|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Platform: PC, Xbox Genre: Action Publisher: CDV Developer: Brat Designs ETA: March 2004
|
Breed
After
reading that this game was being titled "Breed" I thought to
myself, “Huh? What? Wow! Now this sounds like a racy game, there’s
no way they’ll get this onto store shelves!”
Then I realized that the word was being used as a noun, not a
verb, and though I was initially a shade disappointed, what the game
does entail may be of interest to those with a taste for blasting the
living tar out of alien invaders on a fairly large scale.
Those who were expecting a game that would allow you to sow your
seed in a virtual world, move along, nothing to see here. The game takes place in the 27th century, and colonizing deep space is the hip, cool thing to do. Unfortunately in the flowery display thereof, the colonists had this crazy notion that the universe was filled with nothing but happy, peaceful beings that only want to join hands and sing Kumbaya. As such, they only took the bare necessities in terms of planetary defense grids. When will they learn? As you may expect, a particularly aggressive race, lovingly nicknamed “The Breed” by the colonists saunters on over and picks a fight. Back on Earth after much deliberation and delving through the usual bureaucratic red tape, the government sends the armed forces in to clean up the mess. The large fleet had the cream of the crop when it came to military strategists and the officer elite, while they were armed to the hilt |
|
|
with high-grade technology and a health supply of genetically engineered soldiers. After a long and taxing war the humans emerge triumphant, but have taken a few licks themselves. Only one ship, the Darwin, emerges from the struggle intact, the rest being so heavily damaged that they stay with the colonies. After limping home, the crew of the warship discover, much to their dismay, that while the Breed attacking the colonies were only a decoy, as the main, more heavily armed force was able to waltz right in and conquer Earth since the military geniuses back home neglected the little matter of covering their ass in |
Advertisement
|
|
|
this
little conflict.
Now the human race has been enslaved and are forced to serve the
Breed, building their cities and generally being submitted to all manner
of suffering that comes part in parcel with being conquered by
warmongering beings from beyond the stars.
There has been hope though, organized resistance is still up and
about on Earth, but they’ve been taking a fair bit of a beating up to
this point. With the Darwin
on the scene though, gains can be made as the two forces team up against
the Breed, who have not yet had the opportunity to fully establish
themselves on Earth, thus defenses are not yet fully operational, and an
infrastructure isn’t fully in place.
That being the case, it’s up to the remaining humans with
access to guns, fighters, and other such deliciously destructive tools,
to suit up and reclaim Earth.
This
whole process of fighting off the Breed will take place over 25
missions, many of them having multiple ways to be successfully
completed. This variety in
attacks comes largely from the small army (pun intended) of weapons and
vehicles available to players in breed.
There’s everything from fighters, to jeeps, to dropships, to
machineguns, to energy weapons for players to take advantage of in the
game in order to achieve their goals.
It’s looking quite a lot like Halo in what it allows players to
do, but with far greater variety in the arsenal department.
Besides these more conventional weapons, players will be able to
snap up discarded Breed vehicles, as well as use weapons attached to
their boots, and no, they aren’t vicious stilettos.
While all of these armaments are mighty tempting, not all
missions will be full-on frontal assaults.
There will still be a need for sneaky recon, and other such
missions where it’s more advantageous to be discreet.
One shouldn’t simply assume that this is an FPS either, as the
game will allow players to switch between the first and third person
perspective, as they like. While
single player modes are well and good, it’s pretty safe to say that a
lot of people will be more interested in the multiplayer possibilities
that Breed possesses. When
all is said and done a maximum of 16 players will be able to suit up and
play through the established multiplayer modes indigenous to gun toting,
tank driving, fighter flying game environments.
For those in the mood to just go nuts, Death Match will be ready
and waiting, and for players who actually want to have a go at teaming
up, for some co-op missions, like landing a dropship while shooting down
swarming attackers, or attacking a Breed base.
With the game supporting fairly large campaigns, hopefully these
cooperative modes will allow for all 16 players to team up at once to
storm a compound from multiple angles, or provide similar missions along
those lines. One thing that
co-op multiplayer will do is have shared vehicle control.
When you and a buddy hop aboard a tank for instance, one of you
will do the driving while the other works the turret, so teamwork will
become important. On
the aesthetic side of the fence Breed is sporting its very own
proprietary engine (the Mercury Engine) to handle the visuals.
Thus far the scenery is looking pretty good.
There appears to be a very sizeable depth of vision in the
environments, allowing players to see well off into the distance,
hopefully catching a glimpse of what the Breed are up to, while at the
same time making sure they don’t see you.
Character and vehicle models are looking appropriately
utilitarian, with just enough bad-assed flavoring thrown on to remind us
it’s a sci-fi blast-fest we’re looking at.
The game also promises 3D sound, so hopefully it will do a good
job of allowing people to track nearby enemies by perking up their ears,
not just trusting in the blind faith of a murky game of Marco Polo. PC
gamers still in a funk that they don’t have Halo on their platform of
choice may have a nice alternative in Breed, and XBox owners should know
that a port is planned for the console. - Mr. Nash (February 26, 2002) |
||
|
|
||
