Coid
27-08-04, 04:37
Yet another MMORPG has landed on my desk. However, this time the game is cleverly disguised as a first person shooter.
Neocron is set in a futuristic apocalyptic world that has been demolished by war. Now the Earth’s population is forced to live under protective domes, while mutants and such roam the outer regions. The story is obviously nothing new, but the environment will immerse you to the extent that you will likely forget about the story and be in total awe of the futuristic sights surrounding you.
You begin your journey into Neocron by creating your character, and selecting the class you would like to play as. There are four in all: Private eye, Psi-monk, Spy, and Gen-Tank. With each class comes different abilities, but this is where the game reaches its first hurdle.
Regardless of which class you choose, your missions will be generic and boring. Prepare to spend countless hours in the sewers, killing off vermin for credits. The only other option at this point is to pick up and deliver packages, which is dull at best.
None of the missions are class specific. There are no stealth missions for the spies, and no muscle flexing battles for the Gen-tanks. At this point, the only thing to do in the game is to kill rodents and run simple errands for one of the game’s factions.
Once you select a class, you must select to join one of the thirteen factions in the game. Each faction has a lengthy history if you choose to read it, but that could take hours. Besides, the faction you choose doesn’t seem to affect anything about the game except where your player lives.
Now, back to the impressive world that the developers have created. NPCs populate every dark corner of the game world. Strip clubs bustle with perverted activity, announcements and advertisements can be heard over distant intercoms (reminiscent of Blade Runner), and flying vehicles will zip and dart overhead. It is an engaging world that will suck you in, and keep you playing even after you have lost interest in the actual game.
The graphics are a little behind the times, appearing very much like Deus Ex, only not as polished. This both hurts and helps the game. It helps to add a gritty feel to the game world that would otherwise be missing. However, in some areas, the details are just too bland and lacking any sort of visual flair. Character models also suffer from low polygons, and wooden animation. Sometimes a character will move from point A to point B without moving any limb at all.
Player killing is not even an option in Neocron. Every player has a chip implanted into their brains preventing them from killing others. Because of this chip, you aren’t even allowed to pick up a loose backpack that may be lying in the streets. You do have the option of removing the chip, though there are copbots at every corner that will shoot you on site if you attempt to murder another player.
The play in the game is relatively smooth, with only minor hiccups here and there. There are also rare times that you may become stuck on certain structures and be forced to drop 1000 credits to spawn someplace else if possible. I became stuck on a desk at the beginning of my game, and even after starting my saved game, I was still stuck, so I had to create an entirely new character and start a new game. It was not pleasant.
Engaging in a fight is dull and lacking of any sort of excitement. Your foe will simply stand in one spot and exchange shots with you until one of you dies. There are no elaborate death animations, as he will simply keel over and fall to the ground like a wooden plank.
A Neofrag arena is available in the large city for a little laser tag action with other players. But due to the above mentioned problems, and the fact that you can only play simple deathmatch, this portion of the game is lame.
While I’ve given Neocron quite a lot of heat, not all is lost. The developers were able to create a fantastic world in which to play, and if they are able to add more variety to the missions, and fix the game’s current problems, then in the future this could possibly turn out to be a fun game. As for now, Neocron suffers from the same thing as most MMORPGs out there, a lack of things to do besides the monotonous.
Overal 6.5/10
kk maybe should look into some of these things ;)
Neocron is set in a futuristic apocalyptic world that has been demolished by war. Now the Earth’s population is forced to live under protective domes, while mutants and such roam the outer regions. The story is obviously nothing new, but the environment will immerse you to the extent that you will likely forget about the story and be in total awe of the futuristic sights surrounding you.
You begin your journey into Neocron by creating your character, and selecting the class you would like to play as. There are four in all: Private eye, Psi-monk, Spy, and Gen-Tank. With each class comes different abilities, but this is where the game reaches its first hurdle.
Regardless of which class you choose, your missions will be generic and boring. Prepare to spend countless hours in the sewers, killing off vermin for credits. The only other option at this point is to pick up and deliver packages, which is dull at best.
None of the missions are class specific. There are no stealth missions for the spies, and no muscle flexing battles for the Gen-tanks. At this point, the only thing to do in the game is to kill rodents and run simple errands for one of the game’s factions.
Once you select a class, you must select to join one of the thirteen factions in the game. Each faction has a lengthy history if you choose to read it, but that could take hours. Besides, the faction you choose doesn’t seem to affect anything about the game except where your player lives.
Now, back to the impressive world that the developers have created. NPCs populate every dark corner of the game world. Strip clubs bustle with perverted activity, announcements and advertisements can be heard over distant intercoms (reminiscent of Blade Runner), and flying vehicles will zip and dart overhead. It is an engaging world that will suck you in, and keep you playing even after you have lost interest in the actual game.
The graphics are a little behind the times, appearing very much like Deus Ex, only not as polished. This both hurts and helps the game. It helps to add a gritty feel to the game world that would otherwise be missing. However, in some areas, the details are just too bland and lacking any sort of visual flair. Character models also suffer from low polygons, and wooden animation. Sometimes a character will move from point A to point B without moving any limb at all.
Player killing is not even an option in Neocron. Every player has a chip implanted into their brains preventing them from killing others. Because of this chip, you aren’t even allowed to pick up a loose backpack that may be lying in the streets. You do have the option of removing the chip, though there are copbots at every corner that will shoot you on site if you attempt to murder another player.
The play in the game is relatively smooth, with only minor hiccups here and there. There are also rare times that you may become stuck on certain structures and be forced to drop 1000 credits to spawn someplace else if possible. I became stuck on a desk at the beginning of my game, and even after starting my saved game, I was still stuck, so I had to create an entirely new character and start a new game. It was not pleasant.
Engaging in a fight is dull and lacking of any sort of excitement. Your foe will simply stand in one spot and exchange shots with you until one of you dies. There are no elaborate death animations, as he will simply keel over and fall to the ground like a wooden plank.
A Neofrag arena is available in the large city for a little laser tag action with other players. But due to the above mentioned problems, and the fact that you can only play simple deathmatch, this portion of the game is lame.
While I’ve given Neocron quite a lot of heat, not all is lost. The developers were able to create a fantastic world in which to play, and if they are able to add more variety to the missions, and fix the game’s current problems, then in the future this could possibly turn out to be a fun game. As for now, Neocron suffers from the same thing as most MMORPGs out there, a lack of things to do besides the monotonous.
Overal 6.5/10
kk maybe should look into some of these things ;)