Of course, what kind of a game would this adventure be if it didn’t feature a full accoutrement of weapons and other equipment. And with no less then 19 guns, six gadgets, four types of grenades and a nifty bladed thingy good for playing Chef with. Assault rifles, handguns, rocket launchers plasma rifles, tranquilizer pistols, the game is stock in weapondry that is both expected and unexpected. No real surprises other then when dual wielding the guns, the alt fire is no longer accesable. And speaking of the alt fire, every weapon has a second function ranging from the normal (flashlight, grenade launcher) to the unexpected like cloaking ability and zip lines. If anything the alt weapon fire was more surprising then the gun loadout. But all in all, I was very happy with the weapons and all the tricks they feature in this game.
Now the game does a couple of things involving the weapons that some shooters do and some don’t. For one thing, depending on what weapon your carrying your movement speed is effected. Joanna is pretty lithe and quick when running with a couple of handguns, but put the rocket launcher in her hand and things slow down for the poor girl. Next, the game only allows you to carry a couple of weapons, when you take a bad guy out and you walk up to their corpse, if you are carrying the same gun the game just defaults to you picking up their ammo, but if you discover that there is a different weapon on the ground then the game gives you the option of swapping it with one of your curent weapons. Veteran gamers will recall the way HALO deals with it’s weapons, basically it’s the same idea.
And finally in this violent and technology ridden future you will get the opportunity to use some of the vehicles, well two at least. The first being a sort of rocket pack/jump jet thing where you can fly around and hover. This vehicle features dual mounted machineguns for the player who likes to kill on the go. And the other being a squirrelly hovercraft. The hovercraft can go a bit faster then the jet pack and also features the ability to take on passengers and interchangable weapons loadout. And with these vehicles, which are done quite well, PD0 maintains the status quo in first person shooters that feature vehicles. I’m not complaining, but when is the next big innovation going to occur?
Now for all these really nifty guns and insurance deductable causing armaments, probably the coolest inception is the gadgets featured in this title. By my count you play with about six of these really ingenious little toys. Not only are they cool to have but rather then them being an automatic type tool, you actually must “use ” them. For example, one of the tools is called the Locktopus, it’s a nifty little device that can pick any standard locking door. But rather then make it a passing thought, the developers made it so you must move the thumbstick to control the tumblers when picking a lock. It’s one of those small quirks that can really help out a game that’s looking to make a name for itself. The same could be said with some of the other devices. All of them are controlled one way or another giving the player a richer gaming experience.
