Today was a special day for all the Star Citizen fans out there. It was the day of the FPS module reveal at 21:00 Melbourne local time.
Be it in the theatre or looking at the stream through twitch, the tension and hype accumulated by the player were almost palpable. Since the first images of the Planetside Module and the disclosure of the upcoming FPS presentation, everyone was in the starting-blocks, waiting for the first FPS demo during the PAX Australia. To this date, no images, no gameplay footage, had been released, leaving the players virtually in the dark on what to expect.
Now that the curtain has dropped, let’s take a look at what do we get from Illfonic’s team and the upcoming FPS module of Star Citizen.
The 10 minutes gameplay demo featured during the one hour presentation was divided in two parts following a general plot: 4 marines were boarding a space station controlled by 4 pirates. Something quite generic if anything.
Before going into too much detail, let’s talk about the gameplay demo on a more general notice. The gameplay seems tactical based, with the need of a good dose of teamwork. Rambo-like players, please refrain yourself from any outburst of overconfidence as the death is permanent, and limb injuries a real threat. As for the decorum surrounding the players, let’s say that the Alien Isolation fans shouldn’t feel too disoriented thanks to the narrow corridors featuring flickering lights and disturbing stains on the walls.
- The first part of the demo is pretty much a regular point hold in 4vs4, but with some particularities. For a starter, immersion is a directive for the FPS development team work, so breathing condensation and inability to properly hip-fire are part of the gig. Too much immersion for too little fun? We could think so, but this particular part of the game (or module) is all about the emergency surrounding the permanent death threat. So no bunny hopping, no frenetic ‘ADADAAD’ strafing and certainly nothing like a fast-paced FPS. Everything is made to set apart of what made the majority of FPS genre over the last few years.
- But where’s the gameplay becomes a bit more innovative (and surprisingly interesting) comes to the second part: the zero-G combat. When one of the defenders decides to cut the artificial gravity over the all station to get an edge on the attackers. Every unattached object starts floating around. Chaotic combat ensued, showing off the new movement scheme brought by the lack of noticeable gravitational attraction and the push/pull mechanism (not yet completely implemented) over the walls. The game suddenly becomes a happy mess, where every movement must be carefully planned because of the definitive nature of the ‘can’t go back in midair’.
If you throw in the mix some various grenades (EMP, radar, smoke, concussion…), holographic decoys and standing shields, you get something that’s not quite like the modern FPS while still being trickier in its design and tactical orientation. But we the gameplay hold its promises to all the player once its released to the players, that’s another question.
What do you think of that first gameplay video? Does Star Citizen have a future in the FPS genre? Give us our thoughts on the subject here at Gamerheadlines.com!