Note: This review is based on the early access version from March 11; I’m sure some things will be different when the retail version comes out.
What happens when you combine the movie I Am Legend with a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl? The answer could be Nether. Developers Phosphor Games have attempted to create a world that draws players in and won’t let them go. The following review of the early access version will look at whether they’ve been able to pull it off.
You gotta fight to survive!
In the midst of a large, post-apocalyptic and extremely hostile world, players have to struggle to survive. They might be hunting for food and weapons in the grass at park, or up among the rooftops (and some of the buildings are huge), and suddenly get snuffed out by deadly, teleporting creatures known as “Nethers”. But the Nethers aren’t the only thing the hero has to worry about – the war-torn area is also teeming with other factions asserting their right to collect the spoils lying about.
Let’s dance!
Our adventure begins at a spot near what was once an elevated railway. Armed with only a knife, our hero moves slowly and cautiously, as he doesn’t want to attract the wrong kind of attention with any hasty moves. We open up a map of the area and then search for useful-looking clues. An old museum is labeled with a dollar sign. Our hero immediately sets off in that direction, but it’s a pretty long way off. A few blocks later we walk into an abandoned gas station convenience store, hoping to find food or some other useful items there.
In a corner, our hero finds some shotgun parts and a container of pain pills. As we’re leaving the store, a Nether notices us and teleports in our direction. Where’d he go— All of a sudden, he pops up behind us, gives us a brutal mauling, and then teleports again. We wait for him, the adrenaline starting to flow. This time the beast shows up directly in front of us, and we’re able to attack him with the knife. It takes a total of four hits to kill the damned thing. Our protagonist has lost a lot of health, and is in desperate need of medical attention. A glance at the map shows that it’s not that far to the old museum now. We high tail it, but we’ve got to keep an eye on our stamina meter. Now it’s possible to make out a sort of fortified area. We’ve done it – our hero’s made it to a Safe Zone and can see the traders and buy and sell whatever he wants.
This little sketch of the gameplay in Nether totally brings to mind that one Will Smith movie and the first few hours of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. It’s also a clear illustration of what players can expect to find in the game. The game world has an atmosphere all its own, and is also authentic, even if it is a bit bleak at times. When selecting your hero, you’re limited to two outfits at first, until you have enough in-game gold to buy more. The player can earn gold by sending other (human) players to that great big Safe Zone in the sky. For eliminating Nethers, the player receives experience points and in-game dollars. You can then use these in-game dollars to buy all kinds of things from traders in the “Safe Zone”, or you can earn more by completing “courier missions”. Experience points allow you to level up and put points into various skills (e.g. blocking), providing RPG elements and a good deal of motivation.
Another really cool thing is how you can take weapons parts you come across to the weapons smith (also in the Safe Zone) to be reassembled, expanding your arsenal. You can also visit other traders to have new items crafted by combining a diverse range of other items. The game’s difficulty level is not for beginners, as the Nethers will put a swift end to the adventure within seconds. One thing that’s really a problem sometimes is the shortage of weapons at the beginning, though it’s possible the designers didn’t want to create an armed kill-fest, but teach players to avoid active combat and focus on survival first and foremost. Especially when you come across flying Nethers, it’s always best to give them a wide berth, at least until you can get your hands on some ranged weapons. The knife is simply too weak to put up a fight against the things.
As your hero wanders through the urban nightmare, he might come across useful items or other human players. It would have been nice if there were more food to find in addition to all the weapons parts, but food in particular proved to be quite scarce. This is especially problematic since the character has to eat in order to survive. Of course, you can always buy food in the Safe Zones, but it costs hard currency (dollars), which you’ve got to earn first.
In addition to hunting alone, the game also offers the option to join a faction so you can work together to eradicate the Nethers, or even other players. If you want, you can even get your friends to log into the same server for some serious group action. As far as controls go, the game uses the classic keyboard directional keys (WASD). The game map is huge, and at least at the outset, a lot of areas are inaccessible. You can pick up all kinds of missions and use the helpful general map view to figure out where you need to go. They’re also planning to eventually add a game mode that allows you to take on the role of a Nether in order to make life a living hell for other players. In the current beta this option hasn’t been made available yet.
Room for Improvement
An enormous world with its own unique atmosphere needs a graphics engine to match it – in this case it’s the Unreal Engine 3 (UE3). Even in the beta, it’s clear that the developers know how to captivate players with an immersive environment. They’ve done an especially good job with the dynamic day/night cycles, each of which of which has a totally different feel. Of course the graphics for certain things like vehicles, building outlines, and other environmental elements need a bit more detail, but even in the current, unfinished version, the graphics are really impressive. A range of graphics options, such as anti-aliasing, allow players to make all kinds of further adjustments. The game’s sound effects and background noises have the effect of wrapping players in a blanket of tension, reminding them to watch out, as one of those monsters could be lurking around every corner. Subdued, low-key background music adds to the unnerving feel of the hostile post-apocalyptic environment. At this time dialogue
is text-based only, but that’s totally understandable for a beta version.
Offizieller Full Live Action Trailer
