S4 League is a sci-fi third-person shooter with cartoon characters and adrenaline pumping action. This is one of the finest examples of a frenetic online multiplayer game, focusing on a most rewarding team-based gameplay.

The S4 in the name stands for Stylish eSper Shooting Sports, and this is a perfect fit since the game is chockful of style. Characters are stylish and vibrant and offer a nice degree of personalization, from new costumes and armor to fabulous weapons and special abilities (flight or invisibility to name just a few). Gameplay is fast and there’s no time to rest, with any distraction leading to a premature death and subsequent respawn. S4 League is so simple to pick up and play you’ll be blasting away in no time.

S4 League actually has a story. It presents itself as an online sport, a virtual reality game with players joining from their home computers, of which some aspects can be seen in the game world, like when a character is killed.

Currently S4 League only offers two game modes and that’s the fly in the ointment. There’s also a short but capable tutorial and a practice mode. The two main modes are Touch Down and Team Death Match. The first one is a modification of Capture the Flag, with the flag being Fumbi, a sort of humanoid cyclops or something of the like, a huge beam making it perfectly clear where it stands at any time. As for Team Death Match, nothing new here, just good old fashioned team battles. One other mode is already being worked on and intended for international release in the future (it’s already in the Korean version), supposedly with one team having to destroy viruses and fight a fictional infection of the S4 League servers.

Besides the normal rules of every mode, players can also earn money by accomplishing specific missions, like wall jumping or dodging a required number of times.

Although the number of arenas isn’t exactly high, these are visually distinct and require different approaches and styles. Using flight can totally turn the game upside down, but a good defense and well placed sentry guns will balance things. Everything’s smooth and easy, but to earn money and consequently buy better skills and weapons takes some time. S4 League even divides players by levels, so that rookies won’t play with veterans. There’s a free for all mode but that’s not recommended unless you know exactly what you’re capable of.

Gameplay is smooth, skills work as a charm, but what about weapons? Well, they range from the usual pistols to the always admired railgun or heavy machine guns. And the revolver is big. I mean, huge, you just have to see it to believe it!

Graphics and animation are of very good standard for a free game, colorful and easy on the eyes. The advanced customization options means that a lot of different characters will be created, changing the face of the battlefield. Action is accompanied by a fabulous soundtrack, with some really furious songs to shoot your way through.

Overall, S4 League is a great game. It’s easy to play and extremely addictive, the graphics are great and the emphasis on team work is refreshing. But... only two game modes?


The Good: Nice graphics - Action-packed gameplay - Addictive music

The Bad: Only two game modes


Review by Alexkayl, Freemmogamer.com - Posted Mar 12, 2009