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Gore: Ultimate Soldier
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Graphics & Sound:
I was informed while playing multi-player that the 'hip' term is to just call this game Gore. Not wanting to buck any trends, I will stick with that advice and call Gore: Ultimate Soldier just Gore. How does Gore look? Well, it has its pros and cons; both of which we will discuss. The game is a very quick paced game much like Quake, with frames and frags blowing by your head at an alarming rate. Maybe the speed is a reason that the background and 'environmental' graphics aren't that great. Sure, they are bright and colorful, but detailed they are not. Walls are real bland with a meager amount of shadows. Floors are dull, 'oh wait, there's some oil!' Everything around you is mediocre at best. Does that take away from the game? Not really, because you aren't noticing those things. You're noticing folks buzzing about you, and trying to shoot them before they make you an obituary. The player models look excellent. They are very distinct, and the reason I say that is because they come in handy to noticing your teammates in multi-player. Also in Gore, you will find that any armor or helmet you pick up will show up on your player. I think that is absolutely brilliant, and these items must be shot/blown off before the player model resumes its original appearance. Say you're running around, and you see a player with a helmet, which adds to his armor. Well you can't shoot him with a head shot (which are another great addition to this quicker-paced genre of FPS), because his helmet will absorb the first two or three shots. The explosions look really great, with bright flares of sulphur heating up the joint. You mix the explosions with really great player and weapon models, throw in some par backgrounds and you have the graphics. One more noteworthy thing is: watch the animation when you shoot someone in the gut with the shotgun.Bravo 4DRulers . The sound is where Gore could have used a little more time. The music is nothing memorable, as it consists of all ambient sounds, and I played my Paul Oakenfold CD every time I logged on to multi-player. The in-game sounds are the usual grunts, booms, scritches and payows that you hear in every First Person Shooter. Granted, they're good and get the job done, but I've heard them before numerous times. Even the dialogue sounds like it was recycled from previous games. There really isn't anything to mention really horrible about the sound, but it wasn't really stand-outish either. Just really solid sound from FPS games before. That was a little disappointing as a little effort in this department, and Gore would have been a title to please all the senses. Instead only my nose and touch were really happy. Sight and hearing were wishing for a little more. Let's not go into speech. |
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Gameplay:
One word can describe so much here: Quake. If you've played Quake, then you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, it's an extremely high-paced FPS. Gore sends lots of baddies at you, while you pump as much lead as your trigger finger can dish out. The story has you as a freshly trained combat machine of the US government. You live out this existence in Single Player Mode. You must help the government retake control of the streets. The streets have been overrun by gangs that have stolen government secrets, and now rule the world. It is your task to wipe out each and every gang that has taken over the streets. Don't worry, with everything from the meat saw to quad-barrelled shotguns, you'll have all the equipment necessary to complete the task. Once you play a few weeks of Single Player, you'll be itching to try the Multi-Player Mode. There are different types of games ranging from All against All to Team Capture the Flag (this one is always fun). While it's no Medal of Honor, it still is very fun. There are different character classes (in Single Player as well) that make the game all the more interesting. Bigger characters can carry a lot more of ammo, etc. but are a bit slower. Of course, smaller characters can move like a candle flame, but are hampered by their lack of strength and how many hits they can take. Stamina is thrown into the gumbo as well, with characters getting tired and getting into predicaments when they can barely lift weapons. Mix that with the fact that in Multi-Player, you can shoot health packs and power ups. Why do that you ask? I'll tell you why: you see a health pack someone is about to pick up, 'bang' as you blow away the health pack leaving them helplessly looking down the barrel of your gun... or teeth of your meatsaw. So there's a lot of fast action with hordes of mindless enemies coming at you in Single Player. In Multi-Player, there's lots of fast action with hordes of mindful players coming at you. It all sorts out in the wash.
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Difficulty:
Multi-Player will have multiple difficulties of course, but Single Player is a little disappointing. No matter how you've manipulated the options of the game, Gore is a little too 'simple.' What I mean is there is no AI seemingly. It's just hordes of enemies thrown out at you, and it only gets hard when you have to take out a zillion enemies at once, or one enemy with a zillion hit points (i.e. bosses). The enemies shoot their weapons in your general direction while attacking you with the zeal of a 12-year old Cajun spotting his first alligator. A few shots in the chest will change their temperament. The levels aren't difficult and too spread out. They seem to encompass you, and you find yourself going around in circles trying to wipe everyone out.like Quake. So with semi-varying environments and zombie-like enemies coming at you, Gore can get monotonous at times, while not being challenging/rewarding enough to hold someone's attention.
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Game Mechanics:
The manual to Gore is really okay, but nothing spectacular like Rock Manager's. Now that's a manual. Gore's manual made quick points, and didn't go into explanation much. Load times are kept down, which is great for a PC game. Basic controls are the standard FPS keyboard and mouse tag-team. The controls are very tight for this game. This is not only impressive, but pertinent for such a fast game. It's not too huge of an install either, keeping hard drive space down while keeping spirits up. No, I'm not talking about wine spirits either. All in all, the game is built on a solid core of control and tightness, but the challenge/reward rating isn't worth it at times. Riot Rundown: I really had a blast playing Multi-Player. Single Player was fun mowing through folks, but then it got monotonous. I didn't mind that so much, until hordes of enemies came after me, and I ran out of rockets. Then, it was on to Multi-Player. Gore is a solid FPS though for Single and Multi-Player that isn't as good as some of the other prominent ones out there. If you've beaten every FPS you've gotten your trigger finger hand on, then Gore is for you. If you're not so sure, then download the demo first, and test it out. Some people really like it a lot, and others would rather spend their time crocheting fine quilts. Yes, yes and don't forget to do your patches on Multi-Player! Whew, I thought I was going to forget that part. These are available from the Support portion of DreamCather Games' website. |
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-Sydney Riot, GameVortex Communications AKA Will Grigoratos |
Minimum System Requirements:
Win 95/98/2000/NT4/ME/XP, Pentium II 350 MHz, 64 MB RAM, 700 MB Free Hard Drive Space, 4x CDROM, 100-percent compatible OpenGL video card, Windows Compatible sound card |
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Test System:
Windows XP, Athlon 1GHz , 320 MB RAM, 700 MB Free Space, 52x CDROM, GeForce4 MX 420 video card, Hercules Fortissimo II sound card. |
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