Monday Night Combat

Lore & Background

Monday Night Combat is set in a fictional future where Monday Night Football has been replaced by a combat sport. Players control cloned soldiers who battle for money in two scenarios: Crossfire, an online mode for up to six players per team where the goal is to destroy the enemy's Moneyball, and Blitz, a cooperative mode for up to four players defending their own Moneyball against waves of robots. The game is presented as a sport, complete with a mascot named Bullseye that occasionally appears on the field.

Players choose from six classes: Tank, Gunner, Support, Assault, Sniper, and Assassin. Each class has unique abilities and weapons. The Support class functions similarly to an engineer and medic, healing teammates and repairing robots and turrets. Assassins focus on stealth and mobility. Cash earned from destroying robots and making kills can be used to buy upgrades, improve base defenses, or send specialty robots. A Juice gauge fills during play, granting a brief period of super-powered abilities. Bacon, dropped by the mascot or robots, provides boosted abilities until death or round end. Churros, added in the first downloadable content pack, give a temporary health boost and regenerate abilities.

The game's development began with a team of six in a two-bedroom apartment, under the code name Hostile. Whitebox testing in Unreal Engine 3 established basic gameplay and camera systems. Three base character skeletons were shared among the six classes to streamline development. The music was composed by Cris Velasco of Monarch Audio. Monday Night Combat features a dynamic update system hosted on Microsoft's Title Managed Storage, allowing Uber Entertainment to adjust variables like character speed and weapon damage without requiring patches.

Reader's Guide

Monday Night Combat was well received by critics, who praised its quality relative to its cost, as well as its graphics and art style. Reviewers noted that the six character classes were well-suited to the tower defense style of gameplay. The game sold over 307,000 copies on Xbox Live Arcade by the end of 2011. Its significance lies in its fusion of class-based shooter mechanics with tower defense and real-time strategy elements, a blend that was relatively novel at the time. The game's dynamic update system, which allowed server-side tweaks without patches, was an innovative approach to balancing. The PC version included full support for Unreal development tools, enabling player-created modifications and levels. The downloadable content pack Spunky Cola Special added two new arenas and features. Uber Entertainment's engagement with the community, including joining a live stream of the game on Justin.tv, highlighted a developer approach that fostered player interaction. The game's legacy includes its role as an early example of a downloadable title that successfully combined genres, influencing later hybrid shooters.

Did You Know?

• The game was originally developed under the code name Hostile.
• Bacon dropped by the mascot or robots acts as a powerup that lasts until the player dies or the round ends.
• The first downloadable content pack, Spunky Cola Special, was released on December 1, 2010.