Well, I am really unsure how to treat this game. It is fun, it is better than 90% of all other finished FPSC games, and it does many things right. However, as Wolf was involved and he keeps stabbing me with the hurting but useful dagger of truth every time I put a game on, I will stick to an honest opinion:
1. Story:
Good so far. It is something else than the usual Nazi / Monster / Zombie / WWII stuff. It has some nice Blade Runner / Mark13 / Judge Dredd scenario, and that is really appreciated. Some lights on the background of our hero and his dreams would have been nice, I really expected some remark when staring at the Foto on the wooden board.
2. Level Design
From an artistic and architecture point of view, it is perfect. The feeling of a huge world is always present, and I congratulate to achieve this level of spacyness without hitting the memory cap (although unoptimized PC systems will be forced to run this game with dividetexture=4).
From a gameplay point of view, there are some minor flaws I will get to later.
3. The Animations
Most likely the best custom animations I have seen in FPSC ever.
4. The Graphics
You have a unique style that is not interrupted by unfitting elements, I give you that, and this style looks really good. Of course you had to use low-res textures to avoid the memory cap, but that doesn´t disturb the look and it´s ok.
However, there are some major letdowns in details, most of them related to
5. The Characters
You have some really nice custom characters, but the illusion is blown when you get close to them. The girl has a beautiful face right out of a big Chinese MMO, but the hair textures are terribly flawed with white planes between the strains. The guys are ok, the Face foto texture is good, but they look all the same - I know, the memory cap, but at least you could have two different types: Bums and "normal" civilians.
And the blob shadow is a pain in the ass in such a beautiful environment. If you had used the shader attached, you would have planar lightsource-perspective-related shadows and a normal mapping + subsurface scattering adjustable to all your needs to create by far more immersion than having this awful blob under their feet.
Also, the assault gun retexture looks like a mixture of MS paint and a drug-induced hallucination
6. The gameplay
Overall it´s good. And I don´t mean that like the encouraging "Yeah, you didn´t that bad!" I give to new guys around here when they present their first FPSC creation, it´s really good - but far from being great.
The first jump sequence is really something you don´t put in as first challenge in your game, at least not without a proper guidance or warning. Combined with your really strict fall-damage model, it can turn people away after playing your game for a minute. It would have been better to hurt the player badly when he doesn´t get it figured out, to teach him a lesson - instead of killing him.
There are also some occasion where it´s clearly visible that the firefight was balanced by someone who knows where the enemies are and how they move. This is quite a common mistake, I stumble into that all the time myself, that ´s the reason why I have some mediocre shooter players test new enemy positions and level layouts.
Also, the puzzle with the barells was a good idea, however it is likely that the barells fall down instead of being thrown properly, making it a a rather dull mission. Aquiring explosives, or even creating some from household chemicals (perhaps from a laundry detergency automat) would have been perhaps more interesting and satisfying.
7. The Storytelling
Overall, it´s not bad. However, some tipps:
- More different voices
- No overlapping storytelling (Yeah, I know, I did that in the hut of Into the Dark, too, sorry!)
- NO, ABSOLUTELY NO debug hud in Cutscene videos
- The "You are being followed" and similar nature-based videos are really great, but they could use a better technical quality and another font for the text
- The "Kill all witnesses" may cause a "No, I don´t want to" reaction by soem players, perhaps there should be a no-other-way explanation.
My verdict:
In some parts it´s a groundbreaking FPSC game, in some parts it´s a well-executed, creative idea put to life, and in some parts it has its flaws.
Right now it´s a personal straight
7 / 10 with quite some potential up if you iron the issues out.
PS: The reload sound of the Assault gun is TERRIBLY of-sync. Perhaps
I wouldn´t have noticed a year ago, but as I am on the task of making frame-accurate sound effects for FPSC-R, it´s now like a blow in the guts to hear that