Hi guys, Taiwan PAL gamer is back to review another N64 game from his backlog!
Today's review: Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M
Alongside 3D platformers, the N64 is probably most renowned for its first person shooters. Of course, there are the big names like Goldeneye, the Turok games and Perfect Dark, and several decent PC ports too, but there are also many 'also-rans' in this genre. Armorines definitely falls into this category. Released by Acclaim and developed by Acclaim Studios London (sister-developer to Iguana which developed the Turok games), this game is reminicent of the Turok games in look and feel, particularly Turok 2. However, the similarities stop there, and although this is by no means a BAD game, it leaves a tremendous amount to be desired!
The game is structured in a standard manner for FPS games of the time. Each level plays sequentially, requiring the player to fight their way from point A to B, completing a small number of objectives along the way. Don't go in expecting Goldeneye levels of complexity or interest in these missions, however, as many of them can be completed just by playing through the level normally. There are 20 levels in the game, divided unevenly across 5 different environments. Between each level you get a rather uninspired text scroll, detailing the plot and mission objectives. This lack of inspiration pervades the whole game, unfortunately, from presentation and design, to gameplay and music... Almost everything about this game is simply functional, and the game as a whole pretty much never rises above this level.
However, unlike many average games, there is a little bit more to say about this one. It isn't quite so simple to write the whole game off, as you can tell that a huge amount of effort went into it... everywhere you look there are these small flashes of talent. Unfortunately, for every one of these flashes, the overall impression and experience drags them back down. For example, the enemy designs are really well modelled and textured, and the animation is actually superb. They are all giant bugs, and they move very creepily and realistically, which is very impressive given the number of moving parts to each one and that this is running on N64. However, being giant bugs, there is nothing we haven't seen before in other games, and this is compounded by some of the worst AI I have seen in an N64 game. From level 1 to level 20, the bugs run mindlessly toward you, getting caught on scenery and walls, slashing around with zero interest in their own survival. This means that every stage in the game can be beaten by running backwards, shooting with your regular weapon, there is ZERO reason to change up your strategy at any point.
The graphics and visual design are similarly afflicted. Graphically things look decent, especially in the Hi-Res expansion pak mode. This is one of the few N64 games I have played that actually runs BETTER in Hi-Res mode than in standard mode, and the game holds to a high and steady framerate throughout. However, the large levels are very sparsely populated with objects and items... expect empty room after empty room, and big blank foggy landscapes. None of the interesting little details you can find in games such as Goldeneye or Duke Nukem 64 can be found in this game, and you can absolutley forget about interactive objects. Your character can run at a fast pace in this game, but you will still feel like you are moving slowly in these huge, empty environments!
There is a reason I haven't introduced the characters or premise to the game. There basically aren't any characters (or at least characterisation), and the premise is so generic as to be completely uninteresting. One thing
I cannot believe is that this game is actually based on a comic book! I only found that out researching the game for this review! I cannot believe that a game this generic, bland and uninspired actually could be based on anything that had previously been conceived by (presumably) writers and artists... Whatever there was in that comic book, none of that is here.
Don't get me wrong though! There ARE some interesting things to do in this game, just not many. There are bosses, there are some decent objectives here and there and a few decent weapons too (although not much to do with them and limited ammo). There are even whole levels that rise above the rest: I must say that the last 5 levels taking place in the final environment ARE actually a lot more fun and much better designed than those preceding them. However, getting to these parts is barely worth the time and effort to do so. This is not a hard game, not really, but it IS hard to stay interested enough to play. The gameplay is repetitive, especially the combat, the levels are monotonous and long, and you always feel like you are waiting for the REAL game to kick in, and it never really does...
That's the main problem with this game. For all its technical functionality and small flashes of interest, it never really grabs you and gives you a reason to play it. It definitely lacks the fun factor, and even disregarding that, narratively there is NOTHING going on here. I would recommend this game to people interested in FPS games on N64, but only as an illustration of how other games work so much better... and only if you have nothing actually fun to play! Never before has there been a game for which the word AVERAGE was more ideally suited, and it is a shame that the talent and effort clearly involved in the development of this game never gelled enough to elevate it much beyond that.
Thanks for reading guys, any thoughts leave them below as usual! I am actually interested to see how many others have actually played this game, as I don't see it mentioned very often!
(Also, my previous review of CBFD can be found here:
http://nintendoage.com/forum/mess...
