Rangarig

Currently completed Level 3 and 4 and I must say that my initial evaluation was close enough - especially with regards to the enemies. It differentiated somehow in these levels, because apart from soldiers and scientists in hazmat-suits, you now face zombies affected by the technocyte. It's all very 'Resident Evil'.

Unfortunately the quality of the enemies is still very bad, though the sheer amount of them will get you down if you don't pay attention. The soldiers duck and cover and take pot shots at you, but eventually it's still easy to take them down. The zombies stream towards you en masse and hit you with claws and melee weapons - and eventually they may actually grab you, something which you have to react to with frantic button tapping to shake them off.

A nice touch is that you find weapon upgrades - but you first need to find black market shops to apply them - which isn't too bad though, because you can also sell and buy weapons there. Weapon upgrades increase fire power, firing rate, accuracy and clip size as well as a few other effects which basically come down to affecting the above.

But of course the most important aspect are the mutant powers you gain from your technocyte infection - these consistently increase as you go through the levels and your initial throwing glaive can now be steered in flight, be charged with electricity, burn and set things on fire, and so forth. You also consistently need to use these factors to open doors or kill specific enemies. And they managed to create some really interesting boss and mini-boss fights.

One thing that really bothers me however are the very linear levels. You start at one end of the level and have to get to the end. You can't explore any areas that do not lead you towards the end - making you move from corridor into big room with enemies to corridor to the next room with enemies. And yet there are some parts where you get stuck, because there is no actual indication of how you need to proceed. And then you die. Or get bored.

If I had to give it a mark out of 20, I would give it about a 13/20 - no, the game is not bad, but it is hardly original. Ultimately, there are better games out there, but if you are looking for an uncomplicated FPS whilst you are waiting for Resident Evil 5 or something of the sort, give this a go.

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