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They Impressions
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THEY First Impressions
Metropolis unveils its customisation-crazy FPS. We brave robot menaces with aliens on their heads to find out more.
by Rob Burman, IGN UK
UK, September 4, 2007 - It's hardly news that, over the years, the videogame market has been flooded by first-person shooters. Of course, that means developers are increasingly looking for a unique hook to differentiate their game from the competition - whether that's super powers, futuristic locations, performance enhancing drugs or underwater worlds. Enter the shooter scene nowadays without a new angle and you're basically screwed - or at least, unlikely to be lauded from the rooftops. Luckily then, developer Metropolis has come up trumps with THEY's rather nifty ruse, turning a fairly standard FPS into a kind of Pimp My Gun for the customisation generation.
We'll hold off tackling THEY's special bits just yet though. First some background: THEY is set in London four years in the future, the city ravaged by numerous terrorist attacks - which doesn't bode well for the 2012 Olympics. Just as it looks like things can't get any worse, a bunch of alien robots invade and kick up the mother of all ruckuses. Initially, it looks like the robots are the main threat. However, as you uncover more on these weird androids, it transpires they're actually being manipulated by the spooky-looking Phantoms. We'll have more on that relationship later.
Pimping weapons is certainly THEY's most exciting feature.
According to Russian developer Metropolis, it wants to create a story that's wrapped in mysteries and puzzles. During development, the team has been inspired by TV shows including Lost, the X-Files and even Heroes. As a result, you can expect plenty of twists and turns along the way. Obviously though, Metropolis is playing its cards close to its chest on the story front so let's get to the gameplay.
Our first look at the game centred around a very small London square, ravaged by apparent warfare. It featured sandbags strewn as haphazard defences, derelict buildings damaged by countless fire fights and, of course, a red telephone box - evidentally now considered convenient shorthand for transatlantic recognition. Sadly no sign of double deckers, the queen, the Spice Girls or a hilarious joke about bad teeth as yet. Of course, this being the next generation and all, it's possible to some destroy buildings with a well placed grenade or two which, interestingly, is more than a simple aesthetic gimmick - laying waste to buildings uncovers shortcuts through levels and even secret power-ups. However, it's worth remembering that being hit by falling debris is seriously bad for your health so take precautions.
We need to see more of THEY before getting too giddy.
As small as the demo area was, it featured plenty of atmostpheric detail - most notably, some impressive day/night effects. Metropolis showed us how light and shadows change depending upon the time of day, upping the overall eeriness of proceedings when night falls. There's plenty of dynamic lighting on display too, from torches bolted to your guns to blinding bursts from your ammo, made of energy rather than traditional lead. While still early, it all looks very impressive, showing off the potential for Metropolis' NextNitrous engine well.
Once we'd seen enough of the environments, it was time to move onto combat. Firstly, we went up against a series of robots - each armed with a fairly brutal automatic weapon. As we mentioned though, bots are controlled by mysterious Phantoms - glowing creatures curled around android heads, a bit like extra-terrestrial hats. This means that, when going up against enemies, you have two options: either concentrate your fire on the robot or go for the Phantom. If you destroy the mechanical foe, its Phantom flies off to look for other nearby androids to control or, if impossible, whizzes off into space, never to return. Conversely, if you kill the Phantom, it vanishes, turning the robot into a useless walking tin can which can't do much more than stumble around shooting wildly. It's an intriguing touch and we're interested to see how this feature will be utilised in the final game.
Take out the Phantom and the robot is pretty useless.
However, by far the most compelling of THEY's features is the "pimp my gun" component. You see, rather than unlocking new guns as you progress from level to level, you only have a handful of weapons to use throughout the entire game. Destroying enemies and discovering pick-ups earns you credits to use to buy add-ons or upgrades for your weapons. This means you can customise guns to your hearts content. For instance, it's possible to create a sniper rifle that fires grenades or even a pistol that freezes enemies. Furthermore, you don't even have to worry about specific ammo for each gun as they all use "energy bullets", replenished at power generators dotted throughout stages.
Customisation can be taken even further, tuning the rate of fire, the spread of 'bullets' or, perhaps, the amount of ammo each weapon carries. There's even a virtual practice area to test out each add-on before heading onto the battlefield - ensuring your creation won't conk out the minute you step in front of a Phantom. Completists can also give their weapons unique paint jobs and decals. Metropolis hopes that, during online play, clans will use their own specifically-tailored weapons. What's more, guns can also be traded online, much like Forza Motosport's car-swap system.
Some buildings can be blown up to find shortcuts and secrets.
As exciting as all this sounds, it's still too early to see how well Metropolis can deliver on its promises. Undoubtedly, there's plenty of potential here but, if all this intriguing innovation is buried under a fairly bog standard alien-based shooter, it's going to quickly become redundant. For the time being, colour us cautiously optimistic about THEY until we get to see more. And, with a predicted release in 2009, there's still plenty of time to check in yet.
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The weapons sound pretty cool. I want to make a sniper grenade launcher! LOL! I also dug the part about either killing the phantom or the robot. That's a cool touch.
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09-04-2007, 02:17 PM
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