 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Advertisement |
 |
 |
 |
|
DriverHeaven Article
- uses custom javascript to display high resolution images |
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Introduction Bet on Soldier: Blood Sport is a futuristic first person shooter filled to the brim with nonstop action. Taking the role of Nolan Daneworth, the hero will find himself battling as a part of an elite crew to avenge his fallen fiancé. Utilizing the KT graphics engine, Bet on Soldier will captivate you from the start with its unique blend of RPG, FPS, and strategy elements and will constantly keep you on the edge of your seat. What is Bet on Soldier? Bet on Soldier is a television show that broadcasts one-on-one fights between two soldiers who will participate in such shoot-outs in order to earn enough money to live. Before each level, you will have the option to select certain champions that you would like to challenge. As you encounter them across your journeys, the rest of the soldiers will leave the battlefield, leaving the two of you alone to fight. Aside from these televised matches, Nolan will travel along with a few members of his crew as well as they attempt to kill the masterminds behind this catastrophe. Depending on the way the game is played, the ending will not always be a happy one.
Technical Standpoint The minimum requirements for Bet on Soldier are as follows: Windows 2000 / XP Bet on Soldier utilizes the KT graphics engine with the Ageia physics engine. The graphics engine is state of the art, so obviously a lot of the lower end systems won’t be able to even play this game. For those of us who can, however, you will be able to appreciate many graphical techniques, such as normal mapping, which gives this game its sharp look. The Ageia physics engine, used in the latest versions of the Unreal engine, is very lifelike. Not only do barrels bounce around as you would expect them too, but bodies also have a dramatically heavy feel once they’ve been shot. The recoil system used favors those who move less or crouch, and interestingly enough we noticed that incoming enemy fire will rattle your screen and make everything appear as a blur for an added touch of realism.
Visual Aspect With the proper setup, Bet on Soldier is a visually stunning title. The system requirements can be a bit demanding, and while the graphics engine could use some tweaking, gamers with a high end system will have a lot to be happy about here. The particle effects, for the most part, feel as if they’re coming to life right on the screen. Explosions from barrels, smoke from missiles, and the muzzle flash from an assault rifle have all been nicely crafted. Strangely enough, the blood effects are actually quite poor, and instead of resembling any type of liquid, blood pouring out of a body simply looks like some red splotches shooting out of a limb. Soft lighting effects have been implemented to give the world a vibrant appearance, but this tends to make the characters have an overly reflective appearance. For the most part, Bet on Soldier is definitely one of the better looking games for the PC, but its high demands and few quirks may make it unfavorable to some. Audio Department As in most first person shooter games, sound can be your most valuable weapon if used correctly. In Bet on Soldier, you will be immersed into an enthralling 3D sound experience, so it is recommended that you have a decent sound card and speaker system to help compliment the effects. The weapon sound effects have been developed with meticulous detail, and the explosions are guaranteed to make your room rumble. While any game in this genre can probably say the same for this, Bet on Soldier also pays careful attention to some of the smaller details. Effects such as hearing the ground crumble beneath your feet and the frantic shouting of a distant enemy area nice touch, and even the patter of bullets against your armor can be heard. The various battlefields are constantly overflowing with chaos, and the sound department does everything it can to support this.
Gamers. . . Place your bets! Bet on Soldier takes the player through the mercenary career of Nolan Daneworth, so you will control his actions both on and off the battlefield. Before you enter a combat zone, you will have the opportunity to manage your funds by selecting your armor types, weapon loadout, and fellow comrades. As the game progresses new items can be unlocked in each genre, but from the start you will only have the bare bones equipment. For all of the CS 1.6 fans out there, Nolan can sport an extremely protective shield if you have the money to back it up. For weapons, you can choose one primary weapon, a secondary weapon, a melee weapon, and grenades. Primary weapons consist of some assault rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, and other heavy machinery, while the secondary weapons include some lighter forces, such as double-barreled shotguns, sub-machine guns, and pistols. While the basic high explosive frag grenades are available, there are also other special grenades that can release a blazing inferno or toxic gas. When the time comes to select your team, you’ll have the option to select from a few different teammate classes, such as an engineer or assault player. Each class has its own unique abilities; for example, the engineers can be called upon during battle to repair your armor. Lastly, depending on the level you can choose soldiers whom you would like to face throughout the level in the televised Bet on Soldier show. Each soldier has a different wager amount and skill level, so it can be a bit risky to fight against the more experienced players, especially when you’re arsenal isn’t fully developed. Once everything is finally setup, it’s time to enter the battlefield. Nathan not only participates in Bet on Soldier bouts, but he also has a set of objectives to complete in each mission if he wants to destroy the show once and for all. Some of his objectives will involve destroying enemy turrets, tanks, communication centers, and other things of that nature. As expected, the missions revolve around entering an enemy base, destroying hundreds of baddies, and then moving on to the next base. To help diversify things a bit, Nathan can pilot mech warriors with machine guns and missile launchers if he happens to come across one. The robot is a lot less agile than a soldier on foot and it certainly has a hard time finding cover, but its ability to fire the two weapons at once more than makes up for this. Whether you’re on foot or in a machine, you will earn money based on how you kill your opponents. Pumping them full of lead in the chest will earn you the least amount of cash, while annihilating them with a headshot or torching them with the explosion of a barrel will reward you handsomely. You’re rewarding for torturing your enemies in the most inhumane ways possible, so it’s up to you to be creative regarding the demise of the opposition. The gameplay mechanics are setup somewhat similarly to most other first person shooter games, but Bet on Soldier has a few unique elements that make it stand out from the crowd. For instance, instead of having access to any type of quick save method, you can only save at set locations for a costly fee. This prevents gamers from constantly saving around every nook and cranny, and it will more than likely make you act more conservatively regarding your plan of action. There are also repair terminals located sparsely that will allow you to purchase ammunition and repair your armor. Having an engineer on your team will allow you to have your armor repaired wherever you are, but if you don’t happen to have one handy these repair stations will save you from losing your life. Several times in each level, your team, as well as any leftover members of the opposing team, will exit the room to mark the beginning of a Bet on Soldier match. After a brief introduction of your opponent from a bothersome announcer, you’ll have 60 seconds in which to bring your rival to his knees. Instead of being a total pushover, the other soldier comes equipped with heavy armor, massive weaponry, and a handful of tricks up his sleeve to give him the upper edge. While the concept behind this is promising, there are still a lot of bugs preventing it from being loads of fun. For starters, the 60 second time limit is simply too short, so instead of attempting to have any type of strategy you’ll have to go all out right from the start, which can often result in death. To make matters worse, your opponents have regenerating shields that prevent damage and they can also make you go blind for a few seconds. While these battles certain encourage fast paced thinking and no holding back, often times they wind up being more frustrating than they are entertaining. Just like any other game ever created, Bet on Soldier does have its fair share of flaws. The whole aiming interface feels a bit clunky and weighed down, so it can be tricky to take down snipers and rushing soldiers all in one clip. While the AI is impressive for the most part, there were times when we were able to walk inches away from them without them even noticing we were there. Your teammates also have a tendency to wander off on their own instead of sticking by your side, and you have very little control over them as it is. The terminal interfaces do take practice getting used to, and you might feel overwhelmed with the huge load of information thrown at you from the start. While these quirks don’t take away from the gameplay considerably, there are still a few bugs that need to be worked out before Bet on Soldier can be considered an excellent game.
The future of Bet on Soldier Bet on Soldier’s single player campaign alone has a great replay value compared to most other first person shooters. Instead of having a linear storyline to follow where the outcome is always the same, the gamer will have the option to choose which environments they want to fight in and in what order, leading to a seemingly endless amount of possibilities. The computer AI is also sophisticated in terms of their strategy, so it is very unlikely that they will repeatedly go about the same plan of attack. To make things even better, the online multiplayer mode has support for up to 32 players with 6 available character classes. Introducing a new mode to the online community, the Bet on Soldier online gameplay will involve two teams who will have to complete a set of objectives in order to gain control of the map. Afterwards, the Bet on Soldier battles will commence where the leading team will be able to choose which soldier they would like to go one-on-one with. Combining a need for teamwork with a dependency for veteran first person shooter gamers takes Bet on Soldier’s multiplayer aspect a step further than other games on the market today, so you can be sure that the online community is going to thrive here. Conclusion In conclusion, Bet on Soldier: Blood Sport is a decent first person shooter with an interesting concept to say the least. The developers clearly set out to make this game as far from the mainstream as possible, and it manages to succeed here in some respects, but the gameplay fundamentals are still similar to a handful of currently available titles. Still, the futuristic theme, impressive visuals, and its ability to be replayed over and over again make Bet on Soldier a perfect game for anyone looking for something new. Contacts:
Reviewer: Andy
"Vesper" Levine
|
|
|
