At this point, chances are that you,re either annoyed at the site of an overabundance of WWII shooters or you just simply can,t get enough of the Nazi-slaughtering action. Whether or not you,re still entertained by the intense action that can be found in a WWII shooter, developers like Burut and CDV Software need to come up with some different ideas to still keep this genre appealing, otherwise their newly-released titles are going to sink to the bottom of the WWII pile. They look to accomplish such a task in their upcoming shooter, UberSoldier. It can,t be said that we,re particularly fond of the title, but what else can describe an undead German soldier better? That,s where UberSoldier plans to take off, by throwing you into the shoes of the ultimate German killing machine.
UberSoldier will see you playing as a German soldier named Karl Stolz who dies in a rebel ambush during WWII. Around the same time of your death, Nazi experiments are being conducted to search for a way to bring back the dead. During the procedure, it,s learned that the shock people get upon their death empowers their mind with supernatural abilities. The scientists have used your dead body (or, rather, Karl’s dead body) as raw materials to construct the first UberSoldier. It,s at this point that your mind unlocks new abilities that you previously didn,t possess, and you want to seek revenge on your Nazi masters for what they,ve done to you. We can definitely say that,s one of the most unique storylines for a WWII shooter we,ve seen in a while, and it should certainly bring a new sense of entertainment to the mix.
Just this past week a demo was released, giving us a chance to try out the single-player action. The demo spans across one very short level that takes place in a small prison. It starts out with you entering the prison via an air duct from the surface. Right away, you,re thrust into the action as you enter the first room to kill a guard inside what looks like a laboratory. As soon as shots are fired, more guards burst into the room, only to be cut down by your rapid gunfire. From this point on, the demo basically becomes a series of small hallways and rooms for you to run through and shoot anything that moves. Later on, you do meet up with a small squad of soldiers that help you fight through the rest of the level. Although they,re not particularly smart, they do provide adequate covering fire.
The fighting can feel sort of old after a short while, but it does get spiced up a little with the somewhat destructible environments. Thanks to some ragdoll effects and damage modeling you can cause some big explosions by blowing up vehicles and explosive canisters. Doing so normally causes debris and other objects within the game world to go flying all across the area. The bodies of your enemies also have a hit detection system allowing you to see exactly where you shot them, and they,ll also act accordingly, thanks to the ragdoll physics. You can even see their hats fly off when you pop one into their skull.
Speaking of headshots, UberSoldier does reward you for such gruesome killings. Three headshots in a row will give more shield power. When you make your first headshot, a small display will appear in the lower-right corner of the HUD. This shows you how many headshots you,ve made out of the three total, and it also shows you how much time you have left to make your next headshot in order for it to count. Once you make three headshots within the allotted time, you,re rewarded with more power to be applied to your supernatural shield. This is more or less considered the rage that fuels your extraordinary abilities.
The main ability that we,re talking about here is the power to create a shield around your body. With the simple press of a key, you can create a shield which surrounds your body and actually catches bullets in midair. When enemy soldiers walk into the path of your shield they,re killed on impact. Depending on the power level of the shiled, any bullets that are still stuck in it will fire back out at whoever fired them, or simply drop to the ground. It,s a really neat effect that you just don,t want to stop using. It,s a little unclear at this point if this will be the only supernatural power you can wield in the full game, but there,s a good chance that there will be more abilities at your finger tips.
Although the demo only featured a few handguns, machine guns, grenades, and one rocket launcher, the full game will feature even more of these types of weapons as well as sniper rifles, flamethrowers, and plenty of mounted weaponry. In all, the full game will consist of 16 different weapons and 12 different levels to ravage through. Some of these levels will actually vary between land, air, and sea to offer up a variety of locales. Unfortunately the final retail version will not include multiplayer, but this is one reason for why CDV Software has chosen to price the game at a low $30.
The visuals in UberSoldier look fairly good at this point. It,s certainly not the best that we,ve seen from an FPS, but it does look very modern and detailed. The character models in particular are very detailed, and most of the textures are very sharp. There are also some other effects that look excellent such as the wavy look of your shield when bullets hit it or the massive explosions from vehicles. The fire in the game also looks great as it gives off a nice blur effect.
The sound effects are a little sub par right now. The general sound of the guns firing and bullets whizzing buy is decent, but definitely not up to the standards of most of the other WWII shooters that have come out lately. The music sounds a little on the weak side and the voiceovers range from just simply bad to lame. Hopefully this will be fine-tuned for the final version.
So far UberSoldier is shaping up to be an interesting experience, but it may be a little rough around the edges. The action of this WWII shooter actually feels a lot like Return to Castle Wolfenstein, however the more unique features give it a little twist. We,ll just have to see how it all pans out when the game ships at the end of this month. Be sure to check out our full review at that time.
