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Humans have been chasing and pretending to kill each other for centuries. What are traditional playground games like hide and seek, if not a way to exercise flight-or-fight instincts that have grown dull since we moved away from the wild and behind domestic barriers of brick and glass?The modern video game deathmatch is simply the inevitable expression of that - made possible by technology, but not caused by it. The challenge to game designers is to find new ways to tickle that vestigial impulse, and the latest attempt to crack that nut comes from Arrowhead Studios, creator of wizards-with-guns indie hit Magicka.
The Showdown Effect is what happens when Quake runs into Super Smash Bros. at high speed in the aisles of Blockbuster Video, circa 1987. A fast-paced 2.5D multiplayer game in which you jump, tumble and run around a maze-like map slaughtering up to seven other players, it takes the simple thrill of the chase and dresses it up in action movie clichés.
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