Wed 05 Oct 2011
Playstation
Damnation Review
In Damnation you play as a character known as Rourke who’s looking for his fiancé, but there’s also a much larger conflict at work, Rourke is part of a team who’s trying to stop a group of military contractors who are very totalitarian, violent and seek to seize control over the West. The majority of time you’re adventures will have you partaking in frantic shootouts in the middle of nowhere followed by brief break periods which I would hardly call break’s where you’ll engage in some gymnastics and climb around in order to access other areas. Well everything may seem all fine and dandy at first, the climbing aspect of the game is plagued with problems that will make you dread anything to do with climbing. You have to press the shoulder button in order to get from one wall to the other which is as outdated as the time period in which this game is situated. In most games where climbing is a prime aspect of the game, this little manoeuvre can be done simply by tilted the joystick in the direction of the wall you want to jump to, which is much easier, gives you a greater feeling of control and feels much more realistic. To add to the awkward climbing controls, the shooting aspect, (the only other major element to this game) unfortunately is also plagued with problems. The aiming is incredibly difficult and just a tad over responsive, (this is sarcasm) just a slight tilt of the joystick and all of sudden your character is looking up. And it’s not like it makes all that much difference, the enemies just stand there anyways unwittingly while you’re firing away at them.
Although you have teammates in Damnation, your teammates aren’t much help and they come with a number of glitches and flaws themselves that would be enough to make any seasoned cowboy want to go it alone. Sometimes they scale buildings to show you the way, then of course you can’t find them because you don’t where they went to, and you’re still left trying to figure where to go. They also frequently get stuck or fall behind if you’re moving too fast. In one instance my teammates somehow magically got lost behind me and then they seemingly just appeared in the back of the vehicle I just entered. And of course the game makes no secret about this major flaw. Although this would be a minor flaw ten years ago, today this is simply not acceptable and really infringes upon the overall realism of the game. You also have access to some special Native American powers in this game. You have a special vision power, sort of a sixth sense that lets you see through walls and discloses the location of enemies as well as your teammates to you. But this mechanic is appallingly useless and doesn’t add much depth to the game.
It may be tempting to pick up this game if you’re aching for a Western, there’s not a lot of Westerns on the market at the moment, but fair warning you should know that Rocks Stars Red Dead Redemption will be on the market soon and will almost certainly be a far better game than this.
Rating: 65% “A stylish game plagued with technical flaws.”
Pros:
The game is on the surface very stylish and cool
Cons:
Clunky climbing controls
Atrocious AI
Sensitive aiming
Lacks depth
Although you have teammates in Damnation, your teammates aren’t much help and they come with a number of glitches and flaws themselves that would be enough to make any seasoned cowboy want to go it alone. Sometimes they scale buildings to show you the way, then of course you can’t find them because you don’t where they went to, and you’re still left trying to figure where to go. They also frequently get stuck or fall behind if you’re moving too fast. In one instance my teammates somehow magically got lost behind me and then they seemingly just appeared in the back of the vehicle I just entered. And of course the game makes no secret about this major flaw. Although this would be a minor flaw ten years ago, today this is simply not acceptable and really infringes upon the overall realism of the game. You also have access to some special Native American powers in this game. You have a special vision power, sort of a sixth sense that lets you see through walls and discloses the location of enemies as well as your teammates to you. But this mechanic is appallingly useless and doesn’t add much depth to the game.
It may be tempting to pick up this game if you’re aching for a Western, there’s not a lot of Westerns on the market at the moment, but fair warning you should know that Rocks Stars Red Dead Redemption will be on the market soon and will almost certainly be a far better game than this.
Rating: 65% “A stylish game plagued with technical flaws.”
Pros:
The game is on the surface very stylish and cool
Cons:
Clunky climbing controls
Atrocious AI
Sensitive aiming
Lacks depth



