Tag: First person shooter »

Blitz Brigade - Online multiplayer shooting action! released today on iOS bringing forth first-person shooter action. Players choose between 5 classes with over 100 different weapons to use in an online battle of up to 12 players. There are also 120 training missions to complete offline, should you choose.

√ 5 classes: Soldier, Gunner, Medic, Sniper, Stealth
√ Control the battlefield in Domination mode
√ Frag everyone in sight in Deathmatch
√ Use 3 different vehicles for a tactical advantage
√ Unique taunts and kill phrases for each character
√ Voice Chat to plan in real time with teammates

The Backstory
A mining operation on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, has gone quiet. A team is sent to investigate and gets shot down in short order. Players control the lone survivor as he teams up with the facility’s computer in order to piece it all together and hopefully get home intact. A task made all the more difficult by the horrific cyber-zombie-demon-monsters that used to be the miners. It’s the kind of story we’ve seen in Sci-Fi horror before (Virus and Moontrap are just two examples I can think of), but it lends itself incredibly well to the interactive medium.

The Gameplay
Mission Europa (specifically the quintessential Collector’s version) is an odd duck of a RPG. It takes place entirely in first-person, utilizes both melee and ranged combat, features skills and summons that are akin to magic, contains tons of “lewts,” offers a crafting system, and has a pretty creepy atmosphere despite looking like it was rendered in crayon. Most of the time players will be wandering through the blood-stained halls, searching for a hidden item or hunting for a boss, all while fighting their way past the repurposed crew and other monstrosities. All the while finding and refining the abilities and gear that suits them best.

How does it Compare?
Because Mission Europa is an amalgamation of a number of different game types, it’s a bit like a lot of things. The gear collection, refining, and crafting is reminiscent of classics and contemporaries like Diablo or even Borderlands. The first-person combat is similar to an older Bethesda title, say like Oblivion. Meanwhile the oppressive atmosphere and disturbingly dark tones bring cult classic System Shock 2 to mind. The amazing thing is that it incorporates all these concepts, but it does them well, and even cohesively.

I could picture Mission Europa running on a PC quite easily, and it’s got the wealth of content (loot drops, crafting, creepy story, multiplayer, etc) most PC gamers crave. It would be right at home on Steam, too. Who knows? Maybe with a little push Banshee Soft might submit it to Greenlight and put my claims to the ultimate test.

*NOTE: “Console-quality” refers to the quality of the experience, not just the graphics. This is about the depth of gameplay, content, and in some cases how accurately it portrays the ideals of its console counterpart.*

Shaun Inman, creator of The Last Rocket and artist behind The Incident, has released his 7dfps game Vonneguts and Glory to the App Store. 7dfps was a virtual game jam started in part by Vlambeer's Jan Willem Nijman of Super Crate Box fame, to challenge developers to create a fun first-person shooter in a week or less. Developers from all over the world took up the challenge, including Notch of Minecraft fame. Shaun Inman decided to do something artistic with the concept. Inspired by a passage from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, this game is very short, taking 5 minutes or less to beat, but it gets its point across. I don't want to discuss too much about the game, as the surprise comes from actually playing it. The game was developed in Flixel, so it still has that style of pixel art that Inman has become known for, in a quasi-Wolfenstein style of world. The short, self-described "art game" is available now for free as a universal app.

Like Counter-Strike, but just wish that it could be played while on the morning commute, or wherever else you think is an appropriate place for some of the most amazing technology in the world? Well, Studio on Mars is currently working on Critical Strike Portable, a Unity-based cross-platform first-person shooter inspired by that multiplayer classic for iOS. The game will start about the same: two teams, pitted against each other on different types of maps, trying to out-deathmatch each other with their preferred loadout of weapons. Additional game modes such as a zombie survival mode will also be available. Controls similar to other touchscreen FPS games like N.O.V.A. 3 will be used here.

It will be possible for iOS players to not just take on other iOS players online, but also Android gamers, and even those playing on the web. While the iOS version is scheduled to come out soon – possibly by the end of the month, the game is currently playable on the web and Android.

Wolfenstein 3D, the hit classic first-person shooter, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. In celebration of the 20th anniversary, there are all kinds of perks and free stuff for fans.

Most important of the awesome offers for the anniversary is a price drop for the iOS version of the game, Wolfenstein 3D Classic Platinum. As of May 9th, the game dropped from $1.99 to free. The game won't be free permanently. It's only on sale for a limited time.

An addition, there's now a browser version of the game launched at Bethesda's website and on the Wolfenstein Facebook page. Upon writing that last sentence, I was immediately distracted by about a half hour of playing Wolfenstein in my browser.

I immediately downloaded the iOS version of Wolfenstein when I heard it was free. I grew up with the game. It was the first first-person shooter I ever played. It may have been the first computer game I ever played. Those looking for some nolstagia over the weekend are in for a treat.