Unexpected gem. At first though, I was really not into it. I knew the marketing around this game being retro was misleading, but I still didn't expect that to imply I'd have to go through a dragged out tutorialized chapter full of QTEs and story beats that I doubt anyone cares for, with some of that carrying over to the rest. But due to my bestie's recommendation and assurance that it gets better, I kept going.
Once that's over you'll find the game still isn't very retro, it doesn't play like any older FPS I can think of, you sprint, reload and aim down sights. Only thing connecting this to the old times is an arcade like scoring system.
This however turns out to be a fairly unique game on its own, the scoring system is called skillshots and rewards you with points for meeting different criteria while killing enemies, doing a new skillshot granting you bonus points. This ends up encouraging you to vary up your playstyle a bit, and combined with the quick kicks and leashing, essentially a grappling hook for reeling enemies in, and the different guns all having different skillshots, combat encounters pick up the pace really quickly.
Another aspect of this game's balancing is the dropkits, you won't get too much ammo from dead enemies or pickups so you will need to rack up points both to upgrade your guns and to keep your ammo up when running low unless you're super efficient. Near the end of the game you'll probably be able to afford whatever you need, but it kept me on my toes a fair bit while building up to it as I was playing on hard difficulty.
Presentationwise, this game is surprisingly good looking. You mostly fight nasty enemies that are either mutated freaks or humans gone insane, but you also get to see really nice views of cool looking deserts, caves, ran down cities, etc. And what you see up in your face is often pretty detailed. The guns are well designed, and the music while nothing especial fits the game.
Storywise, this is just dumb. Typical revenge story with some basic character dynamics, with characters overtly swearing like this was written by an edgy teenager, making serious moments kinda hard to take seriously as overall the game isn't really going there. However this is where I should mention that I played this with the Duke Nukem Tour DLC on, and let me tell you, it makes up for any shortcoming in the story. Yes, he replaces the main character in an awkward way and nobody else re-recorded their lines to call him Duke instead of Gray, but even so this feels like such an appropiate environment to throw Duke in and being able to listen to a surprisingly good rendition of him (So, not DNF) made up for the parts of the game that annoyed me, especially the slow start.
This is overall a game that isn't quite like anything else I know of and I'm surprised that the same studio that made Painkiller, a game with some of the most average FPS gameplay I've touched, managed to create this. It is very enjoyable once you get past the first hurdle and somehow a forced inclusion of Duke Nukem just elevates it more. I recommend it to anyone that enjoys a fast action shooter. Really wish a sequel or spiritual successor happens, I want more like this, but seeing the studio's output I'm not getting my hopes up from their part.
Once that's over you'll find the game still isn't very retro, it doesn't play like any older FPS I can think of, you sprint, reload and aim down sights. Only thing connecting this to the old times is an arcade like scoring system.
This however turns out to be a fairly unique game on its own, the scoring system is called skillshots and rewards you with points for meeting different criteria while killing enemies, doing a new skillshot granting you bonus points. This ends up encouraging you to vary up your playstyle a bit, and combined with the quick kicks and leashing, essentially a grappling hook for reeling enemies in, and the different guns all having different skillshots, combat encounters pick up the pace really quickly.
Another aspect of this game's balancing is the dropkits, you won't get too much ammo from dead enemies or pickups so you will need to rack up points both to upgrade your guns and to keep your ammo up when running low unless you're super efficient. Near the end of the game you'll probably be able to afford whatever you need, but it kept me on my toes a fair bit while building up to it as I was playing on hard difficulty.
Presentationwise, this game is surprisingly good looking. You mostly fight nasty enemies that are either mutated freaks or humans gone insane, but you also get to see really nice views of cool looking deserts, caves, ran down cities, etc. And what you see up in your face is often pretty detailed. The guns are well designed, and the music while nothing especial fits the game.
Storywise, this is just dumb. Typical revenge story with some basic character dynamics, with characters overtly swearing like this was written by an edgy teenager, making serious moments kinda hard to take seriously as overall the game isn't really going there. However this is where I should mention that I played this with the Duke Nukem Tour DLC on, and let me tell you, it makes up for any shortcoming in the story. Yes, he replaces the main character in an awkward way and nobody else re-recorded their lines to call him Duke instead of Gray, but even so this feels like such an appropiate environment to throw Duke in and being able to listen to a surprisingly good rendition of him (So, not DNF) made up for the parts of the game that annoyed me, especially the slow start.
This is overall a game that isn't quite like anything else I know of and I'm surprised that the same studio that made Painkiller, a game with some of the most average FPS gameplay I've touched, managed to create this. It is very enjoyable once you get past the first hurdle and somehow a forced inclusion of Duke Nukem just elevates it more. I recommend it to anyone that enjoys a fast action shooter. Really wish a sequel or spiritual successor happens, I want more like this, but seeing the studio's output I'm not getting my hopes up from their part.