Hover: Revolt of Gamers Review for PC

Hover: Revolt of Gamers by Midgar Studio and Fusty Game, in cooperation with The Sidekicks is one of those games where getting from point A to point B is just as much fun as completing the missions. With simplistic characters and storyline, the emphasis in ECP17 – or Hover City, as its residents call it – is on the versatility of movement, using the game’s physics to navigate its flashy city (which extends vertically as much as it does horizontally).

The plot is a cheeky glimpse into entertainment culture. You arrive as a clone in Hover City, full of bright billboards, graffiti, blinking electronics, and other neon-colored clones, to discover that the city is ruled by a dictator who has banned all entertainment and gaming. You become a member of the resistance group “The Gamers,” who seek to overthrow the dictator and essentially bring fun back to Hover City.

Ironic, because Hover City is already super fun to explore. The controls are simple (press Shift to do anything cool essentially), but versatile at the same time, and the setting is the perfect place to bop around testing out your skills. There’s even a rewind option, a helpful tool when you’re twenty stories up and make a bad jump. And I’ve made plenty of them – the unfortunate side of this game is that there’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to the controls and general physics. Your movements are exaggerated. You run fast, you jump high, and bumping into things can sometimes send you spinning out in the wrong direction.

Maybe it’s because it takes so long to get your sea legs in Hover, but it takes a while to get to the main storyline as well. Once you finish the official tutorial (navigating out of the cloning center) there’s still quite a bit of tutorial-style missions left. Hover City is a fun open world, and there’s a lot to explore and unlock, but there are many side tasks you have to complete before you level up enough to get to the main storyline. That makes learning the controls somehow more tedious, since you feel a bit like you’re running a treadmill, making no headway with the plot at all.

Not that the plot is stellar. Like the characters, the entirety of Hover is a caricature, with a whole lot on the surface and not much underneath. Hover City is a hyped-up sci-fi neon-infused parade of video game references and archetypes, where you can bound from rooftop to rooftop and do spectacular moves at spectacular heights. Everything is over the top. The music, the colors, the people…

Don’t get me wrong, it makes for a fun playground of jumps and tricks. One of the best parts of Hover is the open world, so you’re free to bound around racking up points, doing cool flips, and grinding on high railings to your heart’s content. The rest, as it should be, is just background. For that reason, I’d give this game an 8 out of 10.

Check Out the Hover: Revolt of Gamers Review for PC Launch Trailer:

Hover: Revolt of Gamers is currently available on Steam in Early Access.