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.

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Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Demo Review

[A few days ago, what with the impending release of Lost Planet 2, I downloaded the demo of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. Graphics-wise, the game is so good that I decided to write a review about it.]

Playing Lost Planet is like watching a King Kong movie but with the following deviations: instead of being set in a tropical jungle, the game is set in a snowy world; instead of featuring a titanic ape, it features massive and implacable carapace-armored leviathans called the Akrids. Think Cliffhanger and Starship Troopers combined.




The full review of the demo of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition after the jump.

Better late than never.

Lost Planet shares more in common with the Sylvester Stallone movie than frigid tundras and deadly avalanches --- the game employs the staple of movies set in snowstorms and mountains - a grappling hook. Though it's just a mundane addition to Lost Planet's gameplay, it does add to the game’s list of features. The grappling hook enables the player to save himself from a fall, climb ledges that are otherwise unreachable, and really immerse the player in the role of a rifle-wielding, ice climber. Really, every dude who wants to climb mountains should get both.

Lost Planet’s bag of tricks is small but what gimmicks it has are impressive. Far from being a one-trick pony, the game pits players not just against slavering, squealing aliens but human opponents as well. Known as Snow Pirates, these mercenaries pack energy guns, grenades, sniper rifles, rocket launchers --- and mechs.

This is where the game really shines. Anyone who has fantasies of being an Ellen Ridley, controlling an exoskeleton while mowing down alien spawn and gigantic alien bosses will be in for an adrenaline-laced treat with Lost Planet. And it doesn’t stop there. The mechs have modular loadouts. You can attach gatling guns and rocket launchers to your walker --- or remove and walk away with them.



That’s right. You can slog through the snowy wastes carrying the mother of all chain guns.

Fancy lugging a mech-sized sidearm and blazing away at advancing alien hordes? I thought so.

Stage 5. Snow Field.

Lost Planet is easily one of the most gorgeous graphical powerhouses I have come across. Combining the almost monochromatic whiteness of its snow-covered levels with saturated hues of its in-game objects, Lost Planet presents a solid color scheme that’s surprisingly impressive for a game that mostly takes place in bleak, arctic environments.

The engine powering Lost Planet is very impressive; never has a game presented me with such volume of particles. Imagine this: you’re trudging through a blizzard, sheets of snow swirling around you, and suddenly, from the incline above you, an Akrid the size of a large SUV bursts bellowing from the drifts. As the 1000-pound leviathan comes thundering toward you, you let loose with a rocket, which explodes against its hide, causing ichor to shower every which way. This move however, causes an avalanche, and you scurry for a promontory to hide behind while the alien rolls into a disc and whirs furiously towards you through the blinding blizzard and cascading boulders. Think about that. Most of the time, there’s so much going around that you’ll begin to think your video card will melt under this heavy a load.



Bugged.

Indeed, Lost Planet deserves a “9” in the graphics department. However, its gameplay leaves something to be desired. The fault lies in its anemic AI and its difficulty level. While the Akrids’ lack of tactics can be attributed to an alien mindset, the game’s insipid AI shows glaringly in the behavior of the Snow Pirates --- these guys just occasionally dive for cover but that’s it. They don’t flank, rarely scatter when you throw a grenade at them, and they don’t provide as much suppressing fire to aid their teammates than in other games like, say, Far Cry. For a game released in 2007---years after F.E.A.R., Metal Gear, and the No One Lives Forever series got released---this quality in artificial intelligence is unforgivable. This AI deficiency---and the resulting mark down in difficulty---is what ultimately shatters Lost Planet’s bid for total gaming immersion. Players will be awed by Lost Planet’s graphical prowess but it will be a detached awe.

While Lost Planet: Extreme Condition paints a realistic picture of a corporate entity's endeavors to tame a colony in the outer reaches of space, its technical shortcomings effectively render the game as just a window players can gaze through. It’s a bit sad because if the developers had polished the AI aspect of the game, Lost Planet would have been a portal that would have absorbed players into a story of humanity’s struggle to terra-form an alien world crawling with massive insectoids that put King Kong to shame.

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