Every now and then a game comes out that is so awful and so terrible you are lost for words.
Shootmania debuted in June presented by ultra-popular Youtuber Toby Turner and a representative from Ubisoft. It was presented as an eSport platform.
They presented an eSports viewer that seemingly does not exist. Upon death you get this odd little view where it is centered on the map. You never seem to be able to follow people’s first person cams and generally get awful vision.
So right off the bat the game fails on what it is sold for, eSports.
But there comes more problems with the design.
#1. Two Hit Kill
Being two hit killed means that you die very quickly. Without it regenerating the goal of the game becomes killing as many people as possible as opposed to preventing death.
Without a way to regenerate health in any way it removes the strategic element to being a shooter and emphasizes too much just randomly firing each other.
#2. Bad Map Designs
In a game where you have only two hits you would expect to have some completely awesome escape routes available. Instead most maps lack a lot of walls and allow for you to be flanked too easily.
In my gameplay experience tunnels represented a problematic scenario. Basically upon entering a tunnel it meant you could be targeted from two sides through a narrow corridor in which it was very easy for you to get hit.
It’s not like pushing someone into a tunnel is even a strategic move since it just opens yourself up to getting killed or having your kill stolen by someone else.
There’s also all sorts of odd triggers. One can launch you in the air so that it’s just a little off of getting to where you want to go without specifically timing a jump.
Another makes you move super fast in which it runs you into a narrow corridor… once again no real strategic advantage there. Possible that you could use it for running away… but it just allows you to run away while running into someone else.
#3. Customization
A big sell on this game is that you can build maps and eventually if maps become popular enough they can become official maps.
But besides this it’s amazing how little development went into customization of load outs. After playing for four hours I was given a global ranking, but no access to different weapons… just the same stupid rail gun. If I played the 3v1 mode I’d get a rocket launcher.
It seems weird that a modern shooter would launch without having more than one stupid weapon. And I do mean stupid. It feels like you are just shooting people with laser dodgeballs with how little they shoot.
There are no grenades or secondary weapons.
It might as well just be Portal with how little options you have with your weapon. But truthfully even the Portal Gun allowed you to do more than this.
Overall I feel the game is priced appropriately because there really isn’t much to this game. If the mega game producer Ubisoft wasn’t behind this it wouldn’t have any sales or any fans. It’s a game no one asked for… and no one will be playing after a month.
It’s the beginning of shooters month and it’s time to look into those games that I just have been ignoring over and over and over.
Here is a game that I purchased for $5 on Steam. Upon buying it I was given a copy of the game to give a friend. A week later I was given a second copy to play with a friend. So basically after I bought this I got 3 copies for the price of one. But I can only play one copy, so this review is looking at that base price of $5.
The Brief: Nuclear Dawn
The most successful development tool kit in the history of gaming is no doubt Valve’s Source Engine. Using the Valve Source Engine people were able to modify Half Life 2’s game files to unlock brand new multiplayer and creative game modes that became increasingly popular.
One that wasn’t increasingly popular was Nuclear Dawn. The game much like Team Fortress 2 was a team game with roles. The game was set in a future world and developers were hard at work to try and push this one out.
The development cycle for Nuclear Dawn was terrible and it’s release date was much later than the wave of great Valve games. Many felt it fit under the category of “vaporware.” Vaporware is an accusation that there was no intent in releasing the product. Basically a company releases claims to the media about what the game will do… and then they don’t work on the project. This sort of cycle is actually illegal in the United States… but is rarely taken seriously.
When Nuclear Dawn was released it did alright, but not great. Valve has really been pushing the purchase of this game due to it using the Source Engine… and much like most engine developers they get a cut from the profits.
The game was released in late 2011 and currently sells at $10 a pop. Interestingly if you buy three copies for your friends you get one copy for free….
Synopsis
Upon loading up Nuclear Dawn and starting playing you will immediately think that it is just another simple shooter.
You would be wrong.
Nuclear Dawn is closer to a game like Planetside 2 than it is to a game like Call of Duty.
The game only has a multiplayer. As I write this on March 2nd, 2013 there is an active community playing between 3-10pm PST on weekends and it’s relatively easy to find a game and jump in and play. As far as I can see there are only a few active servers in the game. This means you’re looking at about 100-200 people playing this game daily.
So with that in mind purchasing this game will get play value, at least for now.
Upon loading up the game you can just jump in by hitting the play button.
If you want to up the graphics quality and sound quality it’s all in the options…. just a little harder to find. The game uses an older menu style that presumed people were bad with graphics settings. However instead of having the standard “Low, Medium, High” graphics settings you just get an “Advanced Graphics Settings” button. There are no quick settings. You have to individually select all of the settings that are appropriate for you.
After getting beyond this stage of the game you can jump in and play.
There are basically two game modes that people will play.
The first is skirmishing. This is basically the same as any old first person shooter. You move around the map and you kill people until your team total is high enough.
The second mode is destroy the command bunker. Both players get a command bunker and each team has to work together to destroy the enemy’s bunker.
This task sounds simple enough, but now would be a good time to talk about the various classes.
The game sports 4 basic classes. The first is an assault all damage class, the second is a heavy guns class dealing with rockets and gattling guns, the third is a stealthy assassin class, and the fourth is a support class.
From here each class can specialize into a sub-class. As an example an assault class might become a grenadier and sport explosive damage weapons or a shotgun for close range weapons.
Most importantly are your support classes which can build structures. Structures include power plants to power these structures, ammo/health regen stations, turrets, and closer respawn points. These become especially important far later as you will need every advantage moving forward.
The ammo/regen stations are made especially important by the fact that every class only gets 3 rounds of ammo.
At a macro level you must collect points around the map to gain resources to build structures. So as a team you will move around and collect points to provide income for your support.
At an individual level there is a very basic leveling system that resets every match. This is important for ending stalemate scenarios caused by turtling. Each character after gaining so many kills, kill assists, captures, building damage, or building creation will gain experience that can be spent on health and damage upgrades.
At a different level there is an active leveling system in which your character can go from Level 1 to Level 100 and unlock new ammo types and “gizmos.”
Strengths
Streamlined Controls
Commander System
Class Balance
The game controls are so insanely similar to every other game that no one should ever have a problem jumping into it. However if you don’t, on your first play of every single class they’ll introduce you to every single aspect of it as it comes up.
The game also features a “commander” for the field of battle. This person is elected at the start of the match and will take control of your team and instruct everyone on how exactly they should be playing. This makes learning tactics a far simpler than most shooter games. If your commander sucks and you feel that you could do a better job you have an opportunity to create a Mutiny and depose him via a new vote. People will of course look at your Level to decide.
All things being said the balance of classes in the game is great. When jumping in you get this impression. All of the classes have their niche and they all do it very well. At first I thought the assault should clearly be the top of the leader board, but upon looking I saw a variation of who was on top. The game doesn’t value kill totals like some other FPS games it values team work… and rewards that effectively. 10 points for a kill, 30 points for a capture.
Weaknesses
No Gun Customization
Really Long Games
Poor User Interface
For a game released a little over a year ago you would expect it to keep on par with the video game industry. I’m not expecting a AAA game to be released by an indie developer, but something maybe. Each class gets 3 gun setups to choose from. You cannot customize these more than changing the ammo type. This means you are stuck with the same prototype weapons forever.
Don’t play this game if you don’t have hours to sink into it. A game can (and has) go as long as an hour to reach a conclusion. Unlike in a lot of shooters in which if you’re losing people will just lose fast the game gives an incentive to turtle resisting so that if you are being overpowered you will do better for “surviving” over “thriving.”
My final complaint about this game rests in the very poor interface. Everything is ungodly. The map often illustrates multi-floored buildings and it becomes impossible to figure out where entrances and exits are. Trying to mute a player through their VOIP system is insanely difficult and there’s not a really great space to indicate how much ammunition you have left.
Concluding Thoughts
Nuclear Dawn isn’t a great game. It wouldn’t even pass as a good game. It is a run of the mill shooter game that no one ought to buy.
It promises to merge strategy and shooter into a genre. This is a promise it largely fails to provide.
When I was installing my new video card I forgot to install the drivers. Dumbly I deleted Steam and re-installed it thinking there was a problem… when in reality it was my drivers. So I was stuck dumbly re-installing all my games. I needed something to play for a day. I looked at my 8-Bit titles and found one called “Jamestown.”
You know, I don’t think I even paid for this game. At a normal price of $9.99 free was hard to turn down… in fact I couldn’t. This game was forced on me. On sale it generally goes for $2.
So let’s pretend this review is based around a $2 purchase.
The Brief: The Shooter
Today when you think of a shooter you think of a first person 3d shooter. It is weird to think that shooters at one time were divided into “top down” and “side scrolling.”
These days you might not even consider anything a shooter but a first person shooter. You don’t even mention that it’s “3d” these days.
But it is important to have some standards and identify shooter classifications.
Shooters come in two formats, 2D and 3D.
2D shooters are divided into side scrolling shooters and top down shooters.
Side scrolling shooters are those in which the screen moves from left to right and you aim at enemies while moving through platforms.
I shoot you with pine cones!
A top down shooter can come in many formats.
Any-direction shooters often involve moving around a map or a zone with fluidic control of which direction you are shooting.
Up facing top down shooters are those in which you can only go up and must hit targets while you are being forced in an upward direction. Jamestown is one of these.
The other type of top down shooter is one in which you are forced to go from left to right and much like the up facing top down shooter you must kill enemies.
When you get into 3d shooters there are two types.
The first type is the first person shooter in which the perspective is from the vision of a person.
The second type is third person shooter in which you can see who you are supposed to be but you are still in a 3-dimensional world.
Good, now we can move on.
Synopsis
The year is 1614 and it is the famous Battle of Jamestown. The British colonial powers are being invaded by the Spanish on all flanks and the British must reinforce their colonies to defend them.
You travel to the peaceful new world…. on Mars. War breaks out at Jamestown, Mars and you are forced into a (space) ship to do battle with the evil Martians and Spaniards who are assaulting Mars.
Through out the game there are visions of British and Spanish soldiers doing battle below you, all the while you are dealing with those pesky Martians.
The game has six levels total. These range in difficulty from Normal to Impossible.
The game has an odd progression style. Basically after beating the first three levels you have to do a higher level difficulty to unlock the next. After unlocking that one you have to finish all available missions on another harder difficulty. After defeating that one… same thing for next. As you progress you begin to lose difficulty ratings and you’re stuck with only the hardest modes possible.
OH GOD!!
The game is co-op which is a plus. There is no network connection… which is a negative. On PC you can have one person using a gamer pad (or 4) and one person using a keyboard and mouse. However being a loser who is used to network connections, I did not invite anyone over to play.
Before a level you can choose which ship you want to use. There are eight ships total, you start off with two. Each ship is unlocked by purchasing it with money, which is rewarded at the end of each mission.
Money can also be used to purchase an alternative story line and challenge modes.
Challenge modes offer moderate replay value. One challenge I ran into was “Survive 15 Seconds.” Well that doesn’t sound so hard… I thought. 2 seconds later… I’m dead.
Each ship comes with two weapons, the main firing weapon and a secondary feature. Having different ships is a welcome shift in this particular genre. Each ship has its strengths and weaknesses… which works really well with friends…. I wish I had friends.
A third option is to gain a super power, everyone gets the same one. After collecting so many coins you can use them to create a small weak shield and all of your abilities get increased damage… sounds like something useful for a boss. There is also an achievement for not using this at all.
Strengths
Addictive
Ship Selection
I found this game really hard to put down. I really felt like playing every single level and trying with every single ship just to see if I can hit up a high score. It is most definitely a casual game designed to jump in at any time.
I really enjoyed this ship with the giant red ball
The ship selection is a welcome twist to a familiar formula. In most of these games they are made super hard and you get your weapons as you are playing. In this one you get your weapons pre-emptively and you can play around with different styles per level. It also helps in team play with different people having different firing mechanisms, one guy can be a boss killer, one guy can have spread shot, and another can pad damage and get high points (like a boss).
Weaknesses
Poor XBLA Port
Forced Replay
I found throughout the game there were a lot of atrocious graphical errors. Sometimes I didn’t have a ship. Sometimes the boss was just a giant white thing. It kind of reminded me that this game was originally released on the Xbox Live Arcade and was not really a PC game.
This just doesn’t seem like an acceptable boss….
The feature I most hated about the game was how you were forced to replay older missions on harder difficulties in order to finish the game. Honestly, I was happy just trying to finish the game on Normal first and then going back over and doing it on the hardest difficulty. But no the game made me slowly progress my way up doing every single mission five times.
Concluding Thoughts
If you have to choose between an XBLA game and the PC one, choose XBLA. At the discount price of $2 it’s hard to be hard on this game. It has many shortcomings and will represent a solid three hours of play from you. Some of this is forced on you due to unlocking levels.
Honestly I wouldn’t buy it alone though. If it’s offered as part of a bundle of sorts it might be more worthwhile, but it’s honestly not even worth your time.
TheGameGuru.Me 