Online PC Multiplayer Shooter Booster Trooper Review

Last weekend, Steam temporarily released Booster Trooper for free. I gave it a test run and while it reeks pretty much of Soldat, a freeware online PC multiplayer shooter, the sci-fi trappings, the physics effect, and the 2.5D look give this game a more polished feel.



My Booster Trooper user review after the jump. Unlike most multiplayer games today, Booster Trooper is not a class-based game. Nonetheless, it does offer players quite an impressive arsenal to tweak their pre-spawn loadouts with:

Main Weapons

Assault Rifle - Default weapon; high rate of fire; maximum range; low damage
Shotgun - Single-shot; standard shotgun mechanics: high damage output at close range but effectiveness ramps down steeply as the range between combatants widens
Chaingun - High rate of fire; maximum range; high damage; very slow startup time
Sniper Rifle - Self-explanatory
Rocket Launcher - single shot; very low reload speed; massive damage

Secondary Weapons

Pistol - Didn't get to use this one
Handcutter - close-range melee weapon; high damage

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Explosives

Grenade - Self-explanatory
Shredder - Sticky grenades that act as mines with short fuses; they detonate after three or so seconds if no enemy comes near them

In addition there are several special weapons that spawn regularly in specific locations in each map.

What surprised me with this one---given the technology it uses---is that beyond the jetpacks (which let players fly around for short bursts before needing to recharge) and the mix of 2.5D side-scrolling action with modern graphics and physics effects, Booster Trooper is a no-frills CTF/fragmatch multiplayer game in the spirit of Soldat and Quake. Why they didn't introduce innovative tweaks like a Tribes-like ski effect (with maps riddled with slopes), deployable turrets, and classes ala Team Fortress or Alien Swarm is something that seems such a waste.

I also do not like the way the soldiers cry out when they get hit. The cries are anemic and somewhat annoying (and disturbing) to hear. This aside, the other audio aspects of Booster Trooper are awesome: weapons are very satisfying to shoot, jetpacks sound as they should, explosions reverberate, and there's something really addictive in hearing a rocket being chambered.

Booster Trooper is not something that I would play for more than two hours each day but I think this is how the designers wanted it to be. A solid, impressive PC multiplayer shooter that's a perfect escape if you want a quick 20-minute gaming fix. Wham! Bang! Thank you ma'am!

I just lopped off and cauterized one side of your torso with the mother of all lightsabers.

>>>Click here to read more...

Half-Life 2 (Unofficial) Movie Trailers

Scrounged up some fan-made videos. These are top-notch and can almost fool you into thinking they were made by some major studio.

The Half-Life 2 fan-made movie trailers after the jump.

Beyond Black Mesa:



Things I found amusing/meritorious:

- Adrian Shephard is the main character of a Half-Life expansion
- A strider! In a low-budget trailer!
- They have it down pat:

• The grenades' trademark red glow
• The resistance armband
  
• The "caste" graffiti in the final frames of the trailer
  

>>>Click HERE to see Half-Life 2 console command CVar tweaks that I use

Escape From City 17 Part One:






Things I found amusing/meritorious:

- Like in the game, there are structures/objects in the film that have highly-saturated hues. Kudos to the art director/cinematographer.

They have it down pat:
- The firearms and CGIs are perfect, including the PA system
- Like in the game, Combine soldiers emit this high-pitched sound when they die

>>>Interested in free (legal) first-person shooter single- and multi-player games? Click.

>>>Click here to read more...

Half-Life 2 CVar Console Command Tweaks

When Half-Life 2 was launched, it was plagued with performance and stutter problems. Five years later, console commands and patches have fixed these --- I've bought a copy of The Orange Box, and my experience has so far been flawless(except that to my chagrin Gordon Freeman still feels more "glidey" than other FPS protagonists, albeit less so compared to how he moved in the first Half-Life; nausea-inducing, that one).

Being the tweak monkey that I am however, I still scrounged around for Half-Life 2 console commands and PC performance tweaks and found hundreds of CVars on the web. I picked several, applied them, and when I fired up my newest first-person shooter game, well, the changes are nothing to write home about but hey, anything to elevate a flawless experience into a cathartic romp stomping Xen transdimensional beings and Combine soldiers right?


The Half-Life 2 console commands that I use---and how to apply them to the Half-Life 2 exe---after the jump.

No one "owns" these commands as they are common knowledge. However, Koroush Ghazi of Tweakguides.com has compiled many of the most useful Half-Life 2 CVars and provided parameters and explanations in his Half-Life 2 tweak guide. For a more thorough rundown, I would advise you to visit the above page as the list below is just my personal "quick scan" reference (read: these are settings for my PC; these are not for ultra-low-end systems), just in case my hard drive suddenly goes postal:

Performance

+mem_max_heapsize 1024 - memory-related performance tweak; see the Tweakguides.com HL2 tweak guide

+cl_forcepreload 1 – Forces the game to preload everything during loadup times, eliminating stutter but lengthening the loading process.

+ai_expression_optimization 1 – Forces the game not to render NPC expression that you can’t see. (Much like that Doom 3 cull command)

+ r_threaded_particles 1 – Multi-thread-related tweak; see the Tweakguides.com HL2 tweak guide

+ r_threaded_renderables 1 - Multi-thread-related tweak; see the Tweakguides.com HL2 tweak guide

+ mat_queue_mode 2 - Multi-core-related tweak; see the Tweakguides.com HL2 tweak guide

>>>Interested in free (legal) first-person shooter single- and multi-player games? Click.

Audio

+ snd_mix_async 1 – Audio tweak; see the Tweakguides.com HL2 tweak guide

+ dsp_enhance_stereo 1 – audio improvement tweak

Graphics Improvement

+ mat_picmip -1 (I checked the console and the “highest”---lowest on the number line---Half-Life 2 setting for this tweak is “-1.”)

+ mat_parallaxmap 1 – Graphics tweak; see the Tweakguides.com HL2 tweak guide for a thorough explanation


Miscellaneous

-novid – eliminates the intro Valve movie, speeding up startup load time

+sv_autosave 0 – eliminates those annoying autosaves that shatter immersion


I linked all these into:

-novid +mem_max_heapsize 1024 +sv_autosave 0 +cl_forcepreload 1 +ai_expression_optimization 1 +r_threaded_particles 1 +r_threaded_renderables 1 +snd_mix_async 1 +mat_queue_mode 2 +mat_picmip -1 +mat_parallaxmap 1 +dsp_enhance_stereo 1

I then inserted the line into Half-Life 2's "Launch Options" (accessible by right-clicking the game's title and navigating to Properties > General > Set Launch Options) in Steam:

>>>Click here to read more...

Freeware PC Multiplayer Game Alien Swarm Gameplay Videos

[UPDATED: All seven gameplay videos of the Alien Swarm campaign "Jacob's Rest" are now up.]

Alien Swarm gameplay videos of a "Jacob's Rest" campaign run with three other players. The freeware multiplayer game is a top-down PC shooter powered by the Source engine.

Here's the first one:




>>>Want to see the specs of the budget gaming PC used to run this free to play squad-based multiplayer game?

The rest of the gameplay videos after the jump (I'll upload the last two Alien Swarm gameplay videos later).



Part 2:




>>>Shooting alien filth not your thing? See free PC RPG games HERE

Part 3:



Part 4:




>>>This game not tactical enough for you? See free PC strategy games HERE

Part 5:



Part 6 (of 7):



Part 7:





>>>Still can't get enough? See more free PC FPS games HERE

>>>Click here to read more...

First Starcraft 2 Reviews

So judging from the flood of Starcraft 2-related articles ("Starcraft 2 Review in the Pipe", "Where are the Starcraft 2 Reviews?", etc) that have been popping up like mushrooms, people are very excited to read about whether Blizzard has surpassed the first Starcraft in terms of gameplay, multiplayer aspects, and presentation.

As of this writing, I found two so far.

The Starcraft 2 reviews after the jump.



NZGAmer.com's Starcraft 2 review - focuses more on several of the multiplayer aspects, particularly problems that SEA players may encounter

Bit-tech's Starcraft 2 review - discusses the game's units and upgrades and its multiplayer aspects among other things

>>>Starcraft 2 sold out in your local malls? Want to play some freeware (read: legal) PC strategy games while waiting for the shelves to replenish? Click HERE

>>>Click here to read more...