Superhot

EVER wondered how Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal can dodge hundreds of bullets in their gun-toting films?

That lingering thought will drive you crazy after playing Superhot, an innovative and stylised shooter where time only moves when you do.

Even with time manipulation powers at your fingertips, when the bullets start flying it is very difficult to shoot or navigate your way out of trouble like those invincible action stars.

And that is what makes Superhot, led by Polish developer Piotr Iwanicki, so compelling – even though you can stop time, every move you make is crucial.

You are usually outnumbered and so strategy and thinking at least a couple of steps ahead is required to avoid the path of bullets.

It makes the unique indie game every bit as much a puzzle game as it is a shooter.

To say time stops when you do is not strictly true though – it just dramatically slows down in the style of The Matrix's 'bullet time'.

Your enemies will fire pistols, shotguns and machine guns at you which come toward you in stylised red streaks.

And there are plenty of nice touches to represent your time trickery like rain drops stopping in mid air and the ability to catch guns in mid air or slice bullets with a samurai sword.

Superhot also has a minimalist and pixellated art style in stark shades of white and red which suits the black humour in its story about how technology governs our lives and the existential angst of the virtual reality age.

A little bit mad but truly inspired, Superhot lives up to its name.

- Superhot has just come out on Xbox One after its previous release on Windows, OS X and Linux

DAVID MORGAN