Hybrid

12 cert, 5th Cell, Xbox 360 ***

Hybrid tries to stand out from the crowd of multiplayer shooters by offering a boatload of action with a few unusual game mechanics.

The story isn’t really too important here – the usual war between races, one bringing hell, the other intending to send them back where they came from. Players sign up for a faction. On one side, you have the Paladins, on the other, the Variants. At stake is Dark Matter. In Hybrid, you spend very little time on your feet. You move from cover to cover with the use of a jetpack. All you have to do is highlight it with the right stick and hit the A button. There are some limitations: you can retreat at the touch of a button, but you can’t retreat twice in a row. Kill streaks, meanwhile, spawn different aids: a stalker drone, “warbringers” and one that acts as a heat-seeking missile, depending on how many kills you rack up. They will help you out as you progress through the death matches.

There are 10 different maps and six different modes to tackle – there’s enough variation here to keep you reasonably happy.

An interesting take on the third-person shooter.