. Expect to wait an inordinate amount of time as the game searches the server for a lobby. In the matches I’ve played so far — team deathmatch is the star, but there are also some more objective-based options that seem to be less popular, based on the wait times — I’ve never landed in an in-progress game, so it looks like some of the delay could be related to the need to find a ready-to-play group. There’s also a decent wait once you’re in a lobby as the match loads. All of which ultimately plays out in a session that lasts only a handful of minutes. This, alongside the repetitive flavor of the map layouts, also hurts the value of lengthier play sessions.

Conclusion 

Hybrid can be quite an entertaining game, but it’s definitely flawed in a number of ways. The cover-focused action works surprisingly well, and it amounts to a refreshing step in a different direection. The demands of the core gameplay gimmick unfortunately result in less moment-to-moment variety than you would typically encounter in a multiplayer shooter. And while the dangling carrot progression and meta-game elements are nice, they also feel out of place in a shooter that, for all of its focus on cover, hinges on twitch action and lightning-quick matches. Give 5th Cell credit for building a fun shooter around the dirty practice of camping, just don’t expect there to be much for you to invest in.

Score: 8 out of 10 

(This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360 on a copy provided by Microsoft Studios)

Adam Rosenberg
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…
Is the Stardew Valley 1.6 update on consoles and mobile? Switch, PS5, Xbox, more
Stardew Valley

There are few cozy games as successful and beloved as Stardew Valley, so it's no wonder it has received regular updates since its 2016 release.

The 1.6 update for Stardew Valley was released back in March 2024 for PC, adding new festivals and events, NPC dialogues, farm types, more pets, and much more. Unfortunately, the update did not immediately release on consoles, leaving farmers playing on smartphones, Switch, Xbox or PlayStation waiting for all the new content.

Read more
How to open the Warden Vault in Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Inside the Warden Vault in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

If you thought the puzzles in Dragon Age: The Veilguard were too easy, you haven't tackled The Warden Vault quest yet. Available in the Rivain Coast, The Warden Vault is a side quest, one of many incredible side quests, that has you figure out how to open the locked door to the Warden's Vault underneath a huge castle.

This puzzle requires you to solve three separate puzzles within the castle, but they are far from obvious. Without the right guidance, Rook and the party can easily get lost throughout this castle and not know how to unlock the Warden's Vault in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, so here's how to solve it.
How to unlock The Warden Vault side quest

Read more
The fastest ways to gain XP in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Kill Order gameplay in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Ever since Modern Warfare, Call of Duty fans have been obsessed with finding every tip and trick they can to level up faster. Now that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has arrived with a refreshed Prestige system, the drive to grind levels is again at an all-time high. While everything you do does earn you XP, they are not all created equal. Just like picking your Wildcards or Perks, earning XP as fast as possible takes a bit of thought and planning. If there's a piece of equipment you have your eye on at a high level, or just want to grind through some Prestige ranks as fast as possible, here are the fastest ways to grind XP in Black Ops 6.
Do your dailies

We'll get the most obvious tip out of the way first. Daily challenges are back and work just as they always have. Every 24 hours you will be given a handful of small optional tasks to complete for a heap of bonus XP. These can be things like getting Scorestreak kills, getting Point Blank Kills, and getting kills with a specific weapon type. Most daily challenges are worth 2,500 XP, which is already a nice bonus, but there is also a fourth one that can be worth between 3,000 and 5,000 additional XP. Each day you log on, you should prioritize your daily challenges.
Tailor your loadout and play the objective

Read more