Serious Sam: The First Encounter [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.125692]
Enter the Matrix [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.126948#2682893]
Freeware Series:
Black Shades [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.128861]
Enter the Matrix [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.126948#2682893]
Freeware Series:
Black Shades [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.128861]
Avert Fate:
Right, I'm going to review Avert Fate. Firstly because of the ongoing economic meltdown which has forced me into freeware games and secondly because it's part of my ongoing quest to bring illumination to free games that I feel are overlooked.
In Brief: Avert Fate is a freeware fps for the PC in which the player fight what seems to be a robot apocalypse scenario. It is available for download for both pc and mac (approx 200MB)
Technical: Okay, normally I don't care about graphics and especially not with a freeware game but in this case I think it's worth a mention. Avert Fate has some of the best graphics I've seen in freeware outside of a mod, looking like a published game released circa 2001-2. The sounds range form good to poor, with the weapons sounding okay but the grenades in particular sounding very strange. Still, by comparison to other free games this has got to be one of the best efforts at presentation that I've seen.
The graphics are one of the best things about the game.
Story: Sadly, for a story addict like myself, there's nothing here to make the brain fizz. What's even more disappointing is that there could easily have been, just a few vague hints (like the writing on the walls in L4D) would have helped flesh out the world and given the apocalypse a bit more flavour, resulting in something slightly more original than what it is. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that describing it as a robot apocalypse is right, they could be aliens or the government or North Korean superweapons for all we know. It is a world that I'd like to learn a bit more about but that fact is that's there's nothing storywise except neglected potential and it is a pity.
Why do we fight? Honestly, I don't know...
Gameplay: So this is where we learn that the game is in fact all about graphics because the game is cripplingly short. On normal difficultly one can expect to breeze through the 3 or 4 encounters and the single boss fight in an hour or so, which leads us to the conclusion that the designers spent so much time on graphics they neglected the game to such a degree that I had to double check this wasn't just a demo. The enemies and weapons are fairly interesting but that's mainly because they have so little time to get old, the whole thing is just far too short.
However, despite the brevity of the experience, Avert Fate provides some solid fps gaming. There are only two weapons but they are hybrids with each having three firing modes (sniper, automatic and rockets for one and a laser which has single shot, multishot and a grenade launcher). The weapons work well and the alien weapon was interesting enough to make me use it even though it was useless in terms of damage. Overall though, the short time it takes to beat the game means that there aren't enough set pieces for it to interesting. There are a few, but they're just standard (e.g. snipers who you have to take out).
During the encounters, the game is dragged down again by incompetent AI as, despite being fine on the first encounter, can't seem to master grenades. Once, not only did they spam grenades but they were useless with them too, rebounding the things off pillars and back into themselves, making that battle incredibly easy and since it was a quarter of the game I'm not sure if that's what I wanted. The boss battle is also uninspiring. Despite looking impressive the boss basically only has two attacks and can simply be taken down by massive firepower, making the encounter protracted and irritating when you run out of heavy ordinance and have to rely on weaker weapons. This is not helped by the fact that it's easy to survive his attacks, especially with regenerating health and a deployable shield which recharged quickly.
Conclusion: This may sound a little at odds with the above but Avert Fate is a good shooter, despite being only an hour. I recommend it, even if it's just a way to bring the graphics freaks down gently so they can play more innovative games.
Comments: Are dear to my heart and vital to my self esteem, please post your thoughts. Recommendations for other games I should check out are also welcome.
Avert Fate Download [http://conspirat.com/avertfate/]
