By Jason Van Horn
Who doesn't love destruction? Don't tell me that when you jump into a brand new
FPS, you aren't shooting more than just the enemies - you're shooting the walls,
the cars, and you're wanting to see what explodes, takes damage, and what
doesn't. In walks Warmonger, an upcoming FPS where the destruction of the
environment plays as much - if not more so - than the actual killing of the
enemies themselves. Oh, did we forget to mention that the first installment is
free? Yeah, destruction at no cost - what's not to love?
Let's get the first real goods out of the way - free. There are many reasons why
the first installment of Warmonger will be completely free to the player. For
starters, the game will be a pretty hefty system hog, as it will be powered by
AGEIA so physics will be a huge factor in the game. Once you learn about what
they want to do - which will be discussed in just a paragraph or so - you'll see
why physics play such an important in the game. Another reason the game will be
free because it is very much an experiment to see what will work, what won't
work, and what players will or won't find fun. All the destruction in the world
doesn't meant anything if a game isn't fun, and that is exactly want NetDevil
seems to want more than anything.
So what are you going to get with your big booms? Have you ever hunkered down
for a battle and a simple wooden post of a fence has provided adequate cover
fire for round after round of constant damage? Yeah, not very realistic is it.
So imagine taking cover behind that once impenetrable defense and suddenly gun
fire is ripping away that comfort and you're taking damage left and right. Now
suppose you take cover behind a stronger building and someone starts shooting at
you with a pistol - no worries. You see, though the maps of the game will be
highly destructible, it is still going to be relegated to the real world. If you
take a pistol and shoot at a stone building, you might ding the sucker a bit,
but there won't be a big problem other than a cosmetic blemish. However, if that
player approaches with a rocket launcher, oh jeez you better be running, because
be prepared for one major boom and building debris and cover flying everywhere.
Don't go thinking that destructive damage is just to make you go "ooh"
and "aah" because it is really just as much about purpose than look.
So imagine taking that rocket launcher, blowing up a wall, and though you
partially did it because you wanted to see what it looked like, you can also use
that newly blown up debris as cover. Or, for instance, say there is a sniper
sitting up way up high on a perch. Oh sure, it would be easy to line up a sniper
shot yourself and popping them right in the head, but image instead taking a
rocket launcher, send it zipping at them, blowing up a balcony up above their
head, and suddenly the debris is crashing down on their heads from above,
killing them instantly, or what about the debris knocking them over and send
them crashing to the ground. Yeah, cool huh? And that's the point. And it will
all be looking silky sweat as the game is using the Unreal Tournament 3 Engine
to render everything in lovely detail. And though great looking graphics and
heavy physics might seem way too taxing for a game to allow anything more than
four or six players in a multiplayer match at one time, NetDevil says that maps
will allow for up to 32 players at one time. 32 players playing on one field
with destruction flying everywhere - are you playing a game or living a war
zone. No matter the answer to that question, we're still in awe at the
possibilities and can't wait to see the game, which shouldn't be too far away as
Beta is set to start in a month.
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