 |
|
| | Title:
Gene Troopers
..............................................
System:
Xbox
..............................................
Genre:
Action
..............................................
Publisher:
Playlogic International
..............................................
Developer:
Cauldron Ltd.
..............................................
Release:
December 13, 2005
..............................................
Online:
Yes
..............................................
ESRB:
Mature
..............................................
 |
Playlogic and Cauldron are looking to bring gamers a top-notch first person shooter action title with role playing elements. Players step into the shoes of troopers who are bred for war...built to fight...and made to deliver 100% butt-kicking, gun-totting action. No, I’m not talking about the Halo guy. This time around Master Chief is taking a seat in the bleachers, as players engage in this science-fiction, action-adventure, RPG hybrid. In Playlogic’s Gene Troopers, players will become a genetically enhanced, war-hungry fighting machine, out to save the universe from certain assimilation.
Universe worth fighting for
In Gene Troopers, players take on the role of a character who’s been captured by an elite group of battle-soldiers, conveniently known as Gene Troopers. The Gene Troopers purpose is to scour the galaxies within the known universe and gather gene data from selected specimen. Once gathered, the Gene Troopers use the data in a gene transformation device, that changes the life-form into a loyal, and battle-ready, Gene Trooper.
However, rebels fighting against the alien-assimilators manage to free you, before you were completely turned into a full-fledged Gene Trooper. So, like any pissed-off human who’s just been given amazing and powerful abilities unwilling...you’ll have to battle and destroy the evil outer-worldly creatures, with a number of different guns and vehicles, across various planets, and with the help from a bunch of different characters.
Decorating the interior
While physically, the player has undergone a massive change with upgraded skills and abilities, there’s actually still room for individual improvements. The game works as a first-person shooter, and on the level of developing the character like an RPG. Certain abilities or skills that players have can be increased or level-upped by acquiring experience points from downed enemies (also known as DNA points). Some of you are probably already making comparisons to THQ’s Destroy All Humans, but this works a bit differently, and carries more depth in the development of the character.
Storyline wise, as an “unofficial” Gene Trooper, players still encompass the ability to gather and store DNA, which enables them to enhance their own genes after gathering enough DNA points. With such enhancements comes a plethora of options and playing features that range from: speed boosts, death-grips, bullet-time, shields to repel damage, regeneration effects, vision enhancements, hit point upgrades, double-damage effects, and much more.
But alongside the standard bag of tricks, players can hone their skills according to either stealth or battle enhancements. So players who are more keen for sneaking around and taking down enemies unseen, have as much playability options as the player who enjoys all out, fast-paced, action shoot-outs.
Glove of peril
Though, the weapons may come in the standard fare of pistols, sniper rifles, and explosive artillery, the true originality lies in the enhancements players can earn with the DNA experience points. One of the weapons, the gravity glove, allows players to do some nifty things with support from the Havok Engine. Lifting bad guys, or bending the rules of physics by using the glove, can create some amazing action sequences with objects and bodies being flung around. Toss in the option to upgrade your abilities with the glove, using experience points, and players can execute rare, and devastating, attacks.
What’s an RPG without NPCs?
Following in the tradition of the more popular FPS games, Gene Troopers keeps the action and suspense tight, with the addition of team-mates or NPCs. Player decisions, and interactive plot-lines, determine who comes or goes on your team, and what sort of outcome you might end up in. Cauldron has included the option for players to complete the game in a number of different ways, resulting in multiple endings.
Each choice or decision within the game’s story is devised to alter or change the way the story unfolds. Giving players multiple options and varieties in the way the game is played or how the world of Gene Troopers is shaped. For instance, in some missions where stealth is required, players who refuse to use such a method might encounter harder and possibly three-times the amount of opposition, as opposed to using a stealthy method. How players approach a situation and what methods they use to complete or resolve the matter, is entirely up to the player.
Cauldron is also keeping the replay qualities fresh, with a variety of interactive vehicles...as well as environments that can be manipulated or altered to the fullest extents of the Havok game engine.
Strange worlds of another kind
Aside from the gunplay, NPCs, team-mates, vehicles, and level-up system; players will encounter environments that can be interacted with, or affected, by the weapons, vehicles, or characters. Gene Troopers takes players across the span of six distinctive, and beautifully rendered, alien worlds. Each world is unique and varied in its enemies, physics or gravity, vehicles, climate, and atmospheric appearance. The lighting and architectural creativity within each stage really shines through on an original and artistic scope.
The texture work and color palette was also designed to be very different from the common look of most alien worlds, featured in most games. This is not one of those games that have textures that look like they came from the graphic designer’s basement, fused with soiled old pages from a magazine. The strange and unique color scheme is one of the first things that players might take notice of, graphically, even with the barely-above-standard model designs for the characters and weapons.
Battling buds
A good game without the stock multiplayer features, is a bad game in disguise. Luckily, Cauldron has included the standard Deathmatch, cooperative modes, and CTF. So thankfully, players can choose their match settings and options, and battle opponents near and far across Xbox Live.
With a bundle of features including: Vehicles, RPG elements, character development, interactive NPCs and environments, gamers looking to stretch their interest beyond the standard first-person genre, can look for Gene Troopers to hit shelves on December 13, 2005.
|
|
| |
