So I got this game from Shiny and it's pretty damn awesome...I already put a short Steam review up that you may have seen, but damn, the game is just non-stop carnage. It feels like the FPS equivalent of Mad Max: Fury Road.
At the beginning I was a little....eh...because they seemed to kimit your movement a bit and the FOV was a bit console-y, but turns out that was basically just for the opening sequence. Once you put on your armor and jump into the red sands of Mars it's all smooth, glorious demon-killing.The game half forces you to constantly be moving and killing to stay alive, and it works really well. The way they did it is through really solid and fast old-fashioned strafe/jump movement, but also through what they call "glory kills". It sounds like a console thing that would break your flow, and I thought so at first too, but in reality it's the perfect way to keep momentum. See, glory-killed enemies drop more health/ammo than normal, and the animations are really quick and really well done. There are like 6 different animations for every enemy too, depending on from what angle you're attacking. Aiming for legs gives you a sort of leg-sweep-and stomp, from behind you'll grab their skill and rip it off, from the left you grab their arm and beat them with it, etc etc. I'm just naming a few, the type of animation really depends on each enemy. It stops it from getting too boring, and like I said the animations are usually perfectly timed. In many cases the death animation will keep going after you intiated the glory kill, so you can keep moving while the guy swallows the grenade you jammed into his mouth and explodes into a pile of goo.
They also changed the way the chainsaw works, from uberpowerful "get out of jail card" to a more sparsely used superweapon that provides you a plethora of ammo for every kill. So once you depleted all your weapons, pulling out the old chainsaw and cutting an enemy in half will get you back on your feet. The chainsaw is still a one-hit kill for any opponent (except bosses obv), but depending on their size and strength it'll use more fuel. Chainsawing a baron of hell (the biggest non-boss enemy) will use all of your fuel at once, but you can chainsaw several smaller demons in a row. The balance works really well, it still gives you the "gonna fuck you up" joy of the chainsaw while making it a bit less OP, and the ammo mechanic is really quite clever given the nature of the weapon.
The game also features the old school secrets, which again seem to be finding the right balance in terms of difficulty to find. I was storming through the game and managed to get like 30% of secrets on average, I'm sure it's a lot easier to find the rest if you backtrack a bit and go off the beaten path. Oh, and most big "arena" fights have powerups scattered around. They go from quad damage to invulnerability to berserker (instant glory kills, my favorite) and speed bonuses. They only last 30 seconds or so so it's important to know when you activate them or not. It's usually a better idea to wait until the last waves with the biggest enemies to activate them.
So, basically, the gameplay is a return to the old strafe shooter coupled to some clever design choices. The game also offers more modern shooter elements like the ability to upgrade and customize your abilities/stats/weapons. Not a huge fan, but it can be ok if done well enough, like in this game or the Shadow Warrior remake. At least it doesn't get in the way too much.
Some minor complaints: had a crash or two, nothing major, but still. There is no manual saving, but it didn't really bother me as the autosave checkpoints are generous, and you're killing shit 85% of the time anyway. It's mostly annoying when you are trying some risky jumps to get to a secret and keep missing your jump. :rolleyes: Speaking of jumping, there are some "platformer" elements (very minor ones, but still) which can get a little frustrating. But nothing too bad.
Probably one of the best "no-nonense" shooters I've played in a few years. So if you're into that short of shit...you know what to buy.
P.S. Oh yeah, and the soundtrack is great.
Guess I'm getting old.
Rimworld is still pretty awesome, though.
