Ooooohh. Rockster North’s controversial game heads straight to the shops.
Very odd. One of the most promising developers (DMA) releasing a game that seemingly missed all the magazine headlines is very strange.
We all know GTA VC is one of the best games around so it seems rather odd.
So whats it all about? Well, You’ve been stopped from being executed on death row and placed as the object of a snuff movie and you have to escape by killing or evading the people that inhabit the very linear areas.
A bit like J. Woo’s superb film Hard Target.
The fact that the subject matter, and sheer brutality of the way enemy are disposed is what makes this game rather nasty. The fact that the enemy are Arians, Rednecks and Hillbillies (and later, somewhat more normal soldiers) gives the player some excuse to be violent I suppose as these historically unsociable characters that are stereotyped in many a game these days.
Its also another game that relies on stealth to survive as the game is very unforgiving. Get caught by two or more characters and you’d better run as you’ll get completly plummelled. The games starts in some slum in nowheresville and the game progresses through Warehouses, Waste dumps, and later a Zoo.
The game has a very dark overtone and the graphics are deliberately dark and grainy to heighten the effect that your watching a video. There are Three ways to kill the combatitants. Direct fighting, Stealth, and using static objects (like cranes). Direct fighting consists of a hard and soft punch. You can use combo’s of the two but these are very ineffective. In fact most players will realise that launching 3 hard punches, then running back to avoid the flurry is the best way to survive. Pressing Hard and soft punch allows you to grab but is almost always blocked or avoided. Blocking hits yourself is of little use.
The controversial Stealth attacks offer instant kills but can leave you open if theres more then one player. It’s the stealth moves that will cause the problems as they’re quite nasty. You start the game with minor weapons and they get better as you play through, although a little gore and humour can be found applying the baseball bat to the head of a dead victim. Blood also randomly splats the screen when a death move is performed. The physics here are quite good.
Lets just say Irreversible may have been an inspiration shall we?
The dead guys can also be picked up and placed in darkness to avoid being spotted. If they are spotted, the finder will normally call on help.
The guys are represented by arrows which show their alertness and facing direction (like MGS). Green through to Red. Red means you’ve been spotted and the guys will then proceed to hunt you down. You can move up against walls and hide in shadows (shown as your character icon going dark blue – just so you can be sure). Hiding in the shadows results in you never being seen, unless you were seen going into the shadow. In which case, keep running and find another. Noise obviously alerts the guys and bottle and bricks can be used to get them to a sweet spot for a stealth kill. You can also tap walls to draw them out one by one. Glass, Wood, gravel and fences all play their part in attracting attention so have to be treated with care.
The gameplay is obviously slow as your trying to kill the guys one by one, so you have to use your surroundings for cover. Its very much like Splinter Cell but with more action or MGS with less action. You’ve got a run button, change weapon type, hard/soft punch, aim (with gun weapons – theres no killer moves with these)
Now heres the thing. I never got bored. I played this for eight hours straight over the weekend and wanted to keep playing to see just what DMA had lined up. I mean, this is DMA right?
I’m now on the Zoo level and have only just got tranqilizer Gun and a clever.
I turned the lights off and sound up (as per instructions) and just immersed myself.
The game should not be that great. The graphics are average and are timespan is set through the night. Sound is okay but theres only minimal music which intensifies if your heard or investigated.
The guys speak some funny things (GTA3 style) but nothing to write home about.
The levels are linear. The physics are only average.
The games occasionally scary (because you have to be quite) but not overly so.
So what is it?
I think DMA knew that people would be addicted by the gore and would want to keep playing to see what new weapons would do. Somehow, I’m just not bored.
The violence is quite high, so perhaps its my affection for MiikeTakeshi films. Prehaps DMA have tapped into this somehow (although there’s no sex, apart from some unseen porn film later on, and you have to switch this off!)
The game does a fair job to convince you your watching some grainy VHS but I can’t say anything ‘that’ bad about the game. The fighting is only just average, rather like GTA VC’s fighting, and you cannot jump!
Still, give the game more time and you just don’t seem to get bored. Prehaps its because its DMA that you expect some super thing to happen later, so want to play to reach that.
It gets a bonus point for that because I’ve not finished the game (hey, it’s a free
review!)
Score – 7 (high, as I suspect many people will not like this for various reasons)
Steve.
Very odd. One of the most promising developers (DMA) releasing a game that seemingly missed all the magazine headlines is very strange.
We all know GTA VC is one of the best games around so it seems rather odd.
So whats it all about? Well, You’ve been stopped from being executed on death row and placed as the object of a snuff movie and you have to escape by killing or evading the people that inhabit the very linear areas.
A bit like J. Woo’s superb film Hard Target.
The fact that the subject matter, and sheer brutality of the way enemy are disposed is what makes this game rather nasty. The fact that the enemy are Arians, Rednecks and Hillbillies (and later, somewhat more normal soldiers) gives the player some excuse to be violent I suppose as these historically unsociable characters that are stereotyped in many a game these days.
Its also another game that relies on stealth to survive as the game is very unforgiving. Get caught by two or more characters and you’d better run as you’ll get completly plummelled. The games starts in some slum in nowheresville and the game progresses through Warehouses, Waste dumps, and later a Zoo.
The game has a very dark overtone and the graphics are deliberately dark and grainy to heighten the effect that your watching a video. There are Three ways to kill the combatitants. Direct fighting, Stealth, and using static objects (like cranes). Direct fighting consists of a hard and soft punch. You can use combo’s of the two but these are very ineffective. In fact most players will realise that launching 3 hard punches, then running back to avoid the flurry is the best way to survive. Pressing Hard and soft punch allows you to grab but is almost always blocked or avoided. Blocking hits yourself is of little use.
The controversial Stealth attacks offer instant kills but can leave you open if theres more then one player. It’s the stealth moves that will cause the problems as they’re quite nasty. You start the game with minor weapons and they get better as you play through, although a little gore and humour can be found applying the baseball bat to the head of a dead victim. Blood also randomly splats the screen when a death move is performed. The physics here are quite good.
Lets just say Irreversible may have been an inspiration shall we?
The dead guys can also be picked up and placed in darkness to avoid being spotted. If they are spotted, the finder will normally call on help.
The guys are represented by arrows which show their alertness and facing direction (like MGS). Green through to Red. Red means you’ve been spotted and the guys will then proceed to hunt you down. You can move up against walls and hide in shadows (shown as your character icon going dark blue – just so you can be sure). Hiding in the shadows results in you never being seen, unless you were seen going into the shadow. In which case, keep running and find another. Noise obviously alerts the guys and bottle and bricks can be used to get them to a sweet spot for a stealth kill. You can also tap walls to draw them out one by one. Glass, Wood, gravel and fences all play their part in attracting attention so have to be treated with care.
The gameplay is obviously slow as your trying to kill the guys one by one, so you have to use your surroundings for cover. Its very much like Splinter Cell but with more action or MGS with less action. You’ve got a run button, change weapon type, hard/soft punch, aim (with gun weapons – theres no killer moves with these)
Now heres the thing. I never got bored. I played this for eight hours straight over the weekend and wanted to keep playing to see just what DMA had lined up. I mean, this is DMA right?
I’m now on the Zoo level and have only just got tranqilizer Gun and a clever.
I turned the lights off and sound up (as per instructions) and just immersed myself.
The game should not be that great. The graphics are average and are timespan is set through the night. Sound is okay but theres only minimal music which intensifies if your heard or investigated.
The guys speak some funny things (GTA3 style) but nothing to write home about.
The levels are linear. The physics are only average.
The games occasionally scary (because you have to be quite) but not overly so.
So what is it?
I think DMA knew that people would be addicted by the gore and would want to keep playing to see what new weapons would do. Somehow, I’m just not bored.
The violence is quite high, so perhaps its my affection for MiikeTakeshi films. Prehaps DMA have tapped into this somehow (although there’s no sex, apart from some unseen porn film later on, and you have to switch this off!)
The game does a fair job to convince you your watching some grainy VHS but I can’t say anything ‘that’ bad about the game. The fighting is only just average, rather like GTA VC’s fighting, and you cannot jump!
Still, give the game more time and you just don’t seem to get bored. Prehaps its because its DMA that you expect some super thing to happen later, so want to play to reach that.
It gets a bonus point for that because I’ve not finished the game (hey, it’s a free
review!)
Score – 7 (high, as I suspect many people will not like this for various reasons)
Steve.