The Glade 4.0

I just stumbled across an advert for this on Steam last night. I reacted about how the thread title indicates, and my curiousity was seriously piquéd. So I did a little digging.

It looks like this game has flown under the radar, for the most part. It's got a few previews from the usual suspects online so far, despite being released earlier this week. No reviews from anybody I recognize, yet, though. (The only review I found gave it a 7.5, but not being familiar with the reviewer, I don't know what to make of it. Reading the review, too, it seemed more positive than the score indicated, further confounding me...)

Basically, it's a PC-only, DX10-only FPS game from the minds behind the benchmarks familiar to millennial PC gaming enthusiasts everywhere, Futuremark (makers of 3D Mark and FutureMark benchmarks). Sounds unremarkable, right? Well, it's multiplayer only (and appropriately priced at $20 considering that caveat) and takes place in zero-G. That, and it's got a truly stunning beauty, not surprising since the guys at Futuremark have been coding graphical engines that can stretch monster systems' muscles for a couple years at a time and yet still look stunning on more modest systems to show off the capabilities of the cards.. Steam has a few HD trailers out for it, and I'll embed the YouTubified versions below for convenient viewing, though they're not quite as crystal clear, even if you click for the HD version at YouTube itself.

I'm really interested in this. I'll probably wait a little bit before pulling the trigger (holiday season's coming up, after all), but I'm really enraptured by the trailers. They're quite beautiful, and it really looks like this will be for FPS gaming what Descent truly was for flight/space simming back in the '90's -- an astoundingly unique break-away from the confining limits of perceiving "up" and "down" in level design.

Click for yourself, and see what you think. If I do break down and get it sooner, I'll return here with an assessment.

[youtube]_c0NDbgJjQw[/youtube]
[youtube]yFhrAqYzIfc[/youtube]
[youtube]Dd-2dZMDAGw[/youtube]

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

If you get hit even one time, you should die.

Visor shots are instant kills, from what I hear. I think the notion is the rest of the suit is armored. Apparently hits to the jetpack will detonate the fuel cells, too.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

So I gave this a shot. I like it. I'm not very good at it, yet, but it's beautiful, stunning, and fun.

My ineptitude is more my rusty reflexes and poor aim rather than poor controls or total vertigo (though there's definitely going to be a learning curve to really make the movement work to my advantage); it's been a while since I've played a brutal FPS.Lenas, don't worry -- the suits can't take much in the way of hits. Basically just enough to give you a chance to try to return fire and get off a lucky visorshot or tankshot, and to punctuate the difference between those two instant kills and normal body-hits.

I still don't like team deathmatch; it's a lousy mode for any game. There's an assault & defend mode and a control point mode, too, though.

The rifle is fantastic. It's exactly the weapon I want when I'm issued a standard issue weapon with no upgrades or options. The scope mode is quite satisfying and it bursts like a dream. Still trying to figure out what all three grenade-launcher ammunitions do.

I'm running an E6600 Core 2 Duo with 4 gigs of DDR2 and a 768 MB 8800 GTX; it's about a three year old system, now, IIRC. I was able to keep the textures and lighting at "balanced" and crank the resolution up to 1920x1200 while maintaining an appreciably smooth framerate. My fears that I'd be scrambling for framerate (the minimum specs are E6600, 8800 GT, and 2 GB RAM) were unfounded. It's gorgeous.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Steam is running a promo in which they have given me a few "guest passes" for Shattered Horizon. It looks as if they're good through the 16th.

If you're interested in giving this game a whirl, check the system requirements (DirectX 10 compliant card (so GeForce 8 series or later, or Radeon HD 2x00 or later), with Vista or 7 as the OS are the big sticking points) and then PM me.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

And that's my 3. I'll keep my eye out, maybe we can shoot each other up some!

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Futuremark's updated the game twice, now, with free content. Doubled the maps available to 8, and added 4 or 5 weapons and some more grenade types.

Furthermore, there's a free weekend on Steam this weekend, 3rd through the 6th.

I think a few of you already have it, and we should get some play in sometime (Saturday evening?) along with folks here who want to try it out.

I suck, just to preface.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Nobody?

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I planned on hopping on, but I was a little preoccupied this weekend. You can probably catch me on there soon though.

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