FAAKING Amazing
Written: Aug 13 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Graphics, Sounds/Music, Level Design, Weapons/Items, Monsters
Cons: No Multiplayer available.
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| ProStyle's Full Review: Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2 For Windows |
ATTENTION: Those Expecting the next earth-shattering game.. you will NOT find it here! Sadly enough, Heavy Metal is a strictly single-player experience. This isn't all a bad thing, but with the current direction of PC Games, this title is definately not going to get the sales it should. Now.. on with the shenanigans...
Upon booting up the game, you are greeted with a nice lead in track, and the Ritual logo, followed by a God Games screeny. Speaking of being greeted, the main menu screen was almost a little too much for me to handle, with the wonderful artwork, effects, and superb sounds that are incorporated. After setting up my hardware and controls.. I jumped right into the fray!
The game gives you enough backround information to make sense of the twisted world you are about to enter, and quickly enough you are introduced to the main character, Julie. You'll spend a lot of time with her, which is an excellent thing! (Wait till you see some of the later outfits ;). I wandered around a bit, enjoying the wonderful scenery, until I found the standard training course. You can choose to skip training, but this game is different enough from the rest that there are some important tidbits of information you might not want to miss. Don't worry, they'll keep you occupied!
After training the story line really gets chugging. The game is very linear, and sticks to the plot. There aren't alot of places you can explore, but there really isn't much of a need, the entire game doesn't feel like you are just passing on through everything.. it's very immersive. The environments are amazing, and everywhere you go you'll want to stop and admire the architecture, textures, and massive attention to detail. For this, I give kudos to Ritual.. as far as Sin went, that was a dissapointment, but they definately made up for it with this title.
On the topic of visuals.. the first time you enter the game, it really stands out that you are running the Quake3 engine. They pull every trick in the book, and add a few I've never seen, and they are all executed incredibly well. The models for the townsfolk look a little blocky for my taste, but the monsters, weaponry, and Julie are all represented with enough style to keep you drooling for weeks.
The sounds are far and above average. From the effect of a flaming-sword slicing through the flesh of a behemoth, to the pitter patter of ejected bullet cases bouncing on the floor, these sounds pull you in and make you feel every hit like it counted. The music added quite a bit of depth to the experience. The tracks are all dynamic, and load independently of your situation and level. I would have assumed that the tracks would be overly-aggressive, and a little too loud, akin to "Heavy Metal" tunes, but they where surprisingly lower key, and didn't detract from the gameplay, but added to it. Don't get me wrong though, you definately won't miss the fight music when it comes around!
The Controls are very easy to become accustomed to. I used the default layout for the movement keys, but felt the need to relocate a few of the more important buttons (use item, holster weapons). They serve you well throughout the game, but where they really shine is combat. With all the moves you can pull off (slashes of all sorts, combo's that are different for each weapon set) they are very easy to master, and you'll never have the need to get into a "button-mashing frenzy".
All in all, Heavy Metal is a great single player experience, it's truly 3rd person action gaming at it's finest.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ProStyle
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Member: Pete Witt
Location: Davenport, Iowa
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 1 member
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