Arts & Entertainment, Games

Roblox Review: ‘Arsenal’

I’ve always had a hard time standing up straight. I don’t think I am anemic, but I’m well acquainted with dizzy spells, blurred and spotty vision and motion sickness. Motion sickness everywhere — in the car, on planes, even while biking at half a mile an hour.

This predisposed affliction of mine does not translate well to my current routine. I spend upwards of 16 hours a day on my laptop and phone. My poor retinas burn and sizzle at the undulating electromagnetic waves emitted by these devices.

roblox arsenal
The ROLVe Community’s “Arsenal” on Roblox. The first-person shooter game is a thrilling way to match up with other gamers and unwind from school stress. ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH YOSHINAGA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Moreover, I’m not just staring at static pages. I spend a lot of time watching videos for school and recreation. I’ve also recently picked up gaming as a hobby again. However, video games consist of many flashing colors, sequences and animations. The stimulus overload can be so overwhelming that some games provide epilepsy warnings about flashing graphics.

Despite the possible health consequences, I love to live life on the edge. Yeah, that’s right. I’m a sucker for danger. I stay up to play Roblox without my mother’s permission.

I love constant media stimulation. I admit, I have a poor attention span. I love the TikTok For You Page algorithm, only watch YouTube videos that are less than four minutes long and cannot speak about a topic for much longer than the length of a Spotify ad.

Somehow, video games are one of the few exceptions to this long-standing rule. I could — and have — played Roblox for hours at a time, oblivious to the sun setting or rising in the background.

My tried and true game of choice in Roblox is “Arsenal.” Dependable, engaging and frustrating at times, “Arsenal” is my preferred meal when I crave online domination.

Created in 2015 by the ROLVe Community, “Arsenal” is a first-person shooting — FPS —  game that has become one of the most popular games on Roblox, garnering more than 2 billion visits and 5 million favorites.

The objective of the game is defeating the other players or teams, depending on whether it’s free-for-all, 2 Teams or 4 Teams. Game modes include Standard, Competitive, Randomizer, Gun Rotation, Railgun Royale and Concussion Mania. A plethora of maps is available. These three variables are voted on before the beginning of each game.

In-game, you level up and gain more experience as you obtain more kills. Then, you become richer and can buy weapons, melee and character skins. It’s reminiscent of “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” with the absurdity and demographic of “Fortnite.”

For someone who never played FPS games before, I was justifiably plunged into ice-cold water during my first ever “Arsenal” game. It is deceptively simple and straightforward. Then, you come face to face with your opponent.

Professional gamers and Twitch streamers should step aside to make room for the pure, unadulterated talent and intuition of “Arsenal” kids. They must be bred in some high-tech, superhuman facility far off on the coasts of the Democratic Republic of Gamerland. “Arsenal” mains breathe, sleep and eat Robux. If “Arsenal” ever had a voice chat, you would hear the enraged voice cracks of prepubescent children and the clashing of their clammy fingers on Capri Sun-stickied iPads.

The beauty of “Arsenal” is that these kids, who have dedicated their waking hours to getting the Golden Knife and being first place one lobby after the other, are better than I am. They’re too good, and I’m jealous. To make matters worse, you are bound to encounter a hacker. Still, I can never stop playing. It’s a positive feedback loop with no end in sight.

So, I continue playing even after spawning with a sniper rifle four times in a row, dying right after my two-second grace period and turning corners and encountering three enemies mere blocks before me.

It’s become enjoyable as I practice more, either alone or with friends or cousins. In recent weeks, my movement and aim have increasingly improved — game sense is negligible in “Arsenal.” I feel like I’m speeding through a wormhole at ultrasonic speed. I have no thoughts but aiming for heads. No need for fancy tactics or strategy, since someone will be camping in a corner with an AWP anyway.

The lack of storyline and quests make “Arsenal” a great game to unwind from classes and focus on overpowering kids in a scuffed FPS game on Roblox.

Maybe I am partial to the game, but it holds such a dear place in my heart. For the playability, ease and ability to rage quit without consequences, “Arsenal” is indubitably one of my favorite Roblox games. BMS — It breaks my scale.

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