Damnation (PlayStation 3)

Level Design

The environments feel a little static and stale too, whilst the maps and levels are massive there’s very little to do in them except shoot a few bad guys, climb around and rinse/repeat for the early game. Things do get interesting later on and fans of Tomb Raider will like the climbing/free-running no doubt. I was impressed by the sheer scale and since I persevered with the game I began to enjoy it a lot more, especially in terms of scaling to the highest point I could find in the level and raining down sneaky shots from above. The level design is the best thing in Damnation.

Animations

Animations are passable, they’re not exactly top notch at times and there are some times when the enemy animations seem to freeze or in one case fail to line up with the action they’re doing. A reload in this case, seemed to indicate that the enemy had actually managed to tape an invisible weapon to the side of their previous gun. For the most part though they look decent and work well. Cut-scene animations are not bad and there’s a good range of emotion to the characters for the most part, some of the scenes do appear a little stiff.

Physics

There aren’t really many physics based things in the game. You have the typical ragdoll effects and so on, that’s about it. Explosions toss people into the air and if you’re lucky to score a good shot with a supposedly powerful weapon, well, the enemy might flop for you.

AI

A mixed bag again, the AI is decent enough for the most part. It can navigate any place in the environment but sometimes stops to run up against a wall for a few minutes or gets caught on the scenery – it’s a shame since having an enemy that can flank you by unexpected methods is a great touch. Both enemies and allies can suffer this problem and even then with an enemy expect to spend a few rounds of ammo denting their awesome armour. The AI is good though unless it’s on your side, then it’s pretty inaccurate and gets hurt a lot.

Sound

Damnation has a fairly decent sound library. The guns though, again, because they are Steampunk all have this rattle and hissy quality. It’s not a bad thing, it could be a little more pronounced with some of the bigger weapons but isn’t a game breaker at all. The game’s sound is nothing awesome to write home about but still a good quality. There could have been some more ambient life to the various levels but they did a nice job on some of the later ones.

Music

I quite like the music in Damnation; it has the right mix of ambient and driven themes with Steampunky undertones.

Voice/Dialogue

There are some good voice actors in Damnation, the voice acting in general isn’t too bad and it doesn’t grate (most of the time). There are a few lack-lustre performances and some badly delivered lines. If this kind of thing doesn’t bother you though, you should have no problem with it. The script is solid for the most part but it does have some slightly clichéd dialogue – only to be expected with a Steampunk Wild West game really.

Multiplayer

Damnation’s multiplayer often suffers from drop outs, lag and a few other issues that need resolving with a patch. There are times it lags and you discover that you mistimed a jump or totally failed to connect with a hanging ladder. This is critical for a game that tends to rely on vertical combat. There are a few modes that are of interest as well, Damnations take on King of the Hill in a map called Shaft is a nice and bold move. There are multiple routes to the top of the map and you have to hold the hill (platform) over the abyssal depths below, one wrong move can send you falling down into the darkness. Spirit Vision lets you see your opponents and where they are, allowing you to pick off campers and deal with snipers at your leisure. Being able to hang off ledges and sneak around also adds to the tactical variation in mp. Sadly through, most people I met online just wanted to deathmatch and blast things leaving the unique style of gameplay very much underused by all but the most stalwart tactical player.

One nice feature of the game is the inclusion of online and offline cooperative story play, where you and a buddy can go through the whole campaign as Rourke and a sidekick. It’s nice to see the developers supporting that style of game, so they get a few good marks from me since I love co-op gaming. Kudos to them.

Well shucks!

Damnation could have been a pretty good contender a year or so ago, however, with the newest game engines, prettier graphics of other games and the fact that Vertical Combat isn’t exactly a new thing since the Tomb Raider games evolved and we’ve seen a lot of true VC in CAPCOM’s Dark Void videos. Damnation deserves kudos for trying a hard genre, a hard game style and attempting to add a fresh new coat of paint to an old painting.

It just doesn’t quite work...a case of too little and definitely too late. It is a fun (at times) and quirky game though that’s worth persevering with, despite the bugs.