Talk about a lost gem. This is one of those older games that sought to capture a specific atmosphere, and for the most part, accomplished it . There are few games out there, let alone released in 1996, that feature a planetary opera whilst the player straps himself into a metal behemoth to ransack bio-mechanical freaks and hives (Mechwarrior cannot even lay claim to that feat in terms of choice-of-antagonist). You are a lone-wolfish mercenary who gets suckered into an intergalactic war with an alien menace best described as the an unholy trinity of Zerg-Terminator-"Recycled Whatever". The game is intriguing, especially to folks such as myself who have a strong nostalgia factor for playing it. However, the game is not without its shortcomings; most of which are forgivable in light of the technological limitations dealt with at the time. Basically, the game was ahead for its time.
STORY (SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD)-
Far from the best, but not totally limp either. Being the good mercenary that you are, you put all of your investments on the line to service the Planetary Command/ "the Protectors" in a war that seems to happen out of the blue against a race of insect-like bio-machines that have fallen upon the mining and manufacturing worlds. Instead of dealing your usual dosages of violence upon pirates who take advantage of fringe-world companies, you are hired full-time to engage the human's absurdly disgruntled alien-contacts.
It is time to admit that the story is primarily a macho military campaign designed to give the human player adrenaline spikes with every shell and mortal launched. Only sparse characterization is given to the AI characters that brief you (their only purpose is military intelligence), and some of the allies in terms of voice acting that give the game just a minor jolt in any personality that isn't merely the emotions up to par with "Space Invaders".
The first AI is basically Benedict Skynet with an obsession of scorpions while the second one becomes your female-voiced admirer for the second planetary campaign. There are even a couple sequences that are either downright corny, or even that "time of month" for the female voiced AI. Half the time, she's buttering you up, and the other half she's either shocked at your success or downright trying to get you on board a suicide mission as quickly as possible. Talk about prime dating material your valiant career places you under.
The campaigns take you through countless missions and two planets as you seem to be the queen of the chessboard for every mission. Ludicrous? Perhaps. Do they really have such a pathetic military that they rely only on skilled planet runners to defend anything? Fortunately, this isn't 100% the case. It is only 90% as you shall see once you play a few missions with plenty of allies basking in the front-lines.
In spite of all of these setbacks, the game manages to shine with an atmosphere that forgives the storyline's shallow exterior. Basically, the game as a whole experience is more of a dysprosium ambiance that celebrates a grim and futuristic nightmare that relishes a mysterious and eerie setting.
SOUND-
The effects in this game were well conceived. It was an immersible experience to hear the panicking cries of convoy drivers while under fire, or the radio static from air support, or even the horrible noises of the alien creatures.
MUSIC-
This deserves is own section. Personally, I am surprised that few people comment or notice the music in this game, but I suppose I either don't get out much, or have a stronger attraction to nostalgia than I realize.
The music in this game is orchestral. No, I'm not talking John Williams, or the emotional epochs from Final Fantasy, I'm talking a game that represents everything good, bad, and ugly about a science fictional blast fest. Some of the cello segments are hauntingly intriguing: churning out riff after riff of minor key rumblings while the snares, kettle drums, and exploding cymbals march and thunder beneath them. The brass brood and postulate more gloomier tones while the "Ahh" choir moments really put the "EPIC" in soundtrack once again (especially in track 8). The flutes siren over more dramatic points while other woodwind instruments are scarcely found if at all in the passages. Basically, the soundtrack celebrates the tensions of war, the
Personally, the music alone makes this game worth remembering. However, being a music freak like myself who admires style over substance in moments like this, I expose my bias. The soundtrack to this game receives my highest praise in comparison to the other departments.
Don't believe me, give the CD tracks an honest listen, or go to this website:
http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/shattered-steel-pc
Oh, and I have been made aware that there is a GM alternative soundtrack. Personally, I haven't listened to it, nor think it's worth my time.
GAMEPLAY-
Here is where I begin a balancing act of realism and idealism. In comparison to many FPS games, the gameplay actually falls short. However, this is more than a simple FPS game, it is also a simulator. It tries to synthesize the experience of a man-controlled war-mammoth. Simulators gain points by experience over mechanics. In this, I think that the creators of this game have won a lopsided battle.
Basically, the gameplay becomes rather linear very quickly. This is especially true with allies in the mix, or even defending human outposts from invading forces. True, you are a lone mercenary on contract, but if this is to be a war effort, then it really should be more organized as such. The intelligence and insertion points in the briefings help, but there are many things missing that are forgivable, but render me unable to give this game a full five stars. For starters, you cannot communicate with your allies at all, or assign or be assigned battle commands. Yes, I realize that this cannot all be possible with a game that is playing a balancing act with polygon-counts, and a scripting service that is already been pushed past its limits. Time-wise, some of these ideals might have even caused Shattered STeel to either not exist at all, or not with the same charm that it holds. There's realism working against itself. However, I cannot help but wonder how much this game would shine if it learned a lesson from Mechwarrior 2 when it comes to gaining or issuing commands on the front lines. Unfortunately, the lesson doesn't come much from organization as much as it comes from the fact that the planet runners are far more potent than your average alien bio-form.
Otherwise, you can try your luck on the singleplayer skirmishes. These can be great fun with weapon configurations and experiments. However, you will soon realize that shallow strategy that this game has after a few playthroughs of these skirmishes against other AI controlled planet runners.
Worst of all are complications involving weaponry. The biggest complaint are the laser cannons in the weapon coupled with the collision detection engine. Two enemies in the game, the thin Spectre, and the spider-like Aspis, are very difficult to hit with the laser, as the bolts will simply pass through them like X-rays instead of deadly beams of energy. This is especially embarrassing with the Spectre. Oh, one can blow it's head off, but good luck trying to hit the central body at all. I actually had found a way to circle around the Spectre and hit it with lasers from behind at a specific angle to start registering more consistent hits. This is terrible, but it seemed fixed with the plasma and gatling guns. However, there is more bad news with the missiles. The missiles are not immune to this problem, and throughout the game, I ended up treating them more like water balloons than warheads. You gotta splash them at the enemy's feet.
Unfortunately, weapon range also seems to be a problem. If I walk just close enough to see the turret, and unload a plasma blast, if I walk backwards, the turret will not get hit by the shot. Odd... but try it. This is merely a petty problem in the grand scheme, but it's something that should have been noticed.
However, the gameplay benefits from a well versatile bunch of weapons. In multiplayer especially, this versatility can be rather enjoyable. However, one of the weapons, the IR or RD missiles have one major problem. They can target friendlies as well. Unfortunately, I've had to replay a few missions just because the stupid missiles end up homing onto a target I am suppose to be protecting from the enemy that the missile was meant for in the first place.
The weapons are actually rather fun. However, you'll realize that the plasma cannon trumps the laser cannon, effectively making it obsolete. The lasers do not act like lasers in that they do not travel at the speed of light even though they are a decent representation of them. The mini(gatling) guns are especially effective, but their limited ammo makes them almost unusable except in a select few missions. The mortars are a true BLAST! They deform the terrain upon impact and are quite long range. Contrary to another reviewer, while they may not always hit where I want them, they have brought many satisfactory deaths to me -- they are artillery, which is how they are supposed to behave.
Another fun weapon would be the nova cannon. I haven't been able to find this weapon in the campaign (which I've beaten except for the last boss, in which I cheated). The Nova cannon fires a massive charged blast that follows the contour of the terrain and is quite deadly.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a use for the mines yet except for in the single player skirmishes where the AI is stupid enough to fall for them. As for the rest of the weapons -- try them yourself.
However, if you master your controls, and realize that the challenge of this game really comes through with evaluating your targets, and mastering your firepower's efficiency rating -- it is still very enjoyable. There is some strategy to the game, but not enough to warrant a game that is totally replayable. Use the terrain, controls, allies, cover-behind-buildings, range, and even AI redundancy to your advantage.
CONTROLS-
When I first played the game years ago, I was naive and inexperienced with gaming. Hence, all I used was the keyboard with mostly a default configuration and I didn't move the head-turret at all. Now that I am using the keyboard customized with the mouse, I feel quite at home with the game. I use the mouse to move the head around and can pick off targets with the greatest of ease. Auto aiming... who needs it?
Once you have the controls mastered with this simulation, this game rewards you with a few aces up your sleeve. One that I'm starting to master is strafing a target(s). This is basically like circle strafing, but instead of circling your target, the angle will only give you one pass if you are anything but the highly maneuverable Raptor. The Raptor, being the quickest planet runner in the game, can circle strafe if you slow down and turn with a few jerky segments to keep your momentum under control.
Furthermore, you can also target a few weaker segments of enemies with a more turret-focused view of your mech. For instance, certain flying enemies are more vulnerable at their sides than anyplace else. Just a few shots and they will start to tumble satisfactory into a ball of flame.
There may be some other modes of control other than the Keyboard+mouse setup that I am describing, but for now I highly recommend it above anything else.
GRAPHICS
Shattered Steel totally dominates this in comparison to contemporary games of its ilk such as Mechwarrior 2. The texture mapping, and deformable terrain alone earned it a place in "Games Ahead of Their Time". Yes, there are times that I wish the terrain was more detailed or the lighting paid more attention to, or maybe weather changing, or time of day changing, etc. All of these are 2009 complaints, and not applicable to a game made in the year 1996. I say enjoy it for its worth.
The 3d models in the game are quite boxy and angular. You have to remember that they were conserving as many polygons as possible. Personally, I think the low-poly count of the enemies gave them a certain charm that is not unlike the appeals of certain unrealistic cartoon art.
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WISHLIST:
1. The lasers and the minigun should trade places in terms of speed of the projectiles. Making the lasers weaker, but more rapid and quicker might balance the tide so that the minigun isn't so much more potent.
2. You should be able to give commands to mercenaries under your command and have more command-giving objectives. If this is a war, then it should be organized as such.
3. There should also be more tactical ranges in the game (concerning weapons). This is especially true in more open areas where one should be able to see farther. However, this game is made when there was a lot of technological limitations on depth-of-view for terrain, so this is forgivable.
4. The buildings could be larger... some of them more theatrical and even being able to be entered and fought inside. Again, technology limitations in 1996 forbid this.
5. I wish there were more battles with yourself fighting alongside many allies straining to keep the front lines from being breached. While this game did manage to pull off a few of these moments, they were no where near what my imagination ascribes to a war of this nature. This game could have been so much more epic. However, polygon counts had to be kept to a minimum for 1996. Therefore, this imaginary first-person tank rush is only feasible today.
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In spite of the flaws, the game was ingenious for the work of 1996 in a DOS environment. It captures the mood of it intended to do, but with enough quirks to keep it from being perfect. The fact that this game can capture one's imagination is enough for me to give it a positive comment. The soundtrack is what pushed three stars into four stars for my personal bias.