Monday Night Combat
Monday Night Combat is a downloadable third-person shooter video game developed by Uber Entertainment. It was published by Microsoft Studios on the Xbox 360 and by Uber Entertainment and Valve for Microsoft Windows. It was released on August 11, 2010 on the Xbox 360 as part of Microsoft's 2010 Xbox Live Summer of Arcade and is distributed through Xbox Live Arcade. It was released on January 24, 2011 for Windows via Steam. Monday Night Combat is a class-based third-person shooter game in which two teams are pitted against each other in a fictional combat setting similar to that of a tower defense title. The competitors on each team are clones, and the goal is to destroy the other team's Moneyball, a stationary objective which houses the team's money, while protecting their own. It is presented to the player as the Monday Night Football sport of the future. The game was well received by critics, averaging 79.24% at GameRankings and 79 out of 100 at Metacritic, two video game aggregate websites. Reviewers were generally universal in praising the quality of the game in comparison to the cost. The game's graphics and art style were also praised. Critics noted that the six character classes were well-suited to the tower defense style of gameplay. As of year-end 2011, Monday Night Combat has sold over 307,000 copies on Xbox Live Arcade. Gameplay Monday Night Combat is a shooter played from a third-person perspective. It combines a class-based character selection system with team-based objectives in the style of Defense of the Ancients. Its background is that of a futuristic replacement for Monday Night Football in which cloned soldiers battle against each other for money. The game is played in one of two scenarios, each one a variant on the traditional action RTS setting with elements of tower defense mixed in. The first is Crossfire, in which teams of up to six compete online to destroy the other team's Moneyball, a stationary shielded object guarded by its respective team. The first team to destroy their opponent's Moneyball is declared the winner. The second gameplay scenario is known as Blitz. In Blitz up to four players work together to protect their team's Moneyball against increasingly difficult waves of robots. Blitz can be played alone, in two-player splitscreen or with up to four players online. Players can choose between one of six classes, each with their own unique abilities and weapons. The Tank and Gunner classes focus on heavy weaponry. The Support class is similar to Team Fortress 2s engineer and medic, providing support for their team by healing teammates, and repairing robots and turrets. The Assault class plays similarly to the standard soldier class found in other games, and is patterned as a well-rounded class for players. Snipers can be used as long-range support, but can also use their secondary weaponry when in close proximity to enemies. Finally Assassins are focused on stealth and mobility and can use their abilities to sneak up on enemies, dispatch them,