PC Game Review: DOOM (2016)

GAME: DOOM
DEVELOPER: id Software
PUBLISHER: Bethesda Softworks
RELEASED: 2016

It's DOOM time. Truth to be told it's been DOOM time since 2016, but for some reason, despite having finished the campaign and played the multiplayer a fair bit (not really looked at Snapmap cause... meh) I've only just now gotten around to writing a review. I blame my lack of writing inspiration the last few years. But since I've just gotten back into my review groove, let's take a look at the 2016 reimagining of the FPS that started it all; DOOM.

I've played enough Half-Life 2 to know that a giant portal in the background is a bad thing.

DOOM is a franchise with a lot of cred in the gaming sphere, as the original DOOM was one of the most seminal game releases of the 90's. Surrounded by controversy, giving birth to online deathmatches, launching probably one of the biggest modding communities for a game in existence and helping popularize the first person shooter genre, it is very difficult to imagine the gaming industry as a whole without this game. In 1994 it was quickly followed by DOOM 2: Hell On Earth, which largely felt like a retail standalone expansion to the original game, since it was largely the same game with new levels, enemies and a super shotgun. And through 1995 and 1996 it received numerous console ports as well as a few officially released level packs (Master Levels for DOOM II and Final Doom). Then id Software decided to make Quake and things changed drastically. John Romero left the company in 1996 following the release of Quake (Tom Hall had already left earlier during development of DOOM feeling a lack of creative input on the game), and id spent the following years releasing Quake 2 (which had nothing to do with Quake, except sharing its predecessor's name) and Quake 3: Arena (which again had little to do with either Quake or Quake 2) which was a multiplayer only arena shooter similar to Unreal Tournament (albeit with less game modes).

id would return to the DOOM franchise in 2004, with the suitably titled DOOM 3, although it was itself more of a remake than a direct sequel to DOOM 2. DOOM 3 is probably the game in the franchise that strays the furthest away from what most people consider the makeup of DOOM. While it wasn't really a bad game, in fact it was rather enjoyable, it focused a lot more on the horror aspect of DOOM and made it the focus of the game, at times not very successfully. You can read more in my review of DOOM 3 BFG Edition.

And after DOOM 3 that was pretty much it from id Software. The engine would go on to power Quake 4 (notably the first Quake game to actually continue a storyline from the previous games, Quake 2), and Wolfenstein 2009, both developed by Raven Software. id would start working on their next game, RAGE, intended to become the first new IP for the developer since Quake. Stuck in development hell for a solid decade, RAGE wouldn't see its release until 2011 and proved to be an enjoyable albeit not very satisfying game experience. More on RAGE here.

The best thing to come out of RAGE so far has been the technology. With its impressive megatexture id Tech 5 engine, it went on to power Wolfenstein: The New Order and The Evil Within. Then id Tech 666 came along, and with it... came DOOM.

Punching demons in the face becomes second nature in DOOM.

DOOM can best be described as pretty much the original DOOM, but with a modernized fresh take on it. The most astonishing feat of the remake though is how it manages to feel modern without at all sacrificing what made the original DOOM so much fun. Like the original DOOM and, very much unlike DOOM 3, instead of taking itself too seriously it instead focuses on making a fast-paced shooter about fighting the hordes of hell and not really giving a crap about much else. And the most amazing thing about it is how self-aware it is throughout the entire experience. Whenever the story comes into play, the Doomguy will notably be pissed off about it, not really caring about the reasons why the demons are here. He just wants to kill demons. In a rather badass scene in the beginning of the game, he is given a bit of briefing via a console and then promptly smashes the console into the wall before going on his merry way to slaughter himself some demons, perfectly not only mirroring the player's eagerness to get into the game proper, but also showing character without uttering a single word of dialogue. The game also foregoes any sort of lengthy intro sequence, rather starting you off by waking you up on an altar, bound by chains which you promptly break before smashing a possessed human's skull into said altar, grabbing your pistol, shooting some more possessed freaks and you're off. It's all the introduction you need for a game that's all about one thing: ripping and tearing some demon flesh.

That being said, the story isn't bad and simple enough for the game. There's a ton of lore to be found as well throughout the game, all written with that same self-aware and somewhat ironic snarky tone, very reminiscent of reading the original DOOM manual in some regards. The basic story is that a UAC scientists have harnessed energy from hell, so-called argent energy, a seemingly incredibly powerful and limitless source of energy. Of course, harnessing hell energy has brought along some complications as some deals have been made that have started an invasion of demons from hell, and it is up to the Doom Slayer (which sounds like a name for an epic metal band) to stop them.

He gave me a hand.

The gameplay in DOOM has a bit of a set rhythm to it, kinda reminding me of games like Serious Sam in some regards. You essentially move from battle to battle, often some of them start with you finding a gore nest and tearing it open, spawning in a horde of demons. These battles are interspersed with exploration, finding secrets and easter eggs, as well as taking in parts of the story. The battles are really the pounding heart of the DOOM experience and they feel entirely unique to the game. Describing the battles in DOOM would be like... well, imagine a 300 pound ballerina with a chaingun and you have roughly how it works. Because while you carry around an arsenal of oversized weapons and probably weight more than a freight truck, you move with the grace and agility of a rabbit on speed after having had 15 cups of coffee. Movement is fluid as all hell and it's a bit of a strange paradox how the game makes you feel large and heavy yet completely agile and in control at the same time. The guns all feel incredibly satisfying, and all of the DOOM mainstays are here and act roughly like their original DOOM counterparts, with my favourites being the super shotgun and the assault rifle. All the weapons can be upgraded with attachments, such as rapid-firing rockets for the assault rifle, explosive chargers for the combat shotgun and turning your chaingun into a freakin' turret just to name a few. It's all kind of insanely deep with upgrade paths, challenges to complete and this not only counts for guns but also your character where your skills can all be upgraded throughout the game using upgrade tokens and points you earn through finding secrets, doing challenges and just all around playing the game. And in addition to taking out enemies the old-fashioned way with a shotgun blast to the face, once you have done so they will begin to flash, and you can run up to them for a brutal melee finisher, which will be different depending on where you approach the enemy from, ranging from punching them in the face, crushing their skull and sending them flying with a kick to the groin. Okay the latter may not be an actual finisher (although it would be amazing if it was). The finishers are just short enough to not really pause the game for too long and there is a strange fluidity to them, making it obvious the game was playtested a lot to really perfect the length and timing of these finishing blows. It also feels somewhat influenced by Brutal DOOM, an awesome modification for the original DOOM which added the ability to brutalize demons with violent melee kills. Of course, when all fails, a BFG blast will easily clear out a room of baddies.

The enemies from DOOM all make a return and have been awesomely reimagined as well, feeling familiar yet different at the same time. Most notably the feared Arch-Vile has been rebranded as the Summoner, a floating and faster variation that easily takes priority whenever faced in battle. Otherwise all of the enemies feel familiar and you instantly know what sort of threat they pose.

Don't you look familiar...

Graphically the game looks absolutely gorgeous. Running on the much improved id Tech 666 engine, the game has a bunch of cool visual upgrades. That being said, there isn't really much of a noticeable difference between the graphics levels and I was hard pressed to really see any difference between Low and Ultra settings, so if you have a PC that struggles with the game on higher settings, I wouldn't feel too bad about lowering your settings, as the game's art direction is so strong it helps the game still look very good on low settings. Texture popin is a much smaller problem and overall the game has a colourful look to it, but still retaining a somewhat dark sci-fi horror atmosphere.

I also have no complaints about the game's sound. The weapons have beefy and punchy sound effects, the voice acting is top notch and the soundtrack is a glitched out cacophony of industrial noise and while it never goes into the same thrash metal inspired territory as the original DOOM, it pays homage to the original soundtrack in several places. A cool and impressive bonus is that the composer of the soundtrack went as far as to include pentagrams and other satanic imagery into the music itself, visible if you view the songs in a spectrum analyzer. Definitely a whole new level of detail that just adds more to the game's atmosphere.

The game features several throwback levels to the original DOOM. Finding them can be a challenge though.

So what else is there to do in DOOM? Well, in all honesty the campaign is the only worthwhile part of the game. But let's discuss the other game modes briefly.


The multiplayer mode consists of several game modes, ranging from the classic Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes to stuff like Freeze Tag and Domination. None of it is really that groundbreaking and in all honesty the multiplayer isn't that fun. Most of the time I end up getting killed by other players with either far more time on their hands or better loadouts. It's not terrible though and it's not difficult finding players to play with, and the lobbies all feature randomized game modes which breaks up the tedium unlike Call of Duty where you're usually stuck in a single mode until you decide to change it. There's a ton of visual upgrades to unlock, challenges to do and you unlock stuff as you level up. I mean, it's completely adequate but doesn't really fit in with the game in my opinion.

Then there's the Snapmap mode where you can make your own maps, game modes and other fun stuff using a basic game code system. I haven't really touched it to be honest and doubt I ever will but if you are feeling creative, it's very easy to snap together your own maps in the game. It does feel very limited in some regards though, as you can't really make big outdoor levels, being restricted to making essentially hallway levels. But for what it's worth, it's nice to have a creative mode like this in a game. It's just a shame it's not really a fully fledged editor.

Scott Cawthon approves of this.

So all in all, DOOM is definitely an amazing remake of the original DOOM and does just enough new stuff to make it feel fresh. It's just a shame the multiplayer mode ends up feeling not that fun and a bit superfluous, and the Snapmap mode is just kind of... there. But this one definitely gets a recommendation from me as a lifelong fan of id Software and DOOM. Of course, I'm still waiting for a true sequel to the original Quake...

STORY: 8/10
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
GRAPHICS: 9/10
SOUND: 9/10

TOTAL SCORE: 8/10

PC Game Review: STRAFE

GAME: STRAFE
DEVELOPER: Pixel Titans
PUBLISHER: Devolver Digital
RELEASED: 2017

STRAFE was originally started as a Kickstarter campaign that pretty much instantly grabbed my attention. Along with a trailer that pretty much out-extremed the 90's and a website that out-90's... d the 90's, it seemed to promise a kind of a throwback experience to 90's shooters, particurarily Quake. Well... it kind of does and kind of doesn't.

STRAFE is a roguelike FPS with a 90's influenced skin. While it tries to pass off as a 90's shooter, for the most part it isn't. Most notably, the levels are randomly generated, which is something I'm not a huge fan of. For one it makes it incredibly tedious and confusing to navigate the levels at times since they have little rhyme or reason to them and due to the random generation often end up a bit of a mess. It also kinda feels lazy to just have levels randomly generate rather than spending time developing proper levels. To be fair, this isn't something that's necessarily unique to STRAFE as a lot of games released lately have gone for the same approach. And in a roguelike it makes sense given the whole point is to see how far you can make it without dying and thus having to replay the game a lot would make it very repetitive if the levels weren't randomized. 

STRAFE prides itself on having fairly large amounts of blood and gore, allowing you to turn enemies into blood fountains.

There's also a lot of other typical roguelike tropes in the game, such as randomized enemy spawns, randomized loot and the ability to buy upgrades, ammo and armor using in-game currency. Some of the good things about the game though is that it allows you to save and quit between levels, giving an option to take a break if you want to. It also features a cool graphics downgrade mode that increases the pixel count on large resolutions and giving the game a more retro look. It also has a training mode with instructional videos that, like the Kickstarter trailer, has a bit of a retro VHS look to them.

This happy guy will offer you some bonus items if you clear the area without killing him.

The enemies all offer up a fair bit of challenge, though some of the AI seem to revolve around the enemies simply heading for the player and punching them in the face. Some enemies will lob grenades and some will fire at you from a distance so it does force you to change your strategy depending on the enemy. When you start the game you have the choice between 3 main weapons: The shotgun, the machine gun and the railgun. The shotgun is a great close quarters weapon, the machine gun is good at pretty much all distances and the railgun excels at long distances but has a long delay between shots making it somewhat clunky in CQC. All the main weapons also have alternate firing modes, with the shotgun shooting stronger pellets that bounce off the walls, the machine gun lobbing grenades and the railgun firing a steady electric beam.

Some airvents will shoot homing missiles at you.

Graphically the game isn't that bad to look at, it definitely nails the 90's aesthetic to a degree, especially with the low polygon count on the enemies, but still has a fairly modern twist on it, such as having the ammo count on the guns themselves, giving you a physical visor display rather than a classic Quake/Doom style HUD.

The sound is also pretty good. The weapon sounds all feel pretty good, the enemy sounds give clear clues about what type of enemy you're facing and the soundtrack is all synthy goodness, very comparable to the Power Glove soundtrack for Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon if I were to compare it to anything.

Between some levels you can buy random upgrades.

All in all, STRAFE does accomplish what it sets out to do, which is being a roguelike shooter with a retro look. In all honesty it might be disappointing to those craving more of a genuine 90's shooter experience, but as a roguelike shooter it's definitely a fun distraction for a while. However, it's not that fun to play in long periods of time as the repetitive nature of constantly restarting does grind on you after a while and the game simply isn't that fun to play for me. If you are into roguelike shooters though, I definitely recommend giving it a try.

STORY: 5/10
GAMEPLAY: 6/10
GRAPHICS: 8/10
SOUND: 9/10

TOTAL SCORE: 7/10

PC Game Review: Rise Of The Triad (2013)

GAME: Rise Of The Triad
DEVELOPER: Slipgate Studios (formerly known as Interceptor Entertainment)
PUBLISHER: Apogee
YEAR: 2013

So it seems it's time for the second part of my Apogee/3D Realms/Slipgate Studios retrospective (I swear I wasn't planning on reviewing their games so close to each other, I just happened to have their games on my backlog for a while and finally completed them...) And today we're looking at none other than Rise Of The Triad. Not the 1994 game (which I probably SHOULD look at at some point come to think of it...) but the 2013 remake.

The original Rise Of The Triad is a 1994 first person shooter with a somewhat interesting history. It was originally meant to be a sequel to Wolfenstein 3D using the same engine (albeit heavily modified to allow for a lot of new features), until id Software decided to part ways with Apogee and release their next shooter DOOM on their own, and since they didn't want a Wolfenstein title to steal DOOM's thunder, they denied Apogee to use the IP. However it didn't stop Apogee and the developer "Developers Of Incredible Power" (DIP) from changing the game into Rise Of The Triad, and without the Wolfenstein IP they were free to do as they wanted with the game. It ended up becoming very similar to Wolfenstein 3D in some ways, still focusing on a very arcady experience with points, stuff to collect and maze-like level design.

Scott Miller announced in 2009 that the game was being remade, with the game being revealed at the 2012 Quake Con, developed by Interceptor Entertainment, a virtual development studio with members all over the world, and on a very small budget. In 2013 the game was finally released, with the original game being released earlier in the year in the Apogee Throwback Pack, and I was probably one of the first people to buy it (not the throwback pack, the remake, although I bought the throwback pack as well). So as you can imagine it's taken a while for me to actually get around to writing a review even though I had always intended to do so. So let's just pretend it's 2014 again and I've played the game extensively (you don't have to pretend that last part actually considering I have played it extensively...)

There's nothing quite like gibbing an enemy to the point their eyeballs hit your screen.

 The story is practically identical to the original ROTT. A team of four mercenaries (the so-called HUNT team) is stranded on an island following their boat being destroyed by enemies. They soon learn that the Triad is planning to nuke Los Angeles and goes on a mission to stop them from doing so. Truth to be told the game doesn't really need a story and it's quickly put to the wayside so you might as well just ignore the whole thing. It's pretty much just a setup for the game.

ROTT is truly more about the gameplay than the story, and there is a lot to say about it. To put it short, the remake includes practically every gameplay element from the original and expands upon it in some way. For instance, like in the original you can gib enemies and paint the level with their innards, although here you can even shoot limbs of their corpses. And like in the original you have a ton of explosive weapons to use, although they have been upgraded with some alternate firing modes and the game even includes a shotgun with an explosive alternate firing mode. The game also retains all the powerups (and power-downs) from the original ROTT, including a literal GOD mode that turns you into a GOD with the power to practically disintegrate enemies. And the opposite DOG mode that turns you into... well... a dog. You also have a powerup that give you wings, allowing you to defy gravity like an angel of questionable one-liners and explosives. My favourite has to be the mushroom power-down which essentially does nothing but shake your screen around annoyingly. You also have coins to collect which add to your score (which increases a lot more on higher difficulties), giving the game the same arcade-like feel of the original and it's really satisfying to 100% complete a stage, getting all the coins, secrets and killing every single enemy. Prepare to have your OCD triggered though...  All in all though, the game really has a sense of humor about its gameplay and the lack of seriousness it treats itself with is both odd, quirky and enjoyable. To say this game is unique is probably an understatement...

He lost his head.

God mode. Literally.

Though it's not really all fun and games at times. The jump pads and platforms for one is a relic from the 90's that in my opinion should've stayed buried. Every time these things pop up in a level you KNOW they are going to be a pain in the ass and completely stall the flow of the game for a solid hour. First person platforming, especially with these freaking things is always promising a bad time, making it more of a chore to play the game at times. And it wouldn't be so bad if the game didn't expect you to use these in practically every single level. I've definitely had some extremely rage-inducing moments in this game with the jump pads and platforms and it's not challenging as much as it is frustrating.

And the game doesn't really run as well as you could hope either, even with the latest patch. While it does run acceptably most of the time, at some times the framerate will suffer a bit, especially with stuff like PhysX turned on. It's no big deal but it does have an impact on the overall experience, especially coupled with relentless jump pad sections.

Ever had a sniper duel with rocket launchers? Well you kinda have to in ROTT considering there just are no snipers...

So it's kind of hard to make up my mind on whether I enjoy the game or not. Because at most times it is incredibly fun and while some may say it feels outdated, it definitely feels like it exists in a universe of its own. And it feels all delightfully oldschool with tons of secrets and easter eggs, fast paced combat and with just enough modern sensibilities to make it feel fresh. For instance you can reload your weapons, even though you have infinite ammo. Yeah I don't really get that either but I am thankful as I kind of have a reload itch in me that I appreciate getting scratched.

It also helps the game is rather gorgeous to look at for a low budget game. The levels are fairly atmospheric and using the Unreal engine to its full potential, this allows for the game to look really good, especially on max settings. It is kind of weird to see such high detail graphics on levels with such a retro design though. But it kind of just adds to the strangeness of the whole experience.

The soundtrack is also really good, consisting of some themes from the original game remixed by Andrew Hulshult and he does a really good job retaining the original themes and riffs while expanding on them and giving them more of a rock feel. The sound effects are also really beefy and I love the inclusion of some of the sounds from the original game. Overall no complaints other than that the voice acting does sound a bit off at times, probably because some of the voice actors were literally parts of the team. But it does give the game a certain charm, much like a b-movie and you can tell people are giving their best when doing their roles.

The game features no shortage of explosive weapons including this lovely heat-seeking missile.

SPLAT!

So all in all I definitely recommend giving the remake of ROTT a try if you are into oldschool shooters. It fills a certain nieche all of its own and there's simply nothing like it out there. The game is simply LUDICROUS! And that's why it's awesome.

STORY: 8/10
GAMEPLAY: 7/10
GRAPHICS: 8/10
SOUND: 9/10

TOTAL SCORE: 8/10

PC Game Review: Bombshell

GAME: Bombshell
DEVELOPER: Slipgate Studios (formerly known as Interceptor Entertainment)
PUBLISHER: 3D Realms
RELEASED: 2016

During the development of Duke Nukem Forever, the creators came up with this idea of a female counterpart to Duke Nukem. A badass chick who could hold her own against the alien forces and join forces with the king to wipe them out. The idea unfortunately ended up being scrapped due to... reasons that are frankly unknown to me, even though I could guess it had something to do with it just not fitting for the game which ended up being entirely centered on Duke, so it wouldn't make much sense to have a secondary hero character steal his thunder. But when publisher 3D Realms and developer Interceptor Entertainment (now known as Slipgate Studios following a name change after the release of this game) were working on a Duke Nukem action RPG, and ended up in a legal battle with Gearbox Software, they lost the chance to make a Duke Nukem action RPG. However, from the ashes of this legal battle arose a new chance to bring this female badass, from deep within Duke Nukem Forever's endless vaults of cut content, to the front of her own game, and finally give her a franchise of her own. The end result is Bombshell, a top down isometric shooter RPG. And here are my thoughts on it.

The 2015 reveal trailer featured an early draft of the character that left a bad taste in most people's mouths. Unfortunately I actually kinda liked it. :P

In 2015, 3D Realms published a reveal trailer of their new game in development. The trailer featured a scantily clad female with a robot arm and a black sidecut hair that would make Skrillex jealous, drinking whiskey before grabbing a shotgun and getting on a bike. It encapsulated perfectly what the game was about but received a fair bit of backlash for its lackluster graphical fidelity and sexualized protagonist. And while I personally liked it and got hyped from it, I could see where people were coming from. Luckily, the trailer wasn't really representative of what was to come. Because Bombshell isn't really a game in the same league as Duke Nukem 3D or even Duke Nukem Forever if you ask me. While Shelly is clearly a badass protagonist, she feels entirely different as a character and never really ends up feeling like a simple genderswapped Duke Nukem.

The first thing I've really noticed about Bombshell is that it kinda takes itself seriously. The story feels like something out of a b-movie of course. The president (who is a female in this game) is kidnapped by a cyborg villain known as Doctor Jadus Heskel (totally not Doctor Proton) and a badass chick with a robot arm goes on an intergalactic trip to an alien homeworld to save her. But it's not really played up in any way that makes it self-aware or self-referencing, as most of it is taken really seriously and most of the humor is kind of tucked away in the form of one-liners and references. And this is why it feels really different from a Duke Nukem game. Because while on paper the setup feels almost like a perfect setup for a Duke Nukem game, where a Duke Nukem game wouldn't really take itself TOO seriously, Bombshell goes for a very serious tone despite the somewhat ludicrous premise. For instance, Duke Nukem Forever did take itself somewhat seriously in terms of story but it never expected the player to take it seriously and always assumed the player would be in on the joke and understand that this was never meant to be taken seriously and that it was all in good fun. Bombshell completely lacks that self-awareness and thus always expects the player to not only take the story seriously but also be invested in it. The main problem with the story though is that it's not really written well enough to draw you into it and expects a little too much from the player to be invested in it. And it lacks enough humor to really offset the amount of seriousness.

Most of the humor in Bombshell is derived from stuff like naming a weapon "Ion Maiden" (cause Iron Maiden... get it?) or "PMS" (which is basically on par with naming a town Morningwood). Or making a random NPC sound like a horrible impersonation of Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's never really humor that fully lands for me and while I can get a chuckle out of a few lines here and there, I would never really call the game comedic in tone, just kind of witty at times, and it kind of makes stuff like the weapon names feel a little out of place. You thought Duke Nukem Forever had a confused tone? This game struggles to even get a confused tone, it's a straight up disconnection between what you see on screen and what the game's story is doing.

The final design of Shelly "Bombshell" Harrison pretty much nails who the character is meant to be. A serious and badass female with a robot arm and a zero bullshit tolerance.

The game looks rather gorgeous though, especially for what is essentially an indie title. Interceptor is a fairly small development team, and they all work from different parts of the world, making it more of a virtual dev team than a physical one, which may explain a few things but we'll get back to that later. All of the levels in the game feel distinct from one another, with each sporting its own colour space and mood, ranging from a level over a deep underground lava pit, to a frozen ice level, to an industrial level with tons of awesome imagery. While none of the levels really end up feeling that original, they definitely all feel distinct enough to make clear and proper "chapters" in the game. I also rather like the cutscenes that are all done in-engine and feature some very cool animation. It's a huge step up from the comic book style cutscenes that most indie titles seem to do nowadays (even Interceptor was guilty of this with their Rise of the Triad remake, although in that game I felt it was a bit justified given it was a remake of an old game). Of course, as I mentioned, your enjoyment of these cutscenes will of course depend heavily on your investment into the story and whether you like it or not. But despite not being entirely into the story I still enjoyed the flair of the cutscenes and they do their job building up some drama between levels.

The detail is also extremely high and the game allows you to zoom in on the action to take in the amount of detail on the textures. Especially Shelly herself has some rather awesome texture work done on her. With everything cranked to the max the game definitely looks rather good and runs really well too with no hitches or stuttering (bear in mind I am running the game on the latest patch), and you probably won't need any high end system to truly crank up the graphics, as running everything maxed out on 1080p granted me smooth and stable performance on an AMD Phenom II 3.2GHz CPU with an AMD R9 280X GPU. I can definitely appreciate the work put into the graphics in this game, and it is by far one of my favourite aspects about it. It deserves praise when an indie game manages to look this good.

The game starts out on Earth sending you into the white house to rescue the president, which ends up taking you to the alien planet Kyrr.

The game is a top down shooter despite it trying to sell itself as an action RPG. The RPG mechanics are extremely miniscule in this game. There is no real roleplaying involved as you don't play your own character, you cannot choose what to say, all of the levels are played in a linear fashion and in general the only RPG element is that you can choose which of Shelly's abilities to upgrade whenever you level up, and can choose between 2 upgrade paths on your weapons, with new upgrades unlocking as you level up. This is really not enough to warrant the game being called an RPG in my opinion and I think it's wrong to call it such as it gives the wrong expectations towards the game. The game is really just a simple isometric shooter.

That being said, as a twin-stick shooter it is still fairly competent. The game features moving with the WASD keys and aiming with the mouse, or using dual analogue sticks on a gamepad. While I might have preferred the game being made as a first person or behind-the-shoulder third person shooter, it still plays well as what it is. The camera can be a little frustrating though as the angle can make it difficult to spot enemies approaching you (though the map mitigates this design flaw a little as it shows enemy locations as red dots). The weapons feel satisfying to use, especially if you get the right upgrades for them, such as upgrading the Maxigun to fire rockets (which feels pretty much exactly like it does in the new Doom game) or upgrading the Motherflakker (basically the game's shotgun) to fire explosive shells. It gives the weapons a whole new "oomph" and dimension and makes you feel crazy powerful. I wouldn't say there was any weapon I really didn't enjoy using with the exception of the Shellshock, which I couldn't really wrap my head around using. I mostly ended up using either the Maxigun or Motherflakker with the Ion Maiden being used for dispatching small pests and the PMS or Flamethrower being used for larger miniboss type enemies. While you can definitely tell there is some influence from Duke Nukem to these weapons, they truly end up feeling unique to the game and puts their own twist on familiar archetypes (except the Shellshock, I still have no idea what it's supposed to do lol).

The game's currency can be picked up in the form of purple orbs. At times it ends up feeling like I'm playing a strange mix between Duke Nukem and Diablo.

The level design is alright for the most part. The main gameplay rhythm mostly comprises of moving towards objectives, wiping out enemies, gathering ammo and currency, and rinse and repeat. You do get secondary objectives in some levels which you might wanna finish before moving on to the primary objective if you're a completionist, and a lot of the levels have secrets in them. A few issues I did notice though was that at times you are required to do platforming which can be tricky given the camera angle, and at times the level geometry can make it a bit tricky to move around. The aiming can also be a bit finnicky at times, requiring you to aim specifically at enemies rather in their general direction. The game also softlocked several times for me during certain quests, requiring me to restart the entire level. Not a huge deal but something you should be aware of. For instance, I never ended up getting the Electroshocker on my playthrough, despite picking it up. And I was stuck for hours when a quest bugged and leaving me unable to pick up a power crystal I needed to continue. So the game is far from perfect, but none of the bugs I encountered were outright gamebreaking and could typically be fixed with a level reset.

The soundtrack is decent enough, if you love industrial metal. It's not really my cup of tea and most of it just ended up sounding like generic background noise to me and not really with enough synth to make it sound interesting. Just generic chugs and no real themes or memorable riffs. Andrew Hulshult is a decent musician but not a really strong songwriter in my opinion. Some stronger themes would really have helped the soundtrack come a long way as I couldn't really get into it. The main theme is repeated a few times but even that isn't really that memorable. I felt he did a much better job with his Rad Rodgers soundtrack in all honesty.
The voice acting also leaves something to be desired. While Shelly herself does an alright job, it is true she kind of lacks impact. And some of the NPC voice actors straight up sound like they recorded their lines in their bedroom. Which they probably did given how Interceptor works. For the most part it's not too distracting but at times it was pretty cringe-worthy.
Luckily the weapon sounds and general sound design is pretty good. The weapons sound beefy and loud and the ambience is also really good. I just couldn't really get behind the voice acting or music. Both sound a bit bland.

At a few points the game will offer a turret section to break up the gameplay a bit. If you hate these though, do not fear. They are extremely underutilized. The turret does feature a slow-mo function though.

So that kind of concludes everything I had to say about this game. While it's not really a bad game and definitely not as bad as some reviews make it out to be, it has a lot of missed potential. I feel with a stronger story that took itself less seriously, and with better voice acting and stronger music the game could be a real blast. Oh well, maybe Ion Maiden will prove to be a stronger experience given it's using the good old Build engine, the same tech which powered Duke Nukem 3D, the series from which Bombshell was born from? Time will tell. In the meantime, I would say Bombshell is worth giving a shot if you can find it on sale and crave a simple isometric shooter with a b-movie story and playing as a badass female with a robot arm. Because as mediocre as this game might be, Shelly "Bombshell" Harrison is still a hell of a gal and I really hope to see her in more games and watch her grow as a character.

STORY: 5/10
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
GRAPHICS: 9/10
SOUND: 6/10

TOTAL SCORE: 7/10

First Impression: Ion Maiden (Preview Campaign)

GAME: Ion Maiden
DEVELOPER: Voidpoint
PUBLISHER: 3D Realms
Year: 2018

What's up, kids. Today I'm taking a look at Ion Maiden, a new oldschool FPS by Voidpoint, and published by 3D Realms. I wanna stress though that this is less of a review and more of a first impressions deal, and the game is in Early Access at the moment so it is subject to change in the future and might not necessarily reflect the final product and shit. Specifically what I'm looking at is the Preview Campaign that is available to early backers and owners of the Bombshell Digital Deluxe edition.

So a couple of years ago, specifically 2016, 3D Realms released a little top down shooter called Bombshell, developed by Interceptor (a game I've been planning to review since 2016, so a review is coming, although delayed lol). Much like the team's previous effort, the 2013 remake of Rise Of The Triad, it received criticism for being generally buggy, unbalanced and lacking polish, though has received more support since its release, but is generally considered an average game. The game's main character, Shelly "Bombshell" Harrison was based on a character cut from Duke Nukem Forever that was intended to be a female sidekick to Duke. The plan was for Bombshell to earn her name together with greats such as Duke Nukem, Caleb and Lo Wang. And it seems that Ion Maiden has come along to do just that.

Ion Maiden is technically a prequel to Bombshell, set in a futuristic cyberpunk-esque city called Neo DC. The setting heavily reminds me of Shrapnel City from Duke Nukem 1 and already I'm in love with the game. The level design and graphics ooze mid-90's charm and the level of detail is insane given it's using such an old engine. I especially love the colour palette of the game, which seems to focus on a mix of red and blue (possibly to symbolically reflect the heroine's police background). It's definitely on par if not surpassing the detail seen in Blood. The game also pulls some rather impressive scripted sequences that wouldn't look out of place in a Call of Duty game (albeit with the graphics of a mid-90's game engine), giving the game a very high explosive "Michael Bay" feel that I absolutely love.

The streets of Neo D.C.

Scope is really the key word of Ion Maiden. Instead of going for a linear "level to level" approach, the game is structured into multiple zones (with the preview campaign having only one zone) which could be considered the equivalent of an episode, except in this case you can go back and forth between the levels as you see fit, similar to games like Quake 2 and Half-Life. The game will warn you when you're about to enter a part of the zone that closes off the rest behind you though by warning you that there are still secrets left to find in the area if you haven't found all of them, a useful tip for OCD players like myself who want to find every secret before moving on and very much appreciated. This makes each zone feel like one big hub of levels, and given the size of some levels (especially level 2 of the preview campaign is an enormous level with impressively large buildings), it's safe to say the game's scope will be pretty big.

The game's weapon selection consists of what you'd expect. A melee weapon (Shelly's electric baton), a revolver (the Loverboy), a shotgun (the Disperser) and an automatic SMG (the SMG-9000) in addition to Shelly's signature bowling bombs (essentially heat-seeking grenades). All of the weapons feel really satisfying to fire, and i don't really have any complaints about them. The sound effects are really good as well and give that "oomph" feeling that I love about oldschool shooters.

Easter eggs and references galore

The game definitely does a great job at feeling like a lost game from 1995 that's been polished up. Shelly's character portrait constantly sits in the lower left corner, looking left and right while also becoming increasingly bloody and damaged as you receive damage, similar to games like Doom and Quake, a small detail that further emphasizes the game's mid-90's tone. Her one-liners are cool and ooze confidence and charisma and I'm happy to see Shelly's voice actress from Bombshell return here and given she doesn't really have to do any dramatic acting, she does a great job just spouting one-liners, which I think fits the character more than the amount of dialogue she was given in Bombshell.

Control-wise the game controls well, although some people have reported issues with the mouse aiming (a common issue with build engine games). If you have played other build engine games, you'll feel right at home in this game although interestingly the game does not have any inventory system like other Build games. You have an inventory for medkits but pretty much nothing else, which makes me wonder if there will be one in the full version.

The soundtrack is done entirely as mod music, which explains the game's low file size, but is generally really well done, sounding somewhat industrial and techno'y and perfectly fits the game's aesthetic.

Now to the negatives... the game is really unoptimized. Severely unoptimized even. Running in OpenGL mode, even with some of the performance tweaks the devs have listed on the Steam forums I ran into severe hitching/stuttering and the framerate going into slideshow territory repeatedly during gameplay, especially during heavily scripted sequences or just looking around certain parts of the levels (particurarily level 2). Running the game with the Classic renderer fixed most of these issues but the game still runs somewhat badly. I would attribute this to the fact the preview campaign is essentially a beta though and hope they will make it more stable in the full version. I also experienced the game crashing repeatedly on level 2 after playing for a while, though the devs are working on a fix for it.

So that was my thoughts on Ion Maiden. It's definitely an excellent game so far and is shaping up to stand up with other Build engine classics. My only concern really is the lack of optimization and the stuttering problem, but other than that, this is definitely a game to look forward to.

If you feel like supporting the development of this game or simply trying out the preview campaign for yourself, you can find the game on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/562860/Ion_Maiden

Cheers~ <3

PC Game Review: Call of Duty - Infinite Warfare

CALL OF DUTY: INFINITE WARFARE
Reviewed by Alyxx

Year: 2016
System: PC
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher. Activision
Genre: First person shooter


When I initially heard about Infinite Warfare I wasn't all that hyped about it. It seemed marketed as a bit of a "back to the basics" kind of game, but of course once I heard about the story taking place in space, I was on board completely, being the sci-fi nut that I am. Of course, for the same reason I can't say I have any kind of hype for the next Call of Duty going back to WWII, but I'm glad on behalf of the people who wanted it. It's just not my cup of tea and I really hope the next Call of Duty will stay in the future as I love seeing what these games can offer in terms of futuristic content. So without further ado, let's take a look at the latest and hopefully not last sci-fi installment in the ever-running Call of Duty series!


The Campaign

The graphics and locations in Infinite Warfare fully take advantage of the setting and provide some truly spectacular and gorgeous setpieces.

Infinite Warfare's story campaign centers on a singular character this time. Nick Reyes (Brian Bloom), a soldier who is fighting for Earth in a battle for the resources of the solar system, where a group of Martian colonists who calls themselves the Settlement Defense Front (SDF) are waging war on Earth, lead by the charismatic Salen Kotch (played by Kit Harrington). You soon become captain of the warship "Retribution", and join a crew who set out to drive back the SDF forces.
Your crew consists of the "brobot" E3N (affectionally called Ethan, voiced by Jeffrey Nordling), easily one of the most memorable and likeable robot characters in recent history, Admiral Fredrick Raines (played by John Marshall Jones) who is a mentor to Nick, Lieutenant Lora Salter (played by Jamie Gray Hyder) who is Nick's wingman, Staff Sergeant Usef Omar (David Harewood), Corporal Sean Brooks (Jason Barry) and Private Todd Kashima (Eric Ladin) who all assist Nick in some of the missions. The other notable crewmembers are the Navigator Victor "Gator" Diallo (Omid Abtahi), Captain Maureen Ferran (played by Claudia Christian, famous from Babylon 5), and Chief Engineer Audrey "Mac" MaCallum (Claudia Black).

For the first time in the series, the missions are laid out in a more non-linear structure where you actually get to choose if you want to do a side mission or a story mission. Although the story missions technically are more linear, and the side missions offer no real reward beyond some loadout options, it still helps give you some choices on what kind of mission you wanna do next and feels a bit progressive for the series.

Space combat is a lot of fun in Infinite Warfare, feeling reminiscent of classics like Wing Commander and Descent.

Some of the missions require you to pilot a space fighter in a style similar to Descent and Wing Commander, usually with the goal of either taking you to an objective or taking out enemy fighters and cruisers. It helps break up the gameplay and fits well with the sci-fi theme of the game. The fighter kinda moves a bit unrealistic in the sense you have absolute control of where the spacecraft is facing at all times using your mouse, which kinda gives it that same feeling of 360 degrees control from Descent. It's definitely a lot of fun playing these segments and it really did remind me of oldschool space shooters like the aforementioned Descent and Wing Commander and even Star Fox.

Otherwise the missions follow the typical Call of Duty structure where you go into large setpieces, and overall the campaign definitely feels like it has a ton of production value behind it. The series has always been known for its cinematic flair and it's really strong in this game with a lot of cutscenes feeling like it could belong in a big budget movie, especially with the stellar voice acting from the aforementioned cast, especially Brian Bloom as the protagonist Nick Reyes does a great job, and Claudia Christian is stellar in her role, who almost feels like she's playing the same role she did on Babylon 5. The badguy who's played by Kit Harrington sadly doesn't get nearly as much buildup and screentime as I would've liked, and by the time you get to fight him it kinda feels a little anticlimatic.

I also didn't like how there was no co-op option in the single player campaign, especially when Black Ops 3 had it. I mean, that would've made the campaign a lot more interesting to me and I think more Call of Duty games should offer co-op campaigns.
That being said, overall the campaign is an absolute blast, if not feeling a little short and it gets a little intense on the millitary stuff. I would've preferred a bit more focus on characters and character buildup, similar to Ghosts' focus on building up the characters and their relationship with the badguy. Infinite Warfare feels a bit like a rethread of Modern Warfare's focus on the military operations over the characters and the badguys being pretty lacking in character. While the badguys in this game, even the lesser ones obviously have had a lot of backstory put into them and even are given their own portraits, I feel this is all a bit wasted since none of it really matters in the final product.


The Multiplayer

I'm not gonna lie, finding people to play with in Infinite Warfare can be a problem sometimes. And this sucks because it's not really a problem with the game itself and more with people just not playing it. I think it's a shame because once you do get into a match, it still feels like Call of Duty and it's as fun and fast as it's ever been. Similar to Black Ops 3 you're offered different specialists to play, although this time they're called "rigs" and are essentially robots you control. I'm a bit iffed you're not able to play as a female, although you can give your rig a female voice. To me it just feels a bit lazy to not offer gender options.
Anyway, each of the rigs have their own set of abilities, and you can even choose between multiple abilities now, giving each rig 3 offensive and 3 tactical abilities, which gives a lot of variety to the gameplay. The rigs are also each focused on different playstyles, offering everything from raw speed to accuracy and stealth, which makes it feel like there's no stronger or weaker rig, all of them simply offer different boons to different playstyles, which gives incentive to mix it up now and then if you wanna try a different playstyle.
The weapons are a bit lacking in akimbo options, sad to say, but not as bad as Black Ops 3 thankfully. There are also a lot more weapon varieties to pick from, similar to Advanced Warfare and Black Ops 3 you can purchase supply drops from the Quartermaster using either in-game points or real life currency. Whether you're a fan of these microtransactions or not doesn't really matter to me since you can easily get most good gear just by saving up points. The chance you'll find a weapon that suits your playstyle and preference is really high.

Making custom emblems was unavailable at first, but paid off as it has a lot more options this time.

The modes on offer are Team Deathmatch, Free-for-all, Domination, Frontline, Defender, Gun Game, Infected and Ground War, with hardcore modes of TDM, FFA and a mosh-pit of several modes being available. Sadly only TDM seems to really have any players, if at all.
In addition to multiplayer there is also a Zombies mode, which has a bit of a throwback retro feel to it, with each episode taking place in different decades, with episode 1 taking place in an 80's fun fair, complete with a load of awesome 80's music. The second episode takes place in the 90's in a rave, and the third takes place in the 70's. The zombies mode is pretty much the same as it's always been and doesn't really offer anything new. It's fun in bursts but since I've never been any huge fan of this mode I can't really recommend getting the game just for this. However if you really like the zombies mode from previous installments this likely won't disappoint.



Graphics and Sound

Hey, I can see my house from here!

Call of Duty IW is an absolutely gorgeous game. It also runs very smoothly on PC and feels a lot better optimized than earlier titles. Some of the textures look a bit blurry up close, even on high settings but overall I think this is one of the best looking games in the franchise. The designs are also really cool and I especially love the locations and setpiece designs. My jaw dropped a bit on the first few levels of the game and the game never ceases to lose its cool factor all the way to the end, constantly throwing really large and impressive visuals at you. It really does feel like a bit of a rollercoaster ride at times and you'll definitely get your money's worth in this regard.
Sound-wise the game also really shines. The weapon sounds are really satisfying and beefy overall the sound design is really polished and well done. The music is not really memorable sadly but the music selection in the zombies mode is awesome with a ton of badass 80's tracks, including Every Day Is Halloween by Ministry among others.


Score
STORY: 7/10
Failed to engage me in some of the characters, and some uneven pacing made the story itself a bit mediocre, however the acting and variety in gameplay saved it for me.
CONTROLS: 8/10
Responsive for the most part although during some moments of the game it felt like the mouse sensitivity dropped for no reason, which was a bit annoying.
GRAPHICS: 10/10
Absolutely gorgeous. My jaw dropped multiple times during this game. I love the different locations and space just looks enormous as it should! Facial animations are stunning and makes it feel more like watching a movie at times than playing a game.
SOUND: 8/10
Sound design is excellent and the voice acting is stellar. Sadly the music is not that memorable and mostly feels like background noise but the music selection in the Zombies mode is excellent.

OVERALL SCORE: 8/10
Overall Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare doesn't deserve the hate it gets. It just happened to not be the game that the fans wanted, but personally I think it's still one of the better games in the franchise and like Ghosts I can't help but feel it's going to end up a bit underappreciated and underrated by the fans.

Top 10 Games of 2016

I feel I'm a bit late to the party but since I completely ditched doing a "best of 2015" list last year I feel I owe people a list of my favourite games from 2016. So... here we go!

10. RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER

Jaw-dropping vistas are still commonplace in Rise of the Tomb Raider...

2016 got off to a great start with this one, a highly anticipated game on my part as I've been a huge fan of the franchise ever since my childhood, practically growing up with Lara. While I still haven't finished it, all I can say is that so far it's been a pure joy to play, carrying over the gameplay style of the first game while still doing its own thing and having a story and atmosphere of its own. I also feel a ton of subtle hints to the classic games in here. My only complaint so far though is STILL NO DUAL WIELDING?! Stop teasing us, Square Enix and let Lara dual wield some pistols already!

9. FALLOUT 4

Billy Idol with an explosion behind him. Yeah, kinda obvious why this game still appeals to me!

While it technically launched in 2015, I still played a fuckload of Fallout 4 in 2016 as a lot of new DLC still came out for it and the mod scene pretty much exploded around the game. Being addictive as fuck, with a ton of stuff to explore and a lot of stuff to do, it's still an amazing game to play and all I can say is that I'll likely keep playing it for the next few years...

8. DUSK

Polygons so sharp they probably hurt.

Even if it's still in early access and beta, Dusk was an amazing game to play this year. It perfectly captures the look and gameplay of late 90's shooters such as Quake, Redneck Rampage, Half-Life and Blood. If you're at all a fan of those types of games, I highly recommend keeping an eye on this one!

7. RAD RODGERS: WORLD ONE

I'm admittedly a huge Interceptor fan at this point, and while their games aren't as polished as I'd like sometimes, they still deliver fun games that pay homage to the old days while still feeling fresh. So I feel like giving them two spots on the list this year. Rad Rodgers was a kickstarter game that is made in the spirit of classic Apogee run'n'gun platformers, and it's actually really good with a lot of humor and bright colorful graphics. The animation is also really good and I really love the synthwave soundtrack. I'm probably gonna write a full review of the game later on so stay tuned! Can't wait to see more coming from the guys at Apogee!

6. BATTLEBORN

While I did enjoy Overwatch this year I simply didn't get around to playing it much as I never bought it (I plan on maybe doing so later though). However, I did play a lot of Battleborn this year and in my opinion, it is the superior game in the FPS MOBA genre that seems to have taken off lately. Made by the team who brought us Borderlands, it offers a co-op campaign with pretty good writing in the same style as Borderlands and it honestly had me chuckling a lot and laughing out loud at certain things. I love the style of humor here and it feels very classic Gearbox. The versus mode is the only game mode I'm not a particular fan of, and my recommendation is to just play the game with a few friends.

5. BOMBSHELL

Bombshell had been teased for a while by Interceptor. Starting out as a Duke Nukem action RPG, after losing the rights to the IP, Interceptor instead decided to do their own thing and make a new IP. Bombshell had been a concept character for Duke Nukem Forever, where she would pretty much act as a female sidekick that ended up on the scrapping floor. So it was decided that she would now get her own game. Bombshell is an isometric shooter and while it is marketed as an action RPG, the RPG part is kinda lackluster. But if you go into it expecting a solid overhead shooter, you can definitely get some fun out of it. While it had some lukewarm reviews on launch, the game has since been patched a lot and most of the issues have been fixed.

4. CALL OF DUTY: INFINITE WARFARE

Space ace!

When I heard there was going to be a Call of Duty in space, I was kind of unsure what to feel, but after seeing the trailers I was sold on the concept. And boy, Infinite Warfare did deliver and not disappoint! I'm eventually going to write a whole review for the game so I won't say too much here except that the game is probably the best CoD campaign so far and the multiplayer is solid as fuck with great controls and some of my favourite guns so far.

3. SHADOW WARRIOR 2

Explosive orgasm...?

Flying Wild Hog did an amazing reboot of the Shadow Warrior franchise back in 2014 and it didn't take long for them to start working on a sequel. While I haven't completed it yet, Shadow Warrior 2 is an amazing game so far that carries over what made the first game great and pretty much improves on it. If you're not into the Serious Sam style of shooters, then this is probably not gonna be your cup of tea or win you over in any way, but if you liked the first Shadow Warrior, then this is a must-have. Helps that you can also play it co-op!

2. DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED 

The future, now with anti-gravity refridgerators...

Ever since Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I had been eagerly awaiting a sequel. And while The Fall offered a temporary fix for my Deus Ex cravings, Mankind Divided eventually did deliver the full package. While the story feels cut a bit short, and the addition of microtransactions is a bit confusing and frustrating, there's no denying the game is solid as balls (of steel even) and I have no problem recommending this game. It offered pretty much everything I wanted out of a Deus Ex game and then some.

1. DOOM

Giant pillars of light in the sky is usually a bad sign in a FPS...

There's just no other game that could be the game of the year for me. Pretty much taking Doom 3's "horror" approach and shoving it into the ditch and burying it with a dirty shovel, DOOM 2016 is just fucking DOOM. It brings back the badass protagonist with the double barrel shotgun, and strangely enough gives him more personality than most FPS protagonists these days without a single line of dialogue. DOOM, like Shadow Warrior 2, goes the Serious Sam route where you go from room to room, clearing out waves of enemies in a brilliant ballet of death, ripping and tearing enemies to shreds. I was a bit unsure about the game to begin with but after playing it, I was won over quickly. Add an amazingly cool industrial soundtrack and a self-aware tongue-in-cheek story that doesn't take itself too seriously, and you have easily my favourite game this year.