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There is no cover system in Damnation. This is an old-school balls-out fast-paced shooter in the vein of Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament 2004 (it actually began life as a mod for the latter). Damnation was as an entry into the 2005 ‘Make Something Unreal’ competition, eventually finishing in a very impressive second place. Then a first-person shooter, Damnation opened eyes with its unorthodox steampunk-Western style, but its real draw was the fusion of its fast-paced combat with exploration more in keeping with traditional platform games like Prince of Persia. Several years and many tweaks later, Damnation is poised to enthrall a wider audience.
Lead Designer Jacob Minkof cites Sony’s Ico and Shadow of the Colossus as inspirations, and this is obvious in the level design. At the very beginning of each stage, the entire level is laid out in front of you. Consider the opening level. Our hero, the Van Helsing-esque Hamilton Rourke, stands atop a cliff edge, staring at the solitary bridge that divides America in half. This is an alternate-history America in which a civil war between the Confederate and the Union factions has decimated the country. An industrialist named Prescott has decided to take control of the country himself, and his private military are now thundering towards your side of the divide. So if we were you, and, er, you were Rourke, we’d head to that bridge and blow it up, pronto.
From atop the cliff-face, we chart our route to the bridge. The only hospitable route to our goal is through a ghost town packed with Prescott’s forces, which is... you know, great. To our left we see that there’s a zip-wire leading directly down to the village, so from this vantage point we can plot our course thoroughly. Not all levels are this linear, though. In later levels, you’ll be able to see up to three miles into the distance. It gives the game a terrific sense of scale.
Since this is a game about exploration, there are numerous different routes you can take through the levels, all of which converge at certain points. Rourke is an athletic guy and can wall-kick his way up surfaces, shimmy up poles and clamber onto platforms directly above him. However, at some point in Damnation’s development, Blue Omega reached the point where they had to decide if it was a platformer or a fast-paced shooter, and they went for the latter. As such, the game’s very forgiving when it comes to platforming – there’s a predicting mechanism in place that allows you to make jumps without the need for pixel-perfect accuracy, and there’s even a modifier that lines Rourke up for his next leap.
As a result, you can vault, leap and spring around the environment with ease, allowing you to concentrate on the swathes of enemies intent on clipping your wings. It’s an edge you’ll need, as in later stages, you’ll find that your opponents have been partaking in a special Prescott-developed serum that heightens their reaction time and bumps up their overall speed as well. You’ll have to keep on the move to keep these maniacs at bay.
So that, in a nutshell, is Damnation. Doesn’t sound much like Gears at all, does it? One thing they do have in common is that they’re both Grade A fun – and, if you decide you’re only going to need one shooter this winter, well, you’re going to be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. The story and setting are intriguing, setting a sold base for an unpretentious, action-packed shooter that could boast replayability by thesteam-powered train-load. Damnation might not be the loudest voice among the scads of shooters this winter – but it has plenty to say.
Sep 8, 2008
