I feel I must issue a disclaimer for the format of this review before I begin. Because of the nature of this game and its overall style, I will be making comparisons between this game and the Gears of War franchise. For those of you that feel this is unfair or simply not useful then I apologize. But the developers of this game knew what they were doing with this one. On the other side, at no point would I extensively compare and contrast any two shooters, like Halo: Reach and Modern Warfare 2. Although they are both first person shooters and are hit titles, they are really apples and oranges. But I would bet dollars to donuts that Black Ops and Medal of Honor will be the subject of many “side by side” evaluations by reviewers and fans alike. So with that, I bring you the world of protagonist Syd and his adventure.
Syd (the formidable, tough looking guy on the cover of the game) is a Gillskin, a race of beings whose intentions are not explicitly discussed until later in the game. He is initially teamed up with Nyx, a fire-cracker for a chick who works very well with you for the first mission, which is really like a faux-training session that allows for the narrative to continue while the player gets used to the controls (think Marcus Fenix getting busted out of jail in the first Gears game). The two heroes find themselves on the brink of destroying the core of an Ark, which are “living towers” that affect the inhabitants of the planets it lands on by giving off this substance called Erosion. This black, oily flow spreads out and causes an infection called Diablosis on those it comes in contact with. This takes control of the infected who then become slaves to the Ark and its forces. As Syd and Nyx escape from the tower, Nyx doesn’t quite make it which leaves Syd on his own to take on the next one.
The game flashes forward, and lands Syd in the middle of another Ark war, this time in the “community” of Cocoon. After teaming up with a rag-tag, quick tongued group of militia members (Delta Squad anyone?) you charge the gates together and kick the front door down (which is actually quite a good and fun battle to take part in). After moshing your way through to the core, Syd is resisted by a prototypically looking, Japanese female character named Fillena. After a boss battle-esque altercation between the two, Syd eventually teams up with her and the story really begins to unravel from there. Syd’s & Fillena’s origins and motivations become clear as the two make their way towards the top of the structure to burn it to the ground! While the story may not be very inventive, it works well enough to be engaging and makes the combat fit in the game, much like the other presentation aspects of this title.
This game is decent looking after playing it a while. The first mission looks very good, mixing colors and textures very well and keeps a good scale of the Ark structure in relation to the other visual aspects of the level. After this, the game’s look becomes monotonous, especially when the siege of the Ark on Cocoon commences. The character models are fair looking, in general. Of course Syd and Fillena had more work done to them than the other militia members, but the enemies are surprisingly good in comparison. Their insect look combines well with the cyborg edge they have to them. Its hard to explain, but if you look up screen shots of the game, you’ll see what I’m talking about. The most wish-washy and spotty part about the production is the voice over work. The dialogue of the human militia forces is witty without being obnoxious. A perfect example of this is when you land on a cold shooting streak and one of them calls you out on your lack luster performance. An unexpected and refreshing aspect this game got right. On the other hand, the sounds of Syd will eventually drive you crazy. This may be because the player spends more time with him than any other character (considering that’s who your in control of), but nonetheless, it becomes apparent they want this guy to be the long lost Fenix brother that got sent to another dimension where he fights crazy, infected humans. And some drawn out, corny line is said after EVERY action, from getting a head shot to picking up ammo. Another kind of odd issue with the sound engineering is the lack of a consistent music score. The cut scenes have a nice balance, but during gameplay, its almost non existent in some “chapters.” I personally just blasted some metal in the background to overcome this mistake, but it definitely makes the whole experience seem less epic.
The AI in Quantum Theory is another story of ups and downs. The enemy AI is superb, especially when comparing it to the Locus Horde in Gears. Instead of just being cannon fodder, they will actively pursue you and your comrades in a strategic fashion, according to the situation. On a hot shooting streak? they will fall back some and change their positions to affect your flow and rhythm. But if your hurtin’ for certain, they push down on you hard and make it difficult to reload, get your barrings, and then go back after them. They will also adjust their plan of action in relation to the setting. They will be very deliberate and focused when going back and forth in a narrow hallway because the fight is even, but when they have heavy artillery on their side (like turrets and base defense weapons), they know they can push the envelop more and get you to make positioning mistakes. On the flip side (and predictably) your NPC counterparts make poor squad mates. They are no where near as intelligent as the opposition and don’t work well with you at all. But the biggest knock against them is their lack of aggression. They are often non-combative and will not trade agro back and forth with you when the battle is on. I could understand not flowing very well tactically because they are just militia members and have not worked with Syd long, but not wanting to fight is simply inexcusable considering how good the enemies are. At this point you may be asking “where are these Gears comparisons you warned about?” Well my friends, they exist in the following commentary on the most important aspect of shooters: gameplay.
As said earlier, I consider this game a “2nd person, “stop and pop” action shooter. I say 2nd person because while a majority of the character model is in the frame and not just the selected weapon, the controls and camera manipulation act like a first person title. Imagine playing a game like Ghost Recon Advances Warfighter (2nd person) in comparison to Red Dead Redemption (third person), it just inherently feels different. And the “pop and stop” characteristic comes from the dodgy, cover first – then shoot tenant some shooters in this generation of consoles are becoming quite fond of. With these two elements combined, only Gears of War has featured the gameplay that comes out of these two mashed together. That is until Theory. The control scheme is very close to Gears with one notable change. Instead of combining the sprint, or “roadie run,” button assignment along with dodge-roll, they separated them. After initially thinking this would be a good idea, it really doesn’t play well, for two reasons. One, it is helpful to combine sprinting with dodging when engaging and fleeing enemies. And for seasoned Gears players, there will be times, especially early on, when you’ll misstep anticipating a roll forward/backward that will leave you “hanging out to dry” and an easy target. This attempt at being unique just feels unnatural. But one aspect that was taken from Gears that is done better is the cover system. The controls for this system are the same: you enter and leave cover with the A button, and while exchanging between available shields doesn’t flow very well, the cover itself is an improvement from it’s competition. Gears does a poor job of making everything just super resilient and last forever. While this is something you may not complain about (especially during hectic shootouts) it was cool to see the devs at KOEI TECMO take a more balanced approach to this mechanic. For example, when hiding behind a demolished car, they are able to get you from the holes that are left from where the window glass used to be, this is a mark of good collision detection and smart design. Also, some rock formations that make good cover in a pinch will slowly be wedeled away until it finally dissipates to nothing. This makes the player push action and become more engaging. This may be “tough love” when comparing it to the “buffet-style” cover of Gears but actually adds more complexion and character to combat situations. Nice, unique touch. The other gameplay construct worth analyzing are the tools of destruction: weapons. This, like many other components of this game, has its pros and cons. While the “bread and butter” arms like shotguns and assault rifles are good, some of the others needed work. The two worst are the grenade launcher and sniper rifle. When I think of the word launcher, I think nice, far distance. This moniker must mean something different where this game was made because the exploding projectiles just kind of fall out of the weapon and don’t really jolt forward. And at first I thought well, I just don’t know how to use this thing. But when I faced up with an enemy that was using it, the weapon was just as ineffective. It should have been called the “Lazy Grenade Lobber” instead. And the problem with the sniper rifle is just inexcusable: there is no adjustable range on it. You may be thinking, “there are some snipers in other shooters that have similar zooms” and that’s true. The issue is that, those games are FPS that have a “no scope” reticle that one can use to measure up the shot at a distance, then zoom in. This style of shooter doesn’t have that. So more often than not, you will find yourself zooming in on a part of the screen that isn’t remotely close to what you wanted to shoot at. Speaking of reticles, this was yet another inconsistency. Most of them work just fine, but the one on the shotgun is this weird, Euro-art style design that just isn’t very practical to use. And this game doesn’t feature any grenades, which at this point, is a stable part of shooter arsenals that must be included in some form or fashion.
The biggest flaw with this game, for me, is the lack of partnership. I know, I know, this isn’t the planet Sera and Baird & Cole aren’t going to come around the corner to give much needed support in a “tight spot.” But when one plays the levels with Fillena, this game really works well and even shines at some points. The “peanut butter and chocolate” combination of the two of them is stellar during a firefight. As Syd, you are able to hold down the LB and send her flying towards enemies with her swords and daggers. For comic book fans, think the Fastball Special done by Colossus and Wolverine from X-Men. This game would have been marginally better if this dynamic “thunder-and-lightening” approach was used throughout most of the game. For whatever reason, this was not featured as much as it should have been in the single player experience. So I won’t even begin to dream about how awesome it would have been to be able to split-screen or online coop this relatively fun experience with a friend. While on the subject of multiplayer, I was unable to ever get an online match considering this game doesn’t come out in North America til the 12th. I will not hold this against the game in the overall evaluation, but it won’t help the score either, considering it may have been a strong point of the game. Either way, the games that are listed include: standard FFA and team Death Match options as well as an iteration of VIP/Escort much like the one featured in Gears.
All things considered, this Gears of War clone could have been better. I’m all about being unique, but they really picked the wrong battles in this department. Instead of making the control scheme clunky in an effort to be original, KOEI TECMO should have went with what worked, like featuring a coop experience than would have been better than the one that is currently available on either of Epic Game’s offerings. The “what could have been” overshadows the cool moments in this title as well as the things it gets right, such as really good enemy AI and a sweet cover system.