Played on: PC
This is a game from the makers of Severed Steel, which is another movement focused FPS that is very difficult. This one takes the idea of Severed Steel and turns it into an open world game and also adds co-op, which unfortunately I can’t cover in this review.
I’ll say the story is very basic. You crash land on planet, take out mercenaries along the way. These mercenaries have stolen some ancient tech, which you work with a mysterious voice to gather again to defeat mercenaries. There’s some combat while just traversing, but mainly you’re going between points triggering scans that you have to defeat a certain number of enemies to complete. These scans along with other upgrades in the world give you new abilities. Some of these abilities are progression focused, while others are just cool or useful skills needed to progress only in the sense that otherwise the game will be too difficult.
I already mentioned the game is challenging, and a lot of this has to do with the emphasis on movement. Basically you have a hoverboard to ride through the world, which is very cool, but in order to avoid dying in my experience you need to almost constantly ride it during encounters. This constant movement makes aiming and shooting a lot harder. This results in a combination of fumbling about chaotically, and actually pulling off some cool shots. I will say I adjusted the difficulty towards the end as I wanted to wrap up.
Now you might read that previous comment and think I didn’t enjoy the game. That certainly isn’t true, I was very excited when this game was announced as I wanted something more in the vein of Severed Steel, and they delivered. However, that chaos during combat is something I hope they manage to refine. In both games it can take a few tries because control is just very hard. My favorite FPS is Titanfall, and I love it not just for its mechs but its movement options. In that game, I felt very much in control. I am hoping that the devs can strike that same balance of fast-paced action with precise control in future titles, as they’re not quite there. That being said, for anyone who wants a shooter that keeps the action coming, this is certainly one to try.
Verdict
Play