Great atmosphere, great potential, IAA leaves players in the dust
I was torn between giving this a half star and just one star or a star and a half. Let me be honest with you - this game was enjoyable for the most part. But the storyline leaves you so high and dry and is for lack of a better word, abysmal. Worst ending of pretty much any story I've ever bothered to reach the end of, to be honest with you. The game was also limited in a lot of areas that just seemed like it would have so much potential.
Let me get down to the points of what was GOOD about this game.
- Atmosphere. This is the game's great achievement. A fresh post-apocalyptic concept that was done very well. The eerie setting of (what I assume to be) volcanic ash over every thing in the environment. The destroyed buildings, the meager attempt of rebuilding civilization throughout it all... The setting and atmosphere in this game were great. That coupled with my next point, lead to an overall enjoyable experience where pure game play is involved.
My next point?
- Graphics. I don't think this game had a very high budget. Call it a hunch. The voice acting was well done, the concept was great. It had a hard-hitter big name behind it. But it seems like the budget just wasn't there. I think mainly because of the execution of everything, and the fact that the ending was so horrible, even to the point where it leads one to think if the game was wrapped-up halfway through development... Well, it's hard to say really. Although, I will say this. If they were not well budgeted, they did a great job with graphics. It's definitely not top of the line. But also did not leave one to want.
- Combat system. The combat system was very survival-style in that you had to use guile and tact to overcome enemies. It also brought a fresh approach somewhat. It *has* been done, but not *quite* like that.
OK, now that the good stuff is out of the way, let me point out the BAD of this game.
- Ending. This really did the game in for me. Really don't want give away spoilers but the ending left the player with a shitload of questions. Even worse, there is a lot going on throughout the game to hint at foreshadowing, but the ending felt wrapped up mid way through, so the foreshadowing happenings were just... more damn questions.
- Unreached potential. This is another reason I thought the game was constrained budget-wise. There was so much potential here. They could have done so much more. Not even with just fleshing the game out and finishing it. But so many awesome features would have made this game a lot better. There is so much that we could have had, and what we got was a post-apocalyptic survival climber with a neat combat system and a storyline ending that made you want to bring on the apocalypse.
- Control system overall. Climbing was neat and brought in some concepts that we don't see a lot. However, climbing felt poorly done in that it was difficult to transition between one grip and another. Combat was neat but clunky. The map should be a "bad point" all in itself. While I understand the need for perhaps some "realism" in that the main character only has a map of the city and not a GPS system, the overlays that were added to explored areas just led to confusion on more than several occasions. Could have been done better.
- Play time. This is another reason the game felt budgeted and unfinished, so to speak. I believe I put in just over 5 and a half hours. Now, yea, the game is inexpensive. But this left me wanting for some more time. I finished all but a few of the side missions, and it had the relevant play time of a first person shooter title. Well, may be nitpicking, but I feel it should be mentioned.
Overall, due to the worst ending in anything ever, not just the end of the world stories, I give this a 1 star. I would definitely not recommend this to anyone who has better things to do with their time!
