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Uber Soldier
(Exclusive Review)
A twist on WW2 shooters comes in the form
of an undead German officer with some interesting abilities stemming
from some Nazi mad scientist research.
It seems like most a typical games and films based on such premise the
Nazis again are toying with things they should not. But can you really
blame them? After all a group of genetically engineered zombie soldiers
at your beck and call to march on your enemies is pretty hard to resist,
and if they did we would not have games like Uber Soldier to play with.
Players take on the role of a Nazi officer who is killed in an ambush
and then turned over to the Nazi scientists to be part of the
resurrection project. On coming back though the player has but one
desire, revenge on the Nazis!
There is not much on realistic battles
here, it's nothing but action with an array of weaponry, from a trusty
knife for silent death, to pistols, rifles, sniper rifles and machine
guns, and of course grenades. Even the bigger fixed emplacement machine
guns can be manned. Some times the fights are fast and furious and other
times even with the characters enhanced abilities it pays to try to
thing tactically.
The characters abilities seem to be powered by rage and the player is
rewarded with the power to use certain special abilities when they
perform certain tasks. Such as shoot three bad guys in a row, in the
head. One of my favorite abilities is sort of a power of the mind shield
that catches the bullets of an enemy. It is called a temporal shield.
The red hot bullets are stuck in your mind powered shield that you
project and they just float there until you turn the shield off. Then
when the shield is turned off, they drop to the ground. It's the little
things in a game that make a game cool some times, and this is just one
of those cool effects that will be tied to Uber Soldier and remembered.
Best of all, while your mental shield is up and the bullets are flouting
there, just walk towards an enemy or group of enemy, the bullets touch
them and it's as if they are shot from gun fire. Pretty cool trick!
The sound is very satisfying, ambient sound cascades around the player.
Gun fire is enough to make you jump out of your skin, just the way I like
it. The heavy crump and blast of an explosion is a treat to the ears.
Too often weapon or other sounds in a game leave you a little dry. Not
so with Uber Soldier, all the sounds are a thumping pleasure. If I had
any misgivings it would be the German soldiers sounding very much
American. but hey you can't have it all I guess. After all, how many
WWII films have we seen with the Germans having British accents? So I
can live with this.
Graphics, woof. I for some reason had no
great pre conceptions for this game. But I was rather pleasantly
surprised with Uber Soldier's graphics. The graphics engine looks like
it can duke it out with any of the recent graphic engines and come out
looking darn sweet. Shader Effects seem to be through out, and the
environments all immersive enough to give you a YOU ARE THERE feel. Very
well done all around. Though some things like shooting gas cylinders and
barrels to produce explosions (Like how many other games?) are here and
thus seem over used. I hoped for more interesting or innovative things
from this game.
The graphics and physics engine also has a few interesting treats for
the player. There are objects that can be interacted with; tables can be
knocked over with the items on those tables spill across the floor.
Coolness all around. One of the things that seems ok but at this point I
have not found any real purpose for other than a gee that looks cool
factor. Characters being shot at have bits and pieces of their gear drop
off. In other words, you can shoot the helmet off of an enemy, or parts
of an ammo belt or other gear. Looks pretty cool, but I have yet to see
any use for it other than eye candy. The game itself can be a graphics
heavy burden on a computer depending on the set up. Opening load times
are long so gamers may want to play with closing down any extra back
ground applications before running the game.
All in all once you start playing Uber Soldier, it's one of those games
that's hard to walk away from, while most of what I've seen thus far is
pretty straight forward as levels go, you just get the urge to see
what's around the next corner and play and play some more. Well worth a
look and if your still not convinced just check out on the net for an
Uber Soldier Playable demo. I have a feeling you will be hooked in no
time. Head over there now and check it out from the official site.
http://www.ubersoldier.net/
Have fun, play games
Edwin Millheim |
