
<MAP NAME="boxmap-p8"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="14, 200, 103, 207" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" ><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/thearmchairem-20" ></MAP><img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120x240.gif" width="120" height="240" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p8" alt="Shop at Amazon.com">	Platform PC Genre Shooter Publisher Dreamcatcher Developer 4D Rulers ESRB M (Mature) Released Q2 2002

- Solid multiplayer - Variety of interesting weapons - Different character classes - Exploding power-ups - Stamina creates new dynamic to game

- It is sooooo bland - Single player campaign is a mere throw in - Walking down ladders is more difficult than it should be

Review: Unreal Tournament 2003 (PC) Review: Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza (PC) Review: Halo (XBox)
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Gore

Score: 5.0 / 10

There are some really obvious ways that I could make fun of the title of this game, but they seem too inviting. It’s as if the title is baiting me into making fun of it just so that afterwards, I’ll feel stupid. In much the same way, Gore baited me into wanting to play it. I had heard a bit about it prior to release and it’s the newest big release in the FPS genre in the last few weeks. Maybe it was the title, or the fact that it’s a science fiction based shooter, or that it’s not a sequel. Whatever it was, I thought I might like it and that it might offer something new and fresh. Unfortunately, the game has made me feel stupid for thinking that.

There is a very weak storyline involved for the single player where you are put into a combat simulator for training. Outside of it, war rages on the streets between gang forces called the MOB, and government forces trying to control these street gangs. Something goes wrong though in your training and soon you are spat out of the machine and are thrown into battle.

The single player campaign is a fair snooze. Enemies don’t really offer anything too challenging, maps are fairly predictable, and sometimes it can be difficult to tell what the designer wants you to do. Some portions of the maps are fairly linear in that they lead the gamer through a series of enemies where the enemies will react the same way each time through. A game shouldn’t frustrate or bore the player, and the single player campaign offers a bit of both.

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My biggest complaint is how difficult it is to get down a ladder. It is so easy to just coast off of a ledge because some of your characters are really fast movers. It is also really easy just to fall off of the ladder if you press the wrong direction. All in all, it’s just a poor design effort that sticks out.

The game does offer a few interesting ideas in the realm of FPS and these come through in the solid multiplayer experience. There is a

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selection of different character classes where speed, endurance, and strength all vary and come into play. Each character will begin each multiplayer session with a different set of weapons, according to their character class. Bigger, stronger characters can move faster with bigger weapons but have a slower rate of movement overall. Faster characters can use heavy weapons as well, but it will drain their stamina more quickly. Stamina also plays an important role in the game as running and jumping around will tire you out, and getting shot, falling, or being close to an explosion will quickly eat away your stamina.

Power ups explode when shot to punish those annoying campers, and creates a new strategic dynamic to the game. Most weapons have an alternate fire, and some are fairly interesting including a shield, and a stamina drain. Others though are basic fair and will be familiar to most gamers.

The multiplayer modes offered are the standard fare of today with the regular team and all out war modes offered. There’s no question that Gore offers solid multiplayer, but there’s nothing there that is spectacular enough to make Q3A, UT, CS, Medal of Honour, or Return to Castle Wolfenstein gamers switch. Even ranked as a budget title, you’d be better off picking up either Serious Sam game; those are budget titles worth your while.

With standard FPS games coming out these days of Soldier of Fortune 2 caliber, games like Gore just don’t cut it. If it had offered a more comprehensive and fun single player experience with a great storyline, it might be worth it for the legions of FPS fans. As it stands, it’s only just worthy of a place on my shelf, and the other game reviewers playing it. So fill in your own clever little stabs at the title of the game. You’ll probably have more fun doing that than you will playing this game.

- Mark Leung

(July 15, 2002)