Shattered Horizon

[flunky]

Bought this today after seeing someone mention it on Shacknews, also remembered Chris mentioned it in the podcast. What finally sold me was someone saying the graphics were really awesome, but now that I've got the game I find that my card (8800 GTX) isn't powerful enough to run it it with anything except the lowest settings. It's really weird, up until now no games have really pushed my graphics card, even though it's now 3 years old, presumably because most games have been aimed at console hardware so I've been able to run them easily at max settings. But I have to run this game on the lowest settings, presumably because it is a PC-only game and is also DX10 only, so is optimized only for the very latest graphics hardware. Even so, I don't think it looks any better than any other game, it doesn't look that amazing considering the system requirements - Resident Evil 5 looks way better and runs way smoother on my system. I don't think this game does anywhere near as much graphically as you'd expect for the demands it makes. Anyway, for the first time ever I'm having to play a PC game on the lowest settings, even having to lower my resolution, but nevertheless I'm enjoying the game a huge amount.

The best thing about this game (for those who don't know it's a zero-g first person shooter set in space, multiplayer only) is turning off your suit power so all you can hear is your breathing, and then watching the space battle going on around you in silence, drifting weightlessly along, shooting guys and watching them spin off into the distance, with only the sound of your breathing and the vibrations from your gun (audible as a muffled sound). It is really so atmospheric and immersive, it's a really pleasurable, full-on trippy sci-fi experience to see the the bullets (visible as coloured tracer) lighting up the sky and to see bodies spinning past weightlessly, all in silence. Really a novel experience, I love that you have the option to play that way, in fact I think the game would have been even better if there were no gun sounds at all, although that might have annoyed some players (when you turn your suit power on, your gun makes a standard assault rifle sound, supposedly it is simulated by your suit).

The actual shooting gameplay is pretty good, up to par, I would say, it works fine, gives the same enjoyment you get out of most FPS battles. The zero-g really doesn't affect the gameplay that much, you get used to it almost immediately, the main thing it does is recontextualize the action into a nice sci-fi setting for people who like that, and like a bit of spectacle. It's pretty cool shooting at someone as they float past you, or shooting at someone who is upside-down, relative to you. I like the game.

[LOPcagney]

Glad someone mentioned this. It's just at the brink of the price limit for games that I'd buy on a whim, so I needed someone who could tell me what it was all about. I may pick it up. I love the idea.

[Psych]

When I heard that this was a zero-g FPS I immediately thought Descent, and began salivating immensely. Unfortunately I only have a laptop so I won't be able to make it anywhere near minimum spec.

le sigh.

[eclipt1c]

I for some reason have 2 guest passes for this game on Steam, so I figured I'd come hand them out to fellow thumbs. Just send me a PM with steam id or email address.

I haven't played the game that much so I can't offer very good impressions, but from what I have played, the movement seems a lot more intuitive than you would thing, but the shooting feels kinda light and weak.

I've also got an 8800gtx 768 and I can run it at about max, but I also have 4gb of RAM and Windows 7 64x so that no doubt helps.

Edit: Gave one away, still 2 left.

Edited November 21, 2009 by eclipt1c

[brkl]

This game is made by honest to god Finnish people. Apart from that, doesn't really interest me because I don't really play FPSs online, though the zero gravity gameplay sounds interesting and they seem to have thought out their approach really well.

The company was originally a part of Remedy back when Max Payne was still in development. They make benchmark software, which is probably why it is so demanding. Honestly, it seems a bit petty to say the game should look better than Resident Evil 5 (at I guess above average quality levels?) at its minimum quality settings. No game looks good at minimum settings. Although you bought it, so I guess you have the right to complain.

One of the developers said in an RPS interview that the minimum requirements are high, but honest: a PC with the minimum required system should be able to run it at 30fps. Having run a bunch of games on lackluster systems in the past, I would say that is more important at that point.

[Forbin]

This game is free to play this weekend on Steam. Also 50% off (10 bucks)

It's definitely rough around the edges, but I've been having some fun. I love hitting 'F' when I'm getting fired to confuse the crap out of people on my tail.