Review of the game raiders of the broken planet. "People die for metal"

On the this moment Raiders of the Broken Planet has one short story campaign that includes four missions. In the future, they promise to release three more, but they will have to be bought separately, or as part of a special set that is already on sale. I must say that the tasks are performed quite well. They are not the same type, each of them has its own peculiarity, and at the end a boss (and sometimes more than one) is waiting for you, who also needs an individual approach.

You are probably thinking now: “Wait a minute, Orvyn! It's a site about multiplayer games. Why are you telling me about some missions here? The fact is that the entire campaign is played in the 4 on 1 format. The team will have to unite to fight against a real player. He runs one of those bobbleheads who are desperately trying to get in the way." good guys» complete the mission, and in case of death, respawns at the selected point.

And you will have to die for the antagonist quite often. After all, you are one, and four are playing against you. Therefore, if suddenly you unsuccessfully stick your head out, then you will be quickly removed. Of course, the developers understood that dying all the time is also not fun, so an experienced antagonist will often leave the enemy team incomplete. An ordinary mission turns into a kind of Deathmatch, in which both sides have to constantly kill each other. That is why I would advise you to go through the whole game completely alone first, since this multiplayer component simply ruins the atmosphere and does not allow you to enjoy the gameplay.

The plot itself is quite good, which cannot be said about its presentation. And here the reason is that the developers tried to introduce a multi-user component into the project. Missions in the campaign, although they are interconnected, but in themselves resemble separate strikes from Destiny. Adding fuel to the fire is that if you want to know a little more about the lore of the game, you will have to ... buy it for the in-game currency. No, really, I'm not kidding! In the main menu there is a section with the history of the world, which will open only if you pay the money received during the tasks.

That is, you must complete the same missions in order to learn more about the plot. Brilliant! Not really. But that's not all! For this currency, you can buy all sorts of upgrades for heroes and upgrade them... Guess why? To go through the same mission again, but with a different outfit. And don't forget about the donation, thanks to which you can buy almost anything.

Yes, of course, I understand that all multiplayer games are designed for you to repeat the same actions for hundreds of hours. But the problem is that Raiders of the Broken Planet is nothing like an MMO. It looks like a regular single player game, which for some reason added a multiplayer component. Therefore, my advice to you: if you still plan to buy, then just go through the plot and that's it. This will be enough. You can indulge in multiplayer for the sake of interest, if you succeed. The audience of the game is very small, and those who bought full version and even less. Therefore, matches sometimes have to be searched for 20 minutes, despite the support of cross-play.

Separately, I would like to note the port on the PC. There are no complaints about the technical component. I tried running the game both on a high-end computer and on a weak one (with low settings, of course). No drawdowns were found, and the graphics are quite beautiful. But there is a feeling that the management did, as they say, at random. It is immediately clear that it was sharpened under the gamepad and the game is not at all friendly with the keyboard. With a mouse, of course, it is more convenient to aim, but otherwise there are only drawbacks. For example, sprinting is automatically enabled if you continuously run in one direction for a while. And just try to accidentally press a key or take a step to the side, you will again begin to move like a turtle. Why not do a regular sprint on Shift? And a tackle is assigned to this key. Moreover, it can be activated even when you are not running, but simply walking forward. A person slides across the floor without running up? Everything is fine, right? No. Some keys are simply not displayed on the screen, so you often have to use the famous poke method.

The only interesting idea that eventually got a good implementation is the so-called stress system. When a player or bot moves, shoots, or performs any actions, their stress bar increases, allowing opponents to see them through walls. To remove this unpleasant effect, you need to sit in the shelter for a while. Moreover, this “debuff” works on both sides and even bots react to it. If your stress level is high enough, they will notice and start outflanking you. So you won't be allowed to sit quietly in order to restore your health.

In general, if you were counting on a good multiplayer game, then you can pass by. What the developers so proudly talked about turned out to be nothing more than fun for a couple of evenings. Raiders of the Broken Planet has an interesting campaign with a good plot, seasoned with humor. But if it's worth buying the game, it's only for passing in single player mode.

The unexpected trick with the ears from MercurySteam surprised many. Either the Spaniards are quietly making Castlevania, or suddenly they are trying to cross a bulldog with a rhinoceros in the form of Raiders of the Broken Planet. This time, no one limited the imagination of the authors (read - “without a publisher”), so the result was doubly fearful. What happened at the end is difficult to describe as an unequivocal failure or success. The game is generally difficult to describe without thinking about the words.

There is practically nothing for one to do here - I mean a single passage without a cooperative. First, you will quickly get bored. The game will be similar to a series of meaningless tasks that are in any second-rate shooter. Secondly, the vast majority of the content prepared by the developers will whistle past. No rewards, no skins, no gameplay for the antagonist. And this, in fact, lies main secret Raiders of the Broken Planet. Only online, only joint game. Everyone should remember this firsthand after Destiny.

Only Raiders differs significantly from it. The most difficult thing is to describe the structure of the gameplay. The game pretends to be a story shooter with missions, cutscenes and the main character Harek. Like, the planet is bad, and the substance that it produces - Aleph - is very necessary for everyone, especially for you and me, that is, people. The indigenous population, resembling tall elves without ears and with sharpened teeth, defends their home in every possible way, led by the same sniper Hacker. But there is no army, like humanity has, so you have to assemble a militia from the most motley and outrageous bandits and even maniacs. In the end, people will not spare anyone, and one in the field is not a warrior. We have already found out - at least it will be boring.

You constantly need to extract this substance. It is in the opponents that Aleph seems to endow with strength, especially in close combat. In order to “suck out” the Aleph, you just need to engage in close combat. After a series of kills, you get a few "charges" of Aleph. They are fed checkpoints, weaken bosses, check some items while searching for one specific one all over the map, and so on. Not only does this motivate you to fight your enemies, but it also motivates you to constantly engage in close combat. And also take care of your skin - after death, Aleph disappears and will have to be collected again.

Do not forget that Aleph also affects the detection of you by opponents. If you act too actively, the Aleph detectors will detect you due to the nature of the substance. Sometimes you have to take small breaks and attack unexpectedly. Together with the advanced aggro system, it turns out to be a rather interesting system, which is highly discouraged from neglecting. First, you become inefficient. And secondly, you deprive yourself of some game design ideas.

Actually, two completed tasks and the end of the mission. By dividing the adventure into four, it becomes a little more fun. You can combine abilities different characters and act more aggressively and effectively. However, the enemies also become stronger. In one hit, they can leave you with a handful of ashes, so you have to watch the flanks or rely on comrades.

The most fun happens when an antagonist appears on the map - a live player who prevents you from completing the task. You and your comrades depend on how many times you die. There are not so many lives in total, but as soon as they end, a very important moment comes. You need to survive for a couple of minutes until your supplies of lives are replenished by a helpful transport pilot. If everyone is dead, the mission is over. The goal of the antagonist is to push you towards failure. He can choose any character, the same as yours (and there are about 30 in total). It turns out some analogue of the competitive multiplayer. Inside is a first-person shooter plus some 1v4 melee combat in separate arenas, outside is story game with a bunch of characters and an antagonist function that everyone only dreamed of before.

Moreover, shooting cannot be covered by anything - Raiders of the Broken Planet has the most plastic guns that can generally be made in a modern shooter. The shotgun shoots as if it is pulled strictly vertically by a rope to a strictly allotted angle. There is no sensible identification of hitting the enemy. More often than not, you even focus not on sounds and effects, but on endless damage numbers. After this, with a mean tear, you remember Destiny 2. You remember that you were hopelessly behind your comrades and didn’t even go through the plot.

But the simple melee even pleased. This is the usual rock-paper-scissors system. A normal hit will break the grapple, the hit can be dodged, and the dodge will not help the grapple. It takes a few hits to kill, while a grapple is an instant kill. As a result, close combat turns into a series of guessing and tactical delays. Is the enemy going to dodge? Hold your punch and throw, catch him on the last recovery animation. See the grip? Punch him down. Would you dare to do a few more in a row? And so on. Whether it is worth shooting before a skirmish is up to you. You can try to finish off a fleeing enemy with a cannon, but in the end it’s still more profitable to knock him out with a foot in the jaw.

But these will not change the essence. Each DLC for Raiders of the Broken Planet will feature four arenas, plus four more as variations. It is already clear that nothing outstanding or out of the ordinary, surprising will come of it. It's as if Overwatch cost 100 rubles, had only 7-8 characters at the start and one Hanamura. And then please wait. And that Blizzard creation got some fun modes. In the case of the Raiders, there is an overwhelming feeling that things will not go further than flirting with Aleph. New missions are unlocked only after completing the previous ones, of course, but what is it worth? For storytelling purposes? To be honest, it's more annoying than motivating.

True, there is one bright spot in the finale of the first DLC. A very good idea, complex and interesting. It's not worth talking about it - within the framework of Raiders of the Broken Planet, this is a significant spoiler. Just know that MercurySteam still managed to surprise, albeit for a brief moment. There is one more thing that definitely worked out. This is the soundtrack. Cowboy melodies a la "Firefly" plus classic guitar cuts are very out of place. Plus, the characters are constantly grimacing, additionally tuning in the right way.

The characters are not so clear cut. The developers promise to constantly add new ones, and two have appeared since the release of the game. But from the whole pack there are constantly outsiders, whom no one really wants to take. For example, even the half-naked lady Shaya is avoided because of the strange mechanics of the main weapon. It is much easier to take a character who will definitely show his best side. Maybe the balance will change over time or players will find a way to “bend over” difficult heroes, but so far there is nothing on the horizon.

So. Each character has one special skill that characterizes him. Some characters will be more useful on vertical maps, some will work well on maps with open cliffs into the abyss. Some people need a lot of space. What works poorly here is the team combination of skills. In theory, it makes absolutely no difference whether they are combined at least in theory, the main thing is that you know how to play for him and that he is suitable for a specific mission. It turns out that the developers were a little cunning.

But it's really more fun to play in a band, that's the only way to do it. When everyone knows their stuff, and the antagonist is trying to catch you around the corner in a calm state (when he is not visible through the wall), the game really opens up, especially if everyone knows how to adequately work in close combat. That's just the game looks somehow faded, the MercurySteam self-written engine is clearly not designed for a mind-boggling picture, plus the console in the game howls even in the menu. Will you be able to drag your comrades from Destiny 2 here is a big question.

There is another problem that appeared, rather, because of the stupidity of the players. Before the start of the match, you need to confirm your participation, but for some unknown reason, people constantly leave either to smoke, or simply forget to press one button. Over time, this stopped happening. Perhaps the players have become more attentive.

We analyze the first story campaign of the cooperative shooter from the creators of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

Tested on standard PS4

Recently released Metroid: Samus Returns- a warmly received remake of the second part of the famous series. The Spanish studio was responsible for this radical rethinking MercurySteam, best known for her work on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. And now, just a week after Samus Returns, the Spaniards release their first truly independent project - Raiders of the Broken Planet.

Before MercurySteam created only under close publishing supervision, but this time they decided to go for broke - Raiders of the Broken Planet was developed exclusively at the expense of the studio. Not so long ago, they decided to take such a step in Ninja Theory when creating Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, and, according to the assurances of the developers, the risk fully justified itself. What will result in such a bold decision for MercurySteam, only time will tell, but about their quality new game can be judged now.

Up until the very release, it was extremely problematic to understand what exactly Raiders of the Broken Planet is. Neither interviews, nor demonstrations of the gameplay did not bring the desired clarity. Sometimes it seemed that the developers themselves did not fully understand what they were working on. As it turned out, all this time they were sculpting some kind of Left 4 Dead is a third-person cooperative action game that makes absolutely no sense to play alone. Just waste your time.

The action of the game, as the name directly indicates, takes place on the fragments of the Destroyed Planet. Hundreds of centuries ago, its inhabitants, a race of intelligent and outwardly not much different from humans, came across a substance of incredible power - Aleph. Thanks to him, they made an impressive technological breakthrough and were able to make interstellar flights. And everything would be fine, but during production valuable resource The aliens smashed their home into small pieces.

Although this was not the worst thing in their fate - many survived and, refusing to use Aleph, continued their peaceful life on a planet ready to dissolve in the depths of space. Soon, again at the suggestion of the aliens themselves, people found out about the existence of Aleph and, driven by a thirst for easy money, went to eat the forbidden fruit. As a matter of fact, the main story of the game revolves around the desire of the indigenous inhabitants of the Broken Planet to get rid of the neighborhood with annoying people. At least that part of it that is available right now.

Before the end of this year, Raiders of the Broken Planet will get four story campaigns, the first of which - Alien Myths- already available for purchase. The game also has a free prologue (link), which includes two missions. One of them is a tutorial and is intended exclusively for single player mode, and the second is a full-fledged game episode that allows you to remotely understand what kind of game it is.

In fact, Raiders of the Broken Planet is an extremely strange project that has not yet decided on the vector of its own movement. This is a story-driven multiplayer game where a team of four players try to complete a set of missions while a fifth player in the company of artificial intelligence interferes with them in every possible way. But despite the fact that the whole concept is based on the opposition of players, most of the time is spent fighting primitive artificial intelligence. Moreover, the presence of a living enemy is not guaranteed at all.

There are five episodes in the game right now. In turn, each of them includes two or three tight locations, where you have to perform the same type of tasks - shoot waves of enemies, defend different kind objects, etc. In other words, it will take no more than two hours to absorb the first available campaign once.

The idea is that players will go through the same episodes over and over again, receiving rewards for this and opening new equipment and character abilities with their help. There really is no point in doing this, since the missions presented in the game are boring, and the shootouts, which are the cornerstone of the game, do not give pleasant emotions. Besides, what's the point in developing heroes, even if initial stage do they make it easy to deal with the attempts of artificial intelligence?

Generally game process not bad and somehow able to captivate, but it completely lacks the depth necessary for this kind of project. Even characters requiring a different approach, which shine with original and memorable designs, are unable to change situations. As a result, it’s more fun to play as an antagonist who spoils the life of a close-knit group of players than to torment a defenseless one. artificial intelligence.

Despite a truly curious universe, from the depths of which intriguing secrets peep out, the locations in the game turned out to be faceless. Mostly these are small arenas, devoid of any individuality. They have no interesting subtext, no bright face. In other words, nothing to make them shine.

But even if the situation changes for the better with the release of new campaigns, the more global problem with maps is unlikely to go anywhere. The fact is that you cannot choose a specific location or game mode in Raiders of the Broken Planet. You can only vary the episodes of the campaign, which consist of a set of specific cards. And it is far from a fact that the developers will be able to choose the perfect location roster for each episode.

What's funny is that right now the game's most egregious problem lies in a completely different place. It's about the videos that accompany the mission. Since up to five players participate in a game session, a cut-scene can only be skipped with the consent of the majority. But nowadays no one wants to do that. Thanks to this, the passage of a twenty-minute mission increases by about a quarter. And that's not counting the fact that from time to time the game shows the same videos.

***

On paper, Raiders of the Broken Planet is a long-running event, another service game that must be kept alive by regular additions of content - new characters, missions and other nice things. In fact, it does not have a solid foundation on which all this could be based. The fact that Raiders of the Broken Planet isn't fun enough to play won't be fixed by cosmetic additions. It looks like this crippled planet should still be left alone.