THEY - Xbox 360 (360), Playstation 3 (PS3), PC Previews


	Platform Xbox 360, PS3, PC Genre First-Person Shooter Publisher IMC/Metropolis Developer IMC/Metropolis ETA Q4 2009
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THEY

THEY came from nowhere to wreak havoc on mankind, and THEY will need to be vanquished before THEY vanquish the human race first. Who are THEY? Well, THEY are robotic alien beasts that will be the fearsome foe in THEY, a mystery first-person shooter that’s part Quake, part Doom, part Half-Life with the requisite big-ass guns fueling the big-ass shooting action that FPS games have nowadays.

Set in 2012 in London, gamers will play as a lone English solider, a survivor of a battle against “them” – a fight that decimates the lead character’s entire army squadron. There’s also one other survivor, the lead character’s best friend – a pilot. Along the gameplay path, it turns out and as our hero learns, that the robotic enemies are only the servant terror force for a mysterious enemy – and THEY need to be uncovered to defeat them. Adding a twist to the mystery, the lead character discovers he somehow has the ability to be aware of the presence of

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“them” and what means are necessary to make sure THEY are beaten before THEY beat mankind.

To stand out from the FPS crowd, THEY employs some nice features, not the least being upgradable weaponry. Each basic weapon has four upgrade slots, and with the planned hundreds – yes, hundreds – of upgrades, updates and

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modules, players can create a whole arsenal of customized instruments of extreme destruction at their disposal, including individualized touches like tattoos and camouflage. The game’s guns can be traded online, too, which should pique the interest of hardcore FPS gamers.

Visually, THEY has a similar look to Doom 3, using plenty of dark and creepy enclosed spaces to drive the fear factor to a heightened level that will also help to maintain the suspense of the “mystery” aspect of THEY. There’s also a use of dynamic lighting and particle effects using the proprietary NextNitrous engine that seems to be competent enough to give current FPS gaming engines a run for the money.

Multiplayer will be a big focus in THEY, as it will need to be in today’s gaming world of FPS online shooters from Halo 3 to Resistance: Fall of Man to Call of Duty 4 (and by the time THEY appears, sequels to both Resistance and Call of Duty). The development team is looking to provide over 20 hours of story-driven (heavy on the horror-mystery) single-player mission-based gameplay, too, which would be very, very ambitious considering that none of its major competitors in the FPS arena really come close to that amount of single-player gunplay.

A joint venture between Polish-based developer Metropolis with IMC, which lacks traditional game publishing experience although it has a public relations background, THEY is ignoring the usual big publishing house pathway to the store shelf – for now. The game was first displayed in 2007 and its announced gold date of Q4 2009 may have THEY still find its way into a well-known publishers clutches by then, especially when it comes to a North American release. But at this stage in its development, if THEY can provide the unique gun upgrade and trading/selling aspect along with its as-of-now impressive visuals while giving gamers an engrossing and long-lasting single-player game to go hand-in-hand with a strong (but currently completely unknown) multiplayer, THEY might be able to stand out from the usual sci-fi/military FPS fare no matter how unknown its current developer/publisher may be.

- Lee Cieniawa

lcieniawa@armchairempire.com

(May 28, 2009)