Tuesday, June 16, 2009

DAMNATION


GAME DETAILS :-

Developer : Blue Omega Entertainment

Publisher : Codemasters

Engine : Unreal Engine 3

Genre : Sci-Fi Shooter

Release Date : May 26 , 2009

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS :-

Operating System : Windows XP / Windows Vista

CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo Processor / AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+

Memory (RAM) : 2 GB

Graphics Hardware : DirectX 10.0 Compatible Video Card with Memory 512 MB

[NVIDIA : GeForce 8800 Series
ATI : Radeon HD 3800 Series]


Hard Disk Space : 11 GB

GAME FEATURES :-

Damnation features large, open environments, a variety of acrobatics and Hollywood-action stunts. Damnation features verticality which differentiates it from other games in the genre. It features many Steampunk elements such as steam power replacing electricity. The game features an option to turn the gore on and off. Damnation has steam-powered vehicles which also have many acrobatic abilities, such as climbing up walls. You play an outlaw named Hamilton Rourke, a member of a rebel gang at large in an alternate 19th-century America where steam-powered high-technology robots and weapons were introduced during the Civil War. An evil industrialist named Prescott has taken charge of the country thanks to legions of robots and a serum that gives soldiers super strength, and it's your job is to take him down. All of this gives the game's settings a sinister atmosphere akin to that of a Wild West take on the ruined City 17 in Half-Life 2. Some levels even feature Prescott speaking on a loudspeaker, waxing philosophically about the destruction of whole cities and how he is the only way back to peace. Lots of steampunk trappings litter the levels, including giant airships, powerful sci-fi weapons, robot soldiers, and creepy enemies. The background story behind these fantastic events remains a mystery. All you get are a few flashes of strange newspaper articles and photos, along with some quick cutscenes that depict Prescott as a bad, bad man. But you won't care much about the story behind Damnation for very long. The gameplay is so trite and repetitive that you quickly go from curiosity to get-me-the-hell-out-of-here boredom. Instead of the fluidity that characterizes the best shooters, the pace here is choppy and awkward. Most of the time, you simply race along unopposed, with the main source of interest being the ability to leap up or down the faces of buildings and shimmy up flagpoles. This can be intriguing in spots. Intuitive controls make it easy to pull off some amazing leaps and backflips.

Many buildings are so gutted and wrecked that they would collapse long before you got perform your Cirque du Soleil stunts in them, while others simply couldn't stand up because of the way they were designed even while totally intact. All you can really say for the ability to leap around and the odd architecture is that, at least, the developers tried to move beyond the generic linear shooter. But in the end, it doesn't work. All of the mildly entertaining derring-do is constantly interrupted. It's as if the designers realized at the last minute that they were supposed to be making a shooter, so they brought all the leaping and gallivanting to a crashing halt by stocking the levels with dumb ambushes. As a result, one moment you're dancing about like an acrobat in buckskins, then the next moment, you're hunkered down behind cover for three or four minutes, only peeking out every so often to rip off a couple of shots at the dozen bad guys who have suddenly popped up in front of you. None of these shooting sequences are the least bit enjoyable. Enemies simply stand in one spot blasting away at you or move mindlessly in and out of shelter like targets in shooting galleries.

PC controls are even worse because you never know when you'll be able to use the mouse or have to hit the keyboard. This is particularly annoying in the menus because it seems like the developers flipped a coin when deciding how to activate buttons. While one function is available by hitting the left mouse button, the very next requires you to hit the Enter key. Also, some standard shooter controls are unavailable, such as using the mousewheel to select a weapon. None of this really gets in the way of controlling Rourke, although that's probably because the underlying gameplay is so irritating it's hard to niggle over a few control flaws that are minor by comparison. Visuals and sound are loaded with problems on all three platforms. Each version of the game regularly chugs during gameplay and cutscenes. The PC displaying a lot of tearing. Textures are embarrassingly behind the times, many buildings display a jaggy, blurry wallpaper effect, and special effects are terribly animated. Enemy heads explode in a shower of gore, yet intact skulls are clearly visible when the bloody spray clears. Enemies caught in explosions are gibbed a split second before the kaboom even goes off. The voice acting is atrocious, although it's hard to imagine even a reincarnated Olivier doing much with the script's cast of stereotypes. For example, there is an Indian mystic who speaks generic Indian gibberish about his destiny; a cowardly, chauvinistic Mexican; and a stock shooter babe who wears a ludicrous top that reveals a good inch or two of bottom breast. Sound effects are arguably even more annoying than the voices. Enemy weapon fire frequently consists of an obnoxious, metallic noise that sounds a whole lot like somebody dragging a chain over a sewer grate. You have to give Blue Omega credit for trying something different with Damnation's steampunk story and its leaping-around action, but that's about it. Everything else here is painful to experience. This third-person shooter is a trip into hell.

GAME REVIEW :-

3.5/10

Damnation Trailer :-

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