Posted May 06, 2009
This game was my first foray into the world of Mech simulators, and while I did enjoy it, I was not sufficiently impressed by this example of the genre. It's a good game, but there are some rather large and irriating problems with it that irritate me too much to give it more than a 3.
STORY (3/5): The story was not very deep. For the most part, it seemed more like there was just a sort of shallow plot to move you from mission A to mission B, and while the voice acting introducing each mission was nice, the disconnect between the mission briefings and the mission action was rather wide. The story wasn't BAD, it just didn't leave much of an impression on me. It also holds a few inconsistencies regarding how your AI commander behaves; if these AINIC models keep trying to kill their pilots or develop other mental instabilities, why do I even have one giving me commands? Is the Corporation's budget so small that I can't just get a live, sane person to tell me what to do? Also, why am I ALWAYS fighting alone against massive armies if I'm supposed to be part of a larger war effort?
SOUNDS (4/5): The music was good, when I had the time to listen to it. The sound effects were nice too. It wasn't anything spectacular, but I did like the sound of missiles launching...
VISUALS (3/5): Given that this was made in 1996, I probably shouldn't complain too much about this, but the visuals were not great. With the gamma on default settings, some levels were almost too dark to see in; turn the gamma up, and suddenly it's always noon in the Sahara. The draw distances were bad, too, as indicated by all the times that I got shot at by enemies who were too far away for me to see. Then there's the fact that there's only two kinds of explosion... but at least all the movements of 3D models looked okay. I'll give this category a passing grade on account of the time it was made, but a game with this many visual problems would never make it in today's market.
GAMEPLAY (3/5): Shooting stuff is always fun, but there were several things that marred the experience for me in this game, the most prominent of which is hit detection. Unless yo're using seeker missiles, it is ridiculously hard to hit a long-distance target with a flying explosive. Why? Because at least half your shots will somehow go right through it, that's why. Even if the target is immobile (this includes buildings!), and your targeting reticule is squarely on the target, the missile will often pass through the target and explode harmlessly somewhere on its far side. This can happen with lasers too. And let's not forget the fact that mortar rounds almost never land where you aimed them, usually flying about a kilometer ahead of where your targeting reticule is. As such, winning this game requires a heavy dependence on machines guns, which brings me to my next beef: ammo. Most levels do not give you any way to restore lost ammunition, and since your Pilot Runner is very often given the responsibilty to being a one-man army, you can run out of ammunition suprisingly fast. Laser weapons regenerate over time, but they don't regenerate nearly fast enough to save you if you're in a firefight and run out. Missiles and other weapons do not regenerate, leaving you with some hard choices to make about what weapons to use and where to use them. If you could salvage anything from all the mechs you blow up, this wouldn't be a problem, but you cannot do any such thing. Then there are some weapons which are useless or as dangerous to you as they are to the enemy (mines are nearly useless, rolling mines never roll in a predictable direction, and nukes will blow you up as often as they will the enemy, unless you shoot blindly ahead in the direction of a target you can't see). Compounding all these other difficulties is an end boss who is nearly impossible to kill. I couldn't manage it myself without cheat codes, and did I mention that I hit it once directly with a nuclear missile and failed to destroy it?
There is good news, though. The missions are nicely varied, and always intense enough that you never get bored. Panicked, maybe, but never bored. Also, the deformable terrain is a joy to play with; the depth of a crater you can make with a nuke is impressive, and the fact that you can churn up earth with your machine gun is even better: try digging a hole with it, or shoot at a hill until you've leveled it. It's fun!
OVERALL: (3/5); Shattered Steel is fun, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone if it wasn't so cheap. If you're keen on buying a shooter/mech sim, you could do worse than this. Than again, you could also probably do better.
STORY (3/5): The story was not very deep. For the most part, it seemed more like there was just a sort of shallow plot to move you from mission A to mission B, and while the voice acting introducing each mission was nice, the disconnect between the mission briefings and the mission action was rather wide. The story wasn't BAD, it just didn't leave much of an impression on me. It also holds a few inconsistencies regarding how your AI commander behaves; if these AINIC models keep trying to kill their pilots or develop other mental instabilities, why do I even have one giving me commands? Is the Corporation's budget so small that I can't just get a live, sane person to tell me what to do? Also, why am I ALWAYS fighting alone against massive armies if I'm supposed to be part of a larger war effort?
SOUNDS (4/5): The music was good, when I had the time to listen to it. The sound effects were nice too. It wasn't anything spectacular, but I did like the sound of missiles launching...
VISUALS (3/5): Given that this was made in 1996, I probably shouldn't complain too much about this, but the visuals were not great. With the gamma on default settings, some levels were almost too dark to see in; turn the gamma up, and suddenly it's always noon in the Sahara. The draw distances were bad, too, as indicated by all the times that I got shot at by enemies who were too far away for me to see. Then there's the fact that there's only two kinds of explosion... but at least all the movements of 3D models looked okay. I'll give this category a passing grade on account of the time it was made, but a game with this many visual problems would never make it in today's market.
GAMEPLAY (3/5): Shooting stuff is always fun, but there were several things that marred the experience for me in this game, the most prominent of which is hit detection. Unless yo're using seeker missiles, it is ridiculously hard to hit a long-distance target with a flying explosive. Why? Because at least half your shots will somehow go right through it, that's why. Even if the target is immobile (this includes buildings!), and your targeting reticule is squarely on the target, the missile will often pass through the target and explode harmlessly somewhere on its far side. This can happen with lasers too. And let's not forget the fact that mortar rounds almost never land where you aimed them, usually flying about a kilometer ahead of where your targeting reticule is. As such, winning this game requires a heavy dependence on machines guns, which brings me to my next beef: ammo. Most levels do not give you any way to restore lost ammunition, and since your Pilot Runner is very often given the responsibilty to being a one-man army, you can run out of ammunition suprisingly fast. Laser weapons regenerate over time, but they don't regenerate nearly fast enough to save you if you're in a firefight and run out. Missiles and other weapons do not regenerate, leaving you with some hard choices to make about what weapons to use and where to use them. If you could salvage anything from all the mechs you blow up, this wouldn't be a problem, but you cannot do any such thing. Then there are some weapons which are useless or as dangerous to you as they are to the enemy (mines are nearly useless, rolling mines never roll in a predictable direction, and nukes will blow you up as often as they will the enemy, unless you shoot blindly ahead in the direction of a target you can't see). Compounding all these other difficulties is an end boss who is nearly impossible to kill. I couldn't manage it myself without cheat codes, and did I mention that I hit it once directly with a nuclear missile and failed to destroy it?
There is good news, though. The missions are nicely varied, and always intense enough that you never get bored. Panicked, maybe, but never bored. Also, the deformable terrain is a joy to play with; the depth of a crater you can make with a nuke is impressive, and the fact that you can churn up earth with your machine gun is even better: try digging a hole with it, or shoot at a hill until you've leveled it. It's fun!
OVERALL: (3/5); Shattered Steel is fun, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone if it wasn't so cheap. If you're keen on buying a shooter/mech sim, you could do worse than this. Than again, you could also probably do better.