PREVIEW : Project Downfall (PC)
Go berserk in this neon-punk themed first-person shooter where your character is John Wick (also looks like John Wick) with a blend of influences from the style of Hotline Miami, Falling starring Michael Douglas, and Hardcore Henry and set in a dystopian world where government-mandated drugs are mandatory for anyone in working conditions to improve workforce efficiency.
MGP studios, a small indie team with only one person and the brains behind Project Downfall, developed the game. Because of a lack of workforce at the studio, this game has remained in Early Access since its first release in March 2019. After two years, it’s evident that the game still has many issues to work out, such as monsters bursting through walls and unfairly created level designs. In addition, frame dips are a major issue. I don’t have the best PC globally. Still, I was expecting this 2D pixelated graphic style design, neo cyberpunk little indie fps, to run at a respectable if not high continuous frame rate.
Project Downfall is not for the faint of heart. It has to be the unusual neo-cyberpunk setting with rich fluorescent lights that makes it both good and horrible at the same time. The heart of the game, which comes at a cost, is the original OST, hallucinogenic colours, and grainy camera effects brimming with sparkling lights. Even in regular mode, the shots are lethal to both you and your opponents. Perhaps even more deadly for you. To defeat the short yet fast-paced levels, you must rely on your agility and tactical wits, which question the character, animation, and environmental designs. Enemy character models look like they came straight out of a Wolfenstein 3D game and make you feel like you’re shooting a bunch of cardboard cutouts. You won’t always tell whether an enemy is just stunned or dead, which will make you want to punch the monitor because one melee hit is all it takes to end the game.
The lighting in the game is also somewhat inconvenient. Enemies may frequently emerge from the dark or pure shining brightness as a surprise strategy; however, due to the untidy character models and overbearing neon lights, there were occasions when I failed to identify those stealthy fellas in the heated clashes. Normally, that would be forgiven, but the consequence for dying is harsh (no checkpoints, straight back to the beginning of the level), and it made me want to smash my keyboard when I perished not because of my fault those bad games design choices. You may even tumble into the gulf of darkness by accident on some levels since the floor abruptly ends where it shouldn’t.
It must be stated that the cyberpunk motif is a perfect match for the gameplay. You can slow down time and enter concentrate mode by ingesting a pill, with a maximum carrying capacity of five pills. The drugged-out filter with slow-mo shootings under bright neon lights is aesthetically pleasing for anyone who enjoys this genre. You may also choose from a half-dozen other scanline and camera effects, but I found them irritating even when I turned them off. Choose your combat style carefully; you can either take the blue pill and morph into a one-punch man or take the chain pill and maximise your combination attacks. It’s up to you to decide how you approach your foes based on the situation and resources available. Each type of handgun has different bullet velocity, accuracy, and damage, and the same principles apply to melee weapons.
Project Downfall is a game whose implementation can’t seem to match up with the game’s outstanding premise. However, it is still in the Early Access stage, so we may better look at it when the final version is released.
This game has a habit of blurring the distinction, which, to be honest, doesn’t work. I’m not sure why some adversaries ignore me while others charge and attack me when they see me. What exactly is going on with Azur Plaza? I have a car I use as a level selector, yet I still commute to work on the dangerous train? Instead of disseminating this pseudo-open-world portion, it would be far better to condense the levels into these more focused, harsh segments. The game excels as a linear first-person shooter, and this is where it shines. Take me on this messed-up trip of some guy losing it as he acts as a trademark-safe John Wick, going on drug-fueled rampages through the underground of this imaginary metropolis.
REVIEW : Shape of the World (PS5)
