5th Cell: Shooters Wouldn't Hold Up In Side-By-Side Comparison To Hybrid

In a recent interview, 5th Cell, the developers behind the upcoming sci-fi first-person shooter Hybrid, made a pretty big claim on how good their aiming mechanics are in the game, stating that most shooters wouldn't hold up in a side-by-side comparison to Hybrid when it comes to aiming and controls.

The interview comes courtesy of XBLA Fans, who had the opportunity to talk with the CEO of 5th Cell, Jeremy Slaczka, who not only spilled a lot of info about the upcoming shooter but also explained a few neat aspects for the movement and combat controls. Saying...

We use a system we call “Combat Focused Movement”. You simply look at one of multiple cover points in your line of sight, press the A button, and you’ll automatically fly there. While in-transit you can use the L-Stick to strafe or push it in for a quick speed boost mid-flight. You can also select different cover while in flight simply by looking at it and pressing A again or press B to retreat. It’s very simple and very intuitive, but gives the shooter genre an entirely new spin.

Sounds a little like an automated system of the Gears of War cover mechanic, save for the option to 'Retreat'. I imagine with the combat taking place in the air quite a bit, a quick-retreat would probably be ideal for gameplay. Slackza goes on to further explain that...

Our aiming has been very solid for a long time actually. It was extremely important to get that right so we’ve spent a lot of effort behind the scenes so to speak focusing on tweaking the L-Stick deadzones, to ensure combat felt crisp. The game runs at a locked 60FPS as well which makes combat and aiming buttery smooth. I’m really proud of our shooting. I actually believe that a lot of shooters wouldn’t hold up to our aim controls in a side by side comparison. I’m not saying this because I’m trying to hype up our game. I truly believe we have top notch aiming because we’ve been pretty obsessive about it over the last two and a half years. On top of all this there are a ton of weapons and ability combinations, giving the player a lot of choices for how exactly they want to…shoot things.

Well, this summer we'll definitely be able to tell whether other shooters will be able to hold up against 5th Cell's Hybrid when the game releases on Xbox Live Arcade. I'm sure a lot of Call of Duty fans will be quick to make comparisons, too, given that both games run at 60fps.

You can check out the entire interview with 5th Cell's Jeremy Slaczka by paying a visit to XBLA Fans.