Subject-matter. It's what most of us judge a game on. So you would think that Damnation would be pretty dang cool, right? Steampunk and western elements mixed in with a sort of futuristic flare? Sounds great on paper, right? You know from The Gamer Report we have been looking forward to this one for some time now. It featured some great material and a cool take on a somewhat unvisited genre of subject-matter. I for one was pretty intrigued by this game when I saw the multiplayer footage, which actually reminded me of Lost Planet quite a bit. So the day came around, and I called around to the local video stores looking for a copy to rent. I noticed the game featured online co-op, so I even went as far as reserving a copy for Branden, aka GOBEE, at his local Blockbuster. Before I go any further into this monstrosity, GOBEE, I am sooo sorry I dragged you into renting this filth! Please forgive me. I am sorry to anyone else who wasted their time on this pathetic attempt at a video game. If developer Blue Omega were to have some sort of a refund for the 10+ hours of my life that was thrown away playing this game, surely it would be a deserving favor.Damnation borders the realm of damn near unplayable. This game is so filled with utter atrocious broken gameplay. It almost doesn't even warrant a review, but I would like to try and save anybody from biting this lure like I did. I definitely bit this one hook, line and sinker. Let's start with the textures. The textures are clunky, especially in the very bland and almost pointless cutscenes. Some textures were OK, and then other areas would be completely blurry. The difference in resolution was an obvious distraction. They made no effort at all to hide any texture seams. And the seams were everywhere. The animations are absolutely terrible. The gunplay is even worse. There are some pretty decent ideas and style as far as the weapons go, but they were executed poorly. The AI in this game is honestly some of the worst I have seen to date. Many times even on the harder difficulty, you can walk right up to an enemy and unload the weapon of your choice into him and he won't even blink. This unloading of ammunition is followed by the most horribly scripted, delayed dying animation I have ever seen. Sometimes the enemy would die, and then let out a freakish dying yell about 5 seconds after he dies. Ironically, sometimes the AI will choose to corner you and rush you with a shotgun only to send you back to the last checkpoint in seconds.Speaking of checkpoints, this is where the frustrating baby-punching moments come into play. The checkpoints on this game are in the worst places possible. Often times you will be put so far back in a level if you die, it almost makes you wanna give up on the game solely for that reason. There are also several uneventful and extremely LONG elevator or gondola rides. But probably my biggest gripe with this game are the controls. Ever play a game with reload mapped to clicking on the left thumbstick? Me neither. Until Damnation came along. You will be doing quite a bit of reloading as the guns are extremely weak and inaccurate. How about mapping the jump button as the very same button to climb a ladder or rope? You will also do this quite a bit as it is really the only thing this game does an OK job at. The platforming element does get old pretty quick though. Nothing progresses in this game besides your frustration.
There are several moments where you ride a motorcycle that looks like it was carved from a bar of soap. The wheels aren't even animated and the engine sounds like a lawnmower. The physics are horribly clunky and it really does feel like you are riding a box with wheels. These moments are frequent and also extremely uneventful. The levels are also way too long, with 6 chapters spanning over 11 hours of gameplay. I am no math wiz, but that's about 2 boring hours per level by my calculations. There are also sound effects that seem to be taken straight out of Gears of War, which would make sense in this game built in the Unreal Engine 3.
There is also a poorly implemented "Spirit View" that is kind of like the vision system used in Prey. Prey did this mechanic much better as this feature is nearly pointless throughout Damnation. I might have used it once or twice only to revive the also horribly stupid AI partners who travel through this puddle of poo with you. That's right, even if your AI friend gets killed miles away, all you have to do is use your spirit view, look in their general direction and hit the right bumper. Pretty cool huh? Yah, almost as cool as an under-water marble shooting competition. (Which I still compete in annually)
Multiplayer is included, but hardly anything to even mention. Standard gametypes available ranging from King of the Hill to Deathmatch. My day spent playing about 20 matches, I only ran into about ten unique players. The lag is so bad at times it would not even let me quit out of a match. If you thought bullet lag was bad in Gears of War, give this one a go and I assure you will be amazed. The same frustrating platforming and control elements transfer over as the jumping and platforming was about all this game had going. Often you will see the suicide icon of one of your foes or teammates jumping off the edge probably just trying to get to higher ground. The aforementioned spirit view might even be a little bit cool for a sniper that has the patience for this disaster of a multiplayer experience. I can't say I gave co-op a shot, because I really didn't. I was never even compelled to do so, as it really just wouldn't have done anything to make this game more interesting. I really would feel sorry for my co-op partner just sitting on the back of the block-o-cycle, as the enemies you encounter are pretty much worthless and of no threat on these sections. The cycle does not even provide responsive enough controls if you did want to engage these foes. These cycle sections are really the only moments I can remember throughout the game that would incorporated co-op at all. A couple of the boss fights towards the end of the game were particularly hard and a little help from a competent partner might have been useful. These two boss-fights also incorporate the crappy checkpoint system I spoke of earlier. It's not the bosses themselves that are tough, but the groups of dead aim enemies that appear out of thin air.This game was a complete disaster. As an IGN.com reviewer said best, this game should have been called Abomination. It does nothing right, and as GOBEE mentioned in one of my previous reviews, this game does nothing for video games as a whole. The story is practically non-existent and jumps all over the place. This game's technology is barely on par with a Playstation 1 game at best. It honestly makes Terminator: Salvation look like Game-of-the-Year material which is really saying something. Steer clear of this one entirely, unless you would like relatives or loved ones to see you yell at your TV like a small child. Such a disappointment. I really had high hopes for this game. Don't know if I could even justify paying $5 out of a bargain bin for this disaster. If any of you dove into this one, let us know what you think in the comments!
-DIGGITY OUT
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