Review : Universe at War

You can consider me a cynic, but I don't think I bend the truth too much when I say that the announcement of Starcraft 2 represented an extremely hard blow for real-time strategy developers. Titles which previously could be considered interesting (or even spiritual successors to Starcraft) suddenly became only appetizers until the release of one of the most expected follow-ups in history. So the only option for the competition was (and still is) to release their game as fast as they can before being “swept over” by the madness of the birthing of the new Blizzard Entertainment wonder kid.
After impressing us in 2006 with Star Wars: Empire at War and Forces of Corruption, probably the only quality real-time strategy games placed in the Star Wars universe, Petroglyph Studios focused on an internal IP, the main attraction point of this new title being the possibility to personalize the units “on-the-fly”, depending on the situation on the battlefield.
Although it takes place in the near future, the Universe at War story is a bit different than the usual standard fare. Yes, Earth is invaded yet again by a hostile alien race, called the Hierarchy - the galactic equivalent of a locust swarm - and of course humanity is almost obliterated, even though scientists warned the world's governments before the imminent disaster. But this time around we don't need to lead the human race to victory, because a short while after the Hierarchy's initial attack, the Novus forces appear, androids which have the sole purpose of fighting a guearilla war against the Hierarchy, to revenge the annihilation of their creators. As if this wasn't enough, the permanent battles on the Earth's surface alert the last survivors of an ancient and extremely powerful race, the Masari, which refugeed on Earth after they were defeated by the Hierarchy. And they realize that the only solution to end this conflict is to eradicate everyone.


Fortunately for Petroglyph, few real-time strategy games can boast completely different factions in terms of look and game-play, and Universe at War is one of them, because each belligerent force will need different tactics and strategies to win. Having the experience of thousands of conquered and devastated planets, the Hierarchy prefers frontal attacks, as the term subtlety isn’t featured in their vocabulary. The first interesting aspect regarding the Hierarchy is that besides the initial landing point, its bases are mobile, taking the form of colossal walkers, which will certainly remind you of Steven Spielber’s War of the Worlds. Barring the three main types of walkers (Assembly, Habitat and Science), the Hierarchy also uses flying saucers (a little tribute to Mars Attacks!) as well as very strong infantry units and tanks, and the ability to turn civilians into mutants.
The walkers are one of the most terrifying sights on the battlefield, each type having its own upgrades and weapons which can be used (only the Science mode can use one of the two Hierarchy's super-weapons for example). To knock down this kind of monster, the opponents will first have to destroy the armor which protects the upgrade slots (if it exists), the slots themselves and in the the end, the core reactor. And because of their size and number of upgrades which they can use, knocking down a walker is quite a challenge, especially if you play against an experienced opponent.
Another interesting aspect is that the drones which gather resources are mobile too - they don't need to return to a refinery. Because of this, economic strangulation is quite difficult to pull off against a Hierarchy player, because you’ll need to constantly look for his drones, as they won't be in the same area for too long.



On the other side of the barricade, Novus is the Hierarchy's opposite, with its units being more fragile, but extremely fast and easy to produce. The main advantage of these androids is their ability to disassemble into nanites and “flow” through a special transport network, making mobility and “hit and run” tactics essential in the long-term strategies for this faction. The fact that the units are very fragile means that a Novus player must have a very good micromanagement too, because during battles, if you don't use a unit or a special ability at the right moment, you may very well lose the fight.
To balance the unit's fragility, the Novus relays which make up the transport network mentioned above are permanently camouflaged, with special units being needed to detect them. The drones which gather resources can also use the relays as well, which means that a Novus player doesn't really need a secondary base built right next to an area rich in resources in order to exploit it. And although individually they are not very tough, in larger groups Novus units are extremely dangerous, and a decent number of Ohm robots can knock down even a Hierarchy's walker, using the Swarm ability.
Unlike the Hierarchy and the Masari, the Novus can also use temporary bonuses (patches). There are 12 bonuses, though you can use only two at the same time (you have to build a Science Center first). Another problem is that you can't use the same bonus forever, as you will need to activate them in rotation, which makes it necessary to carefully schedule them. Some of the patches are very powerful if they are used in tandem – Viral Cascade + Viral Reboot for example – while others can represent a short-notice solution to a particular problem – Coolant Boost, Overclocking or Emergency Flow.


And so we’ve reached the point where we can talk about the Masari, a race with a technology far superior to that of the Novus or the Hierarchy's. Gameplay wise, the Masari can be considered the standard faction for a real-time strategy game, with some players marking it as a “turtle” race, because its evolution is a bit slower than the other factions, and the starting units aren't that powerful.
But once they evolve, the Masari units and technologies are some of the most dangerous in the game. An interesting aspect is represented by the Light/Dark energy system, as only one of these two modes can be used at a given time. In Light mode, the Masari units have increased visibility and attack range, the attacks have “light” bonuses, but the movement speed is reduced. In Dark mode, the firing rate and the movement speed are increased, units and buildings get the equivalent of shields (Dark Matter Armor), the attacks have a “slow” effect, but the aerial units are grounded and the visibility is reduced. As a result, a Masari player will have to carefully consider at the advantages and disadvantages of each mode vs. the enemies on the battlefield, the available units and the researched technologies.
But as interesting as the three races are, the single-player campaigns leave a lot to be desired. It’s true that a single player campaign in a real-time strategy game has the role of a broader tutorial, as the cases in which you want to finish the story for the plot and characters are very rare, but in Universe at War, the single-player part will be disappointing. Besides the fact that the missions are heavily scripted, and the bugs can prevent the activation of some triggers, the technologies which you can research are limited, and you don't really have the ability to customize your armies like in the multiplayer mode.

This is one of the most dangerous downsides of the game, because a novice will always start with the single-player campaign, and once he encounters the above-mentioned problems, there is a big chance that he will abandon the game altogether without testing the skirmish or the multi-player mode, or without reaching the Masari campaign where the meta-game (like the one in Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends, Battle for Middle Earth series or Warhammer 40.000: Dark Crusade) is presented for the first time. The general impression that the campaigns give is that they were put together on the last stretch of development time, and although some events won't be surprising, players have a reduced time to know the characters, the races and their technologies, so particular actions may come across as forced.
Another problem – although this is about personal preference – is the camera. Or rather the limited zoom-out level available, with the perspective being very close to the battlefield. This shortcoming is somewhat balanced by the relatively low maximum unit limit (90), but there will be a lot of moments in which you will wish for a better perspective of the battlefield, mostly when one or two Hierarchy walkers will appear, which literally fill the whole screen.
Fortunately, the multiplayer mode is the place where Universe at War trully shines, but even here there are some problems, “thanks” to Microsoft and Games for Windows LIVE. To play online, you have to be registered on Windows Live. The game comes packed with a one month trial for the Gold subscription of LIVE, after which, if you don't want to spend €7 on a monthly basis, you will be downgraded to Silver level, which means that you can't access the Conquer The World mode, you won't participate in Ranked matches and you won't obtain medals, which offer you various bonuses in skirmish or multiplayer games (each race has its specific medals, alongside other five, which are common to all factions).
The only online options left will be Custom and Quick Match. Why do you have to pay for features which should be free? Call 0-800-WENEEDMONEY and a Microsoft representative will kindly answer all your questions.


The direct result of the online Conquer The World - LIVE Gold subscription link is that you hardly find players for this mode, regardless of when you will try to play. Things are somewhat better for the Quick and Custom Match modes (but not by much), but if you want Ranked matches you’ll need patience until you find an opponent. There is of course the option to play in the skirmish mode or a Conquer The World scenario against the AI, but despite its admirable efforts (it knows to fall back for example if it sees that it’s losing a battle), the AI can't be compared with human creativity.
But once you start a multiplayer match, you won't have enough time to think about these things, because you will have to find the most efficient way to defeat your enemies as fast as you can. Thanks to the research system's flexibility and other gameplay elements, it will be very difficult to always use the same build-order/strategy; as a Novus player for example, you can try to focus on the aerial units card to attack the Hierarchy's walkers, but you will have to move quickly, because the upgrade slots can be reconfigured on the spot if there are enough resources available, and you can have the unpleasant surprise to see how a Habitat Walker equipped only with plasma turrets suddenly transforms into a walking anti-aerial fortress.
If you play with the Hierarchy, you must know from the beginning what to do with the walkers, because you can only have maximum 3 at the same time. Will you use them as assault units, or will you armor them from head to toes and use the other slots for unit production? Even so, you must not ignore the Repair Pods when configuring a walker, because once destroyed, an upgrade slot can't be repaired and you can get into an unpleasant situation when you only have half of its attack or production capacity.


As a Masari player, besides the Light/Dark modes juggling you will have to take care of the Architects, as they are one of the most versatile units in the game. Their main role is to build and repair buildings, but they can also boost the unit production, the fire rate and the damage of the turrets or speed up resource gathering. Considering the maximum unit limit, you will have to find the optimum balance between the Architects' number and the military units themselves, but also a way to protect them, because the Architects will be the main targets in case of a surprise attack on your base.
Besides these considerations, you have to also be aware of the fact that although all the races have 3 research branches (Assault, Mutagen, Quantum – Hierarchy | Computing, Nanotech, Signal – Novus | Light Mode, Balanced Mode, Dark Mode – Masari), the total number of technologies (suites) that you can research in a single game is limited, so you can't use them all. This only happens if you play with the Defcon mode activated, in which case all the research branches are gradually and automatically unlocked for all the players after a certain period of time. So you will have to think very well what you research, because a wrong step will usually mean defeat. Yes, you can undo researched suites (but without recovering the resources spent) to pursue another one, but if you play against an experienced player, it's nearly impossible to have time for something like this, because the units' limit automatically brings a large tactical importance to any battle. If you lose a big part of your forces in a single confrontation, it will be very hard to come back and to win the match, especially if your opponent knows where your base is. It’s not impossible, but it's very hard.


To bring even more variety, every race has three heroes, which are the main characters in the single-player campaigns, and they can also be summoned on the battlefield in skirmish matches or multiplayer if you research the correct suites. Even though they have different strengths, abilities and weaknesses, the heroes can be placed in one of three categories: Assault, Support or Stealth, with Vertigo being very good for those who prefer speed, hit-and-run attacks and scouting, while Orlok The Eternal is a true war machine.
The special abilities are their most important weapons though, being able to change the tide of a match if they are used at the correct time. The Novus Founder, for example, can activate Flow Tap to create a temporary relay through which an entire army can pour through and attack the enemy base, while the teleport ability of Prince Zessus can be used in some very interesting ways.
Considering the number of available options, a clumsy interface would have buried the game 10 feet under, but in Universe at War it's a very ergonomic one, with the research menu, unit and hero abilities, production buildings, units groups, Novus temporary bonuses, Masari Light/Dark modes or the upgrade slots for the Hierarchy's walkers being only 2 or 3 mouse-clicks away. This accessibility is very useful for creating reinforcements without getting back to the base or using all the abilities of your army without remembering dozens of keyboard shortcuts. Also, the tool-tips are very generous, detailing buildings/units/technologies descriptions, strengths and weaknesses, the researching/building completion time, the available/needed resources and so on. And speaking of resources, in Universe at War there is only one general resource, the second element which confines the army creation being the maximum population number. So during battles, the accent will be put on tactical side of things rather than on juggling with x types of resources to build more advanced units.


This will be useful when you will play one of the Conquer the World single-player scenarios, because the “global” buildings require the same type of resource. Also, all the action takes place in real time, so you will always have to be on your toes at what happens with the other territories on the globe, so you won’t be taken by surprise by your enemies. Structures and improvements built on the global map (like defensive turrets) will also be present during skirmish matches, which decide who controls a certain territory. If you win, the created units will follow you through the next mission, with each hero having a maximum number of units which can make up his army. Also keep in mind the fact that heroes have different action range, fact which limits their movement ability, turning particular territories into disputed strategic choke-points.
Although during battles you don't really have time to admire the landscapes, the atmosphere of a world coming to an end is very well reproduced: civilians will start screaming and running when they will see your (or your enemies') units, the car alarms will automatically start if something explodes near them or if a walker will pass nearby, the helpless cows will start mooing when they are lifted by the Hierarchy's drones and so on. Also, the feeling that you are surrounded by bugs when you are directing a walker to the enemy base is surprisingly satisfying and mostly you will choose to smash some buildings or parking lots just for the fun of it. The music composed by Frank Klepacki (who also scored the soundtracks for the Westwood Studios titles and the Empire at War games) fits very well with the action on-screen, with its tempo is rising right in at the moment when you are attacked, but the tune being specific to each race. The voice acting is good... not bad, but it could have been better.


On the visual front, Universe at War looks good, although the limited zoom-out level won't allow you to really appreciate the clean, Apple-like, style of the Novus bases or the huge size of the Hierarchy's walkers. A little warning though: the frame-rate can vary during battles when there are a lot of units on screen if you play on high resolutions or maximum details. So, don't activate them if you don't have a really powerful system. Unfortunately, the game has some annoying bugs, which can make the difference between victory and defeat, especially during an edge-of-your-seat match-up. It happened to me on many occasions to try and group some units with the classical group combination CTRL + #, only to see that nothing happens. After several attempts I noticed that there is a certain lag between the command and its execution, being necessary to perform an... easier key pressing to recognize the command. This is also valid for the ulterior group selection performed with the numeric keypad. The units are also kind of stubborn, sometimes not following an order until they stand idle for a couple of seconds. The path-finding isn’t that brilliant, fact that can be very dangerous when you have to retreat.
Universe at War is a true diamond in the rough, a game with great potential, but sabotaged by the LIVE system and some elements which can be repaired by a future patch (the bugs, the limited zoom and the pathfinding). When it comes to the online multiplayer however things aren't really that simple, because forcing players to pay for features which could have (and should have) been free isn't the best way to build a strong community.
A ray of hope comes from the moders and their possibilities to modify the game. Some total conversions are already in development, but some time will pass until these will get to a playable stage. And until then, it’s highly possible that Jim Raynor & company will finally make their long-awaited on stage and strike down the competition, regardless of its potential.

Update: at the date of the review’s writing, the #2 patch wasn't available. As such, some shortcomings mentioned in the article are no longer valid, so the score for the #2 version of Earth Assault would be 88.

Review: Viking - Battle for Asgard

For a game that doesn't do any one thing particularly well, why is Viking: Battle For Asgard so much fun?

Put simply, it's because the developers of this Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game understand what turns a player into an addict. Viking's medieval sword-and-axe combat is merely alright, the visuals won't wow you, and the story is barely there. But the game's gradually expanding world ramps up perfectly, constantly teasing you with one more goal just out of reach, then another, then another.

Next thing you know, it's three in the morning and you can't remember how many legions of monsters you've slaughtered.

Viking is the story of a lone warrior tasked by the Norse goddess Freya to beat back the horrific armies of the death-goddess Hel, who has taken over the land of Midgard. To do it, you've got to liberate your fellow warriors and take back key military locations like quarries and lumberyards, so you'll be ready for a series of full-scale, thousand-man assaults on enemy strongholds.

One reason why Viking is so compelling is that it realizes its core competency and sticks closely to it. Although the setup makes the game sound like some sort of military tactics sim, and the open world brings to mind role-playing games like Fable, it's really an unabashed action game. You're on your own mowing down the enemies with your trusty sword, and the only strategy you need to employ is where to slash next.

But it's not all mindless hack-and-slash. If you run smack into the middle of a Legion-occupied area, you'll quickly be overwhelmed and die. Stealth is key. Now, generally when the word "stealth" is brought up in the context of any videogame whose title does not contain the words Metal Gear, it's a bad thing. Not so for Viking. Yes, main character Skarin is basically a lumbering oaf without a sneaky bone in his body. But his enemies make up for this by having the approximate combined intelligence of half a potato chip.

This leads to several ridiculous but undeniably entertaining stealth situations in which you tramp conspicuously around the outskirts of an enemy base, picking off preposterously inattentive monsters one by one as you thin out their numbers and move inward towards the oblivious rest of them. If you get behind an enemy undetected you can one-hit kill him with a special move you earn later in the game; these are generally accompanied by a gruesome dismemberment and a feeling of delicious power.

Once you've accomplished all of the smaller goals, you and a thousand other dudes take on one of the enemy's massive strongholds. This is a sight to behold when you first see it -- insane numbers of soldiers from both sides flood onto the battlefield and start going at it. There's a tradeoff, though, because the action slows down noticeably as the console chugs to keep up with everything.

This is not to impugn Viking's tech, however. In fact, good technical tuning is a big part of the reason why the game is so addictive. When you first start the game, it loads everything it needs into memory, and from that moment on, you're never pulled from the experience. When you use the giant monuments that let you warp around the three large island maps, it happens instantly. When you die, you're immediately put back into action. Even when you clear out one of the giant enemy bases, it's seamlessly converted into a friendly one. The game never stops -- not for loading, not for lame cut scenes, not for grinding or pointless busy work.

At some point, you realize that looking back at each of Viking's qualities, it's hard to really put your finger on anything that's truly standout -- and yet it's compelling. In a way, it's very much like last year's Xbox 360 game Crackdown, which also nailed the carrot-and-stick approach to game design. Give Viking: Battle For Asgard an hour, then see if you can stop. I bet you can't.

Rating 8.6

Review : Painkiller Overdose

Overdose of cliches

If you love real good action games than you must think at Painkiller. Only God knows how I destroyed and banished Diablo's minions for dozens of hours . Then the expansion pack , Battle Out of Hell , came and set the series as one of the best games in the genre , like Doom, Wolfenstein and Serious Sam: The First Encounter. Sadness and frustration are left away once you enter the grotesque and funny world of Painkiller – hell, as you never seen it before . Rarely you see a game where moments of terror are followed by funny moments , which determines you to go further , to approach step by step toward Satan's nest . I wont forget the orphan asylum , where little children on fire were following me , trying to set me ablaze and the little burned girls with their scream that would make you freeze . I can still see how they were running toward me , with their arms width open , thinking that in my arms they would find the salvation from Hell . After I escape the orphan asylum i meet new enemies , the clowns with grenades .

An expansion for Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell is still a distant possibility , while a handful of smart and crazy modders (I mean it in a good way) thought that it would be nice to give us a single-player conversion for Painkiller , to make waiting a bit easier . Slowly but surely , Painkiller: Overdose took shape and transformed itself in a game of it's own . They say that trying is without death .

Or is it ?

In Overdose you are Belial , a bastard born from the love between an angel and a demon . Belial is very pissed off because he is trapped in a cage for some thousands of years under the order of Lucifer . As soon as the hero from the previous game kills Lucifer , Belial is given the chance to escape , and he doesn't refuse it . On the way out of Hell he spills all the hate he accumulated over the years , over devils , skeletons , ninjas , mummies , demons and other hell spawns .

The locations as well as the enemies vary , but without a logic , and the weapons work the same like in the previous games , like if they changed only the skin . Even the saving system is the same : reaching a checkpoint and receiving the corresponding health boost while the hordes of evil continue their rampage Then , after you complete a task you are rewarded with a tarot card , one of the few reasons that make you replay the same level again . The whole game brings you over 40 new enemies which in fact are only four –head bashing monsters , hell spawns with bats , ranged demons that spit from afar and huge enemies that are easily killed . The enemies have almost no AI , because they don't hide , they don't use evasive maneuvers and they don't curse or swear . But still , I had the feeling as I played Overdose that this game is a version of Painkiller without stamina , without action , original weapons and without the smart punch-lines . After all , Overdose is nothing that a mindless FPS , with huge loading times . Loading times that are not excused by any high-end graphics or level design . The game is pretty hard to play , because you have the chance to die on any level on almost all the difficulties and very frustrating is the fact that you have to wait one minute each time you die . Don't ask me why ...

Read and burn !

For it wasn't for the huge loading time , Painkiller : Overdose would have been a tolerable game , but the rampage of mindless dead creatures without any personality is a grim site . Overdose is a game that is trying to beat the original Painkiller but it lack the action and the flavor that it's predecessor had . There are better ways to spend those 8 hours that this mod guarantees so how about some beer ?

Rating 6.3

Review : SimCity Societies

My social energy is better than yours .

From my experience with this game I can say that Simcity didn't evolved a lot as years went by , but in the end the producers got bored of the same game mechanics and here we are . Tilted Mill, the new team , came with some minor innovations that gave birth to a not so good clone of City Life . The reasons that determined them to destroy a perfect series can be found in games like – Caesar IV and Cities: Children of the Nile, both already destroyed . I believe that the guys from Tilted Mill are a kind of Uve Boll of sim games made by Electronic Arts.

What are the problems ? Beside a prison and a propaganda building I can't see what else they did right . I mean - I can't get past this problem – you have someone like Will Wright, who is smarter than you and he does a great job at creating games that work perfectly and 'catchy' . Of course they thought that they can do better so the result was a game that is more Caesar IV than a SimCity. My level of disappointment is huge . Now don't you think that my disappointment is created by some kind of conservatorism . It's because they made a game without flavour , without a 'soul' if I might say . I will prove you this remark with the following .

Some examples

So, SimCity Societies is organized around some energies not on the people that require those „resources”, as they call it . These resources are around seven and they are Spirituality, Production, Creativity etc. In the city you won't be able to determine economical , industrial , residential zones as you could previously do it. You will build building by building . Some of them will produce these energies other consume it . The big problem of the game is that it is very hard to balance the building that produce with the ones that consume . Like an example , you will have buildings that cumulate Productivity and some that consume this resource , without having a logic . Another example is that paint shops consume Creativity instead of producing it , as it would be normal . But Creativity is cumulated by a wall , yes that is correct , a simple wall . There are many examples like this one and the bad thing is that you will have to browse through almost 500 of these buildings . I'm very sure that the producers invested much more time in how the buildings look than how the buildings behave . That's why , if you want ,with 5 buildings you can construct your entire city . There is no need for 500 buildings doing the same thing. Let's continue . It doesn't matter where you construct the buildings . For example you can put the buildings that create electricity in a corner of the map as well in the middle of the city. The efect will be the same. There is no need to connect them because in the moment you construct them they will start producing electricity for the buildings near them. I did an experiment and built in the middle of the forest some of these building that produce Electricity and the result was that they were offering the required quantity of this resource without being visited by people . Thus we have a complete lack of interdependency in a city which is against the basic principles that should characterize a game like this . Regarding the people there are only three resources needed : electricity , jobs and entertainment . These needs can be fast covered and the strange thing is that jobs are never a problem because your citisens don't seem to care if they have jobs or not . Not even the houses aren't needed in large quantities because only a handfull of houses can acustom thousands of citisens .

The end .. of the series

There are hundreds of examples like this one and bugs , lots of them . Congratulations Tilted Mill for another franchise destroyed . Simcity Societies is a simple and screwed game .

Rating 6.3

Review : Shadowgrounds Survivor

Ganymede. The largest satellite in our solar system, it's basically a big ball of ice and salt water. Why on earth (pun intended) would humanity want to inhabit the place, much less a warlike alien race? Why ask why? Colonize it we did, and invade it they did. This was the basic premise of Shadowgrounds, a fantastic budget shooter released in 2005. Rather than leap straight into a sequel (Shadowgrounds II: Pick up a mop!), the Finnish developers decided to “remix” this game and release a hybrid expansion/follow-up. The result is Shadowgrounds Survivor, and it's every bit as good as the first release.

Like its immediate predecessor, Survivor is a top-down shooter that hearkens back to the days of Smash TV and Total Carnage, except that there is a much more detailed plot and a heavy nod to role-playing games. As opposed to the blanket machine-part upgrade system of Shadowgrounds, Survivor has implemented a more refined approach, with unique class abilities, general class abilities and weapon abilities tailored to each of the three characters. While not as insanely detailed as say, The Witcher, the extra depth is a velvety smooth addition to this budding franchise.

In Shadowgrounds, you played a mechanic named Wesley Tyler, an unlikely hero thrust into an epic tale of survival against impossible odds. A long-standing colony on the Jupiter moon of Ganymede is overrun by unending hordes of infernally chitinous aliens, and Wesley fights them and saves the day. In Survivor, you play as three different, isolated survivors as they battle through the same invasion. It's the same events and the same basic story, just different peoples experiencing it.

This time through, you begin as Luke Giffords, one of the last remaining marines on Ganymede. Your weapon options are a pistol, an assault rifle and a rocket launcher — not all at once, mind you, but these are what you'll have to work with as you find them. After a few levels, you switch to a maintenance worker by the name of Bruno Lastmann. This grizzled old Russian has adopted an interesting way of staying awake — he drinks flamethrower fuel. This avatar employs a flamethrower (as you may have already guessed), a shotgun and a mini-gun cannon. Finally, you take control of Isabel Larosse, a special-ops sniper who remains dangerously close to a full psychotic break the entire time you're controlling her. Isabel uses a pistol, a rail-gun sniper rifle and a plasma cannon. All three of these unlikely heroes share the same goals: get to the New Atlantic Colony before the alien hordes do, get the city's defenses up, and pray that it's enough to keep the monstrous things at bay long enough for help to arrive.

Basic gameplay is still kill or be killed, run and gun, etc. Every kill nets you some experience, which is banked toward increased levels, and each level brings with it some upgrade points. Weapon upgrade parts are still found on the battlefield, dropped by enemies, but now you also get class-specific abilities and character tweaks. These are what increase with each level. Using the marine as an example, you'll be able to buy quick weapon reloads, tough skin and fragmentation grenades. This is in addition to the basic set of character improvements that all three avatars have: radar display, increased health, critical hits, and an "auto-doctor" that will dose you with a health kit (if you have one stockpiled) if you fall below 50% health at any time.

The weapon upgrades are, simply put, fantastic. I've never seen a game so eager to make the default sidearm so ruthlessly effective. Both the marine and the sniper get a pistol, but they have different properties when enhanced. Luke can upgrade the clip size, add on a Taser stun, and tag on a smartgun link that, once locked on, will kill in one shot whatever alien at which it's targeted. Contrariwise, Isabel gets to coat her pistol rounds in tranquilizers (slowing the movement of all opponents), further coat her rounds in fast-acting venom, and her trusty pea-shooter gives her a temporary energy shield. In both instances, these weapons become among the most powerful in the game. Most of the upgrades are similar to those that were featured in the original Shadowgrounds, but because they're split between the characters and often between the weapons, they carry the illusion of being totally different.

Each of the three different avatars also has a unique special attack. These are fairly expensive upgrades to purchase, but all are exceptionally potent. The marine gets a one-shot, one-kill attack against the massive walking flesh-hulks called Brutes. When used, Luke jumps on the back of one of the massive aliens and puts a single pistol shell through its brain. The fuel-guzzling maintenance worker gets to blast out a halo of napalm at will, which is particularly effective against massed groups of opponents. Finally, Isabel has a "bullet time" reflex tweak that slows down the world while she retains all of her speed and function. It's as if she got a tax refund and decided to spend it on a hundred cups of coffee!

Finally, I'm really quite happy with the collectible feature. Each level has a "secret" to it, a little medal that can be challenging to find. As you thoroughly explore each area and pick them up, new options open up that go into effect when you replay Survivor. So far, I've only opened up two of these: I can replay the game entirely in black and white (an interesting, if somewhat vestigial, feature), and I can play with a low-grade God mode. Each level gives me 100 weapon parts and 100 character upgrade points to spend as I wish. It also unlocks all weapons right off the bat. These 100 parts refresh with each level loaded, so it effectively means that I have access to all upgrades the moment they become available! This was the first "secrets" upgrade, so now I've been slowly replaying the game trying to find them all, to see what else I'll be able to do. In an age when replayability seems to be extremely low on the priority list, Frozenbyte has decided to defy trends and make Survivor one of the single most replayable games on the market.

Survivor really beefed up the graphics. Lighting, already a major element of the ambience of Shadowgrounds, has been used to even greater effect this time. I lost count of how many rounds I wasted shooting at flickering movement that I thought was an enemy but was really just shadows playing off of my flashlight beam. Shaders have also been given some love, textures and particle effects. The overall effect is beautiful, but you can expect a pretty heavy load on your system to run it all at maximum settings. You can also expect some instability as a result of this new visual acuity. I experienced several game freezes during the loads between levels, and this only went away when I stepped down the graphics settings one notch. I was somewhat let down by the lack of new enemies, however. It can be argued that, because this game is taking place at the same time as the original, it wouldn't be entirely logical to have new opponents that weren't in the original. However, I would like to have seen at least a little more variety in models.

Survivor uses Ageia PhysX software. I have decided, based entirely on this game, that Ageia is my favorite physics solution for gaming; unlike Havok, the subtle realism of Ageia just works. Sure, there are the ragdoll effects, and the giblets falling like rain, but what really grabs me about the physics in this game is the way it approximates weight! Objects on Ganymede actually seem like that have mass to them, and on a very intangible level it brings this world to life in a way Havok never could.

As you can see, Shadowgrounds Survivor is far more than a mere expansion, but it also doesn't quite fall under the auspices of a sequel, either. While almost everything has been revamped, tweaked and improved, there are still a few tiny flaws that must be illuminated. To begin with, it's still ultimately the same game, story and setting — just with new characters. This isn't all that bad really, but it can lead somewhat to a feeling of "been there, done that." Also, the ending is very anti-climactic. Shadowgrounds ends on an epic high note, while Survivor just sort of … ends. However, before I rain too much on this parade, I must reiterate that this is the most fun you're likely to have outside of an A-list, big-budget title. Like the scrappy movie crew that feels so much passion for a project that the team manages to create true art regardless of finances, FrozenByte similarly has risen up from near obscurity to release two of the most engaging action games I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Survivor, the extended remix of Shadowgrounds, is a must-have for any fans of action-horror.

Rating 8.4/10