A.W.O.L. is a first-person, mil-spec shooter developed using the Build engine (Duke Nukem 3D, Ion Fury).
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It started off with being very interesting, but unfortunately the longer I played the worse it got. Game started lagging at incredibly weird moments, often locking my framerate to 30-40fps for no reason. Story was incredibly hard to follow not only because the time given for the windows with text was too short but also a lot the Dialogue was happening when I was shooting around with the enemies, and it was Impossible to read anything. AI is incredibly bad, can't count how many times the AI teammates that are following us start shooting random things for absolutely no reason and won't stop until they move away or get hurt by something. If you can't make something work, why even add it to the game? Only lowers the experience quality.
Really impressive game for the build engine.
I really appreciated the attempt at making a more tactical shooter in an engine really never designed for it.
Only major issue was the big open Dubai level which was too easy to get lost in. story was also a little hard to follow as much of it is given via text dialogue during gameplay which is hard to shoot and read at the same time.
And I would have light a slightly longer campaign but it's free so cant really complain about that.
I really appreciated the attempt at making a more tactical shooter in an engine really never designed for it.
Only major issue was the big open Dubai level which was too easy to get lost in. story was also a little hard to follow as much of it is given via text dialogue during gameplay which is hard to shoot and read at the same time.
And I would have light a slightly longer campaign but it's free so cant really complain about that.
i could not tell you a single thing about this plot they were speaking mumbo jumbo
This review contains spoilers
Gonna start off by saying this game isn't perfect; gonna start with the bad and then move onto the good. I'll start the bad off with this; I have no clue what's going on in the story, truth be told it wasn't really memorable to begin with and I suppose most Build Engine shooters don't really have these giant narratives, it mostly just ends up being "Kill s h i t, here's an excuse" which is cool but if you're going in expecting a plot, good luck.
Next up is the AI, specifically for your teammates. Your teammates are dumber than a sack of d i c k s tbh, sometimes just for comedic effect. The amount of times these dumb a s s holes decide to jump off a cliff or a tall building is hilarious, and luckily there's no mission failed for it since they always reappear later on anyways. And controlling them is...I don't really notice a difference between the "Aggressive" and "Defensive" options, they just kinda wing it which is strange because I kinda take this to be a Tactical FPS game. As for enemy AI specifically, I don't really have any complaints except with the Drones in Dubai, those I hope get curb stomped because they're annoying as hell and It was hard for me to even spot them sometimes.
As for weapons, the only complaint I have is that the Shotgun for some reason every now and then wouldn't work. No clue as to why tbh.
And finally, I'll finish the bad and start with the good here. The level design sometimes is a bit obtuse, mostly in Dubai where it's massive (unlike my p e n i s) compared to other games in the build engine. Like it's amazing how impressive in scale this level is and how cool the other levels are. That being said, I'll just admit that I suck at navigation and at least for Dubai I just ended up noclipping to the end after having no clue as to what I was doing. I also wasn't a fan of the stealth section where you sneak out of your cell but eh I guess.
Weapons feel great for the most part, the sound design for them is immaculate, honestly can't complain about the rest of them for the most part. It feels good to shoot and when you pull off taking out a room full of generic military goons you feel like you actually know what you're doing. And truth is I feel like that's where the strength lies, and it carries the game on it's back.
I also want to point this out, the game is free. You can literally just pick it up and play and if you don't like it you don't ever have to feel like you wasted any money, it's great. So with it being free, I don't really feel like I have much in the way to nitpick it because I didn't invest much of anything other than hard drive space to play it. It's also short, I clocked in at 4.5 hours so honestly I can't really complain about the brief length of time either cause I prefer smaller games to games that outstay they're welcome.
Pros:
Impressive level design
Sound design is great
Shooting feels very rewarding
It's free
Can choose between wanting to be more "Action heroey" or "Tactical shooter"
Short run time
Cons:
Characters and plot not memorable but that's hit or miss with these games anyways
Level design, while impressive, can be confusing (looking at you Dubai)
Friendly AI sucks
The drones can eat my s h i t (looking at you AGAIN Dubai)
Overall this is all I can think of for this game, it's good and I enjoy it. An 80 Percent rating is pretty accurate in my opinion but again it's also free so if you're a fan of Build Engine shooters I don't see why you wouldn't pick up this game. Just be aware that it should be polished up a bit.
From Steam Reviews: https://steamcommunity.com/id/gamemast15r/recommended/
Next up is the AI, specifically for your teammates. Your teammates are dumber than a sack of d i c k s tbh, sometimes just for comedic effect. The amount of times these dumb a s s holes decide to jump off a cliff or a tall building is hilarious, and luckily there's no mission failed for it since they always reappear later on anyways. And controlling them is...I don't really notice a difference between the "Aggressive" and "Defensive" options, they just kinda wing it which is strange because I kinda take this to be a Tactical FPS game. As for enemy AI specifically, I don't really have any complaints except with the Drones in Dubai, those I hope get curb stomped because they're annoying as hell and It was hard for me to even spot them sometimes.
As for weapons, the only complaint I have is that the Shotgun for some reason every now and then wouldn't work. No clue as to why tbh.
And finally, I'll finish the bad and start with the good here. The level design sometimes is a bit obtuse, mostly in Dubai where it's massive (unlike my p e n i s) compared to other games in the build engine. Like it's amazing how impressive in scale this level is and how cool the other levels are. That being said, I'll just admit that I suck at navigation and at least for Dubai I just ended up noclipping to the end after having no clue as to what I was doing. I also wasn't a fan of the stealth section where you sneak out of your cell but eh I guess.
Weapons feel great for the most part, the sound design for them is immaculate, honestly can't complain about the rest of them for the most part. It feels good to shoot and when you pull off taking out a room full of generic military goons you feel like you actually know what you're doing. And truth is I feel like that's where the strength lies, and it carries the game on it's back.
I also want to point this out, the game is free. You can literally just pick it up and play and if you don't like it you don't ever have to feel like you wasted any money, it's great. So with it being free, I don't really feel like I have much in the way to nitpick it because I didn't invest much of anything other than hard drive space to play it. It's also short, I clocked in at 4.5 hours so honestly I can't really complain about the brief length of time either cause I prefer smaller games to games that outstay they're welcome.
Pros:
Impressive level design
Sound design is great
Shooting feels very rewarding
It's free
Can choose between wanting to be more "Action heroey" or "Tactical shooter"
Short run time
Cons:
Characters and plot not memorable but that's hit or miss with these games anyways
Level design, while impressive, can be confusing (looking at you Dubai)
Friendly AI sucks
The drones can eat my s h i t (looking at you AGAIN Dubai)
Overall this is all I can think of for this game, it's good and I enjoy it. An 80 Percent rating is pretty accurate in my opinion but again it's also free so if you're a fan of Build Engine shooters I don't see why you wouldn't pick up this game. Just be aware that it should be polished up a bit.
From Steam Reviews: https://steamcommunity.com/id/gamemast15r/recommended/
A.W.O.L. is an ambitious game that tries to create a more tactical military experience with the Build engine. Well, at least on paper. It's a pretty well made project, especially for a free game, but I didn't find that the experience was really "tactical" at all. It feels more like a classic boomer shooter in which you have to find colored key cards, but with a slower pace and the ability to aim down sight or throw grenades.
I think the main problem is the AI. Both the enemies and your teammates seem completely braindead, and it doesn't offer the slow-paced military experience that the devs tried to recreate (I think?).
The levels look good in general. I especially like the smaller levels in which you have to infiltrate an enemy base and eradicate all terrorists inside, or sabotage their equipment.
But there are also some bad levels, especially the Dubai mission which is easily the worst one. Granted, it's very impressive to create such a massive level with the Build engine. But it drags on faaaar too long and the level design is a confusing mess. The drones are super annoying to fight, and there are way too many elevators that take forever to move. (I don't exaggerate, there is one that takes a whole minute!)
Also the music in that level was very bad. In general, the music in the game is... weird? They often sound like a joke and don't match the serious tone of the game.
The story and characters are very cheesy, which is fine. That's part of the charm of an indie project. Although I'm not a big fan when developers put references that are too obvious. I'm a big fan of Max Payne, and the developers apparently are too. But I rolled my eyes with that MP reference.
I think the main problem is the AI. Both the enemies and your teammates seem completely braindead, and it doesn't offer the slow-paced military experience that the devs tried to recreate (I think?).
The levels look good in general. I especially like the smaller levels in which you have to infiltrate an enemy base and eradicate all terrorists inside, or sabotage their equipment.
But there are also some bad levels, especially the Dubai mission which is easily the worst one. Granted, it's very impressive to create such a massive level with the Build engine. But it drags on faaaar too long and the level design is a confusing mess. The drones are super annoying to fight, and there are way too many elevators that take forever to move. (I don't exaggerate, there is one that takes a whole minute!)
Also the music in that level was very bad. In general, the music in the game is... weird? They often sound like a joke and don't match the serious tone of the game.
The story and characters are very cheesy, which is fine. That's part of the charm of an indie project. Although I'm not a big fan when developers put references that are too obvious. I'm a big fan of Max Payne, and the developers apparently are too. But I rolled my eyes with that MP reference.
What if Call of Duty were a Build engine game? A.W.O.L. is an interesting but very very rough free game with a well realized arsenal of weapons and levels that range from overly linear to pathologically labyrinthine.
There is some fun to be had in its intense firefights, though its true potential is held back by the spongy enemies (aiming for the head is a must in order to take them down before they melt your health away) and the half baked stealth element: what is the point of implementing a concealment system using tall grass and trees to avoid detection when the game provides no suppressed weapon to take the enemies down silently? There is a backstab move and a very, very low quantity of throwing knives, but that's simply not enough to allow for any kind of covert approach to the levels.
The game features Rainbow Six Vegas-style squad commands, with three invincible idiots following you around and whom you can order to be stealthy or aggressive depending on the situation. Unfortunately these squadmates are extremely ineffective in combat and have such poor pathfinding to rival my buddy Superfly from John Romero's Daikatana, making them a liability more than any kind of resource. You'll be wishing you could turn them off completely.
The visuals are excellent, with good looking levels, voxels and weapon sprites, but the music is an abomination I turned off in one particularly egregious moment and forgot to turn back on, never regretting it.
There is also a super basic and yet absurdly overwritten story that will be told at you via text boxes covering up half the screen while you're trying to play. These interminable plot dumps are not only unwelcome, but also impossible to follow, since they scroll past way too quickly for anyone to read them, which is a problem in common with the comic book-style cutscenes, which speed away so quickly it's impossible to make any sense of what's going on. Luckily these can be skipped and the in-game messages can be turned off entirely, as not to get in the way of the action.
There is enough good stuff here that with a few more tweaks, like less accurate, less spongy enemies, better stealth and the ability to actually aim and fire while leaning around corners, this could potentially become a really fun game.
There is some fun to be had in its intense firefights, though its true potential is held back by the spongy enemies (aiming for the head is a must in order to take them down before they melt your health away) and the half baked stealth element: what is the point of implementing a concealment system using tall grass and trees to avoid detection when the game provides no suppressed weapon to take the enemies down silently? There is a backstab move and a very, very low quantity of throwing knives, but that's simply not enough to allow for any kind of covert approach to the levels.
The game features Rainbow Six Vegas-style squad commands, with three invincible idiots following you around and whom you can order to be stealthy or aggressive depending on the situation. Unfortunately these squadmates are extremely ineffective in combat and have such poor pathfinding to rival my buddy Superfly from John Romero's Daikatana, making them a liability more than any kind of resource. You'll be wishing you could turn them off completely.
The visuals are excellent, with good looking levels, voxels and weapon sprites, but the music is an abomination I turned off in one particularly egregious moment and forgot to turn back on, never regretting it.
There is also a super basic and yet absurdly overwritten story that will be told at you via text boxes covering up half the screen while you're trying to play. These interminable plot dumps are not only unwelcome, but also impossible to follow, since they scroll past way too quickly for anyone to read them, which is a problem in common with the comic book-style cutscenes, which speed away so quickly it's impossible to make any sense of what's going on. Luckily these can be skipped and the in-game messages can be turned off entirely, as not to get in the way of the action.
There is enough good stuff here that with a few more tweaks, like less accurate, less spongy enemies, better stealth and the ability to actually aim and fire while leaning around corners, this could potentially become a really fun game.