Codename: Outbreak Preview

Codename: Outbreak is one of those games that could easily slip under your radar, considering all the big-name games vying for your attention as the holidays approach. Originally titled "Venom" and already released in Europe, Codename: Outbreak should be hitting American shores shortly. The game was created by GSC Game World, the Ukrainian developer best known for its real-time strategy game Cossacks: European Wars. This time, GSC Game World tackles the shooter genre, creating a blend of stealth and head-on action.

Codename: Outbreak mixes a bunch of science fiction, horror, and disaster movie plots to come up with a framework for its action. In 2012, astronomers spot an unusual comet heading toward our solar system from another galaxy. As the comet brushes by Earth, chunks of it splinter off into the atmosphere and slam into the ground, causing mass destruction through tidal waves and earthquakes. It turns out that these meteorites hold the seeds of new life--deadly new life that parasitically controls host humans, turning them into zombielike menaces that view the world through thermal vision. As a highly trained commando with a load of high-tech weaponry, your goal is clear: Investigate and eradicate this new threat to Earth.

In a first- or third-person perspective, you'll make your way through a series of single-player missions that play out in 14 different indoor and outdoor environments. You can play many of them during day or night conditions for added replay value. Near a crater left by one of the fateful meteorites, you'll begin your adventures by searching the remains of a scientific research station. All contact with the scientists has been lost. Ensuing waves of police and marines have gone missing, with the marines apparently coming under fire from their own men. Not surprisingly, once you're inserted into the site by air, you learn that spiderlike creatures resembling the face-huggers from Aliens have attached themselves to the necks of the police and soldiers who went in before you. Now these infected troops are after you, and they're well trained, and well armed. Later in the game, you'll get to infiltrate tightly guarded bases and fight off increasingly tougher aliens and troops.

Before each mission, you get to choose a computer-controlled sidekick from a multinational team of commandos and then select his weapon and body-armor camouflage pattern. Via the keyboard, you can order your partner to cover you, attack, hold position, and hold or open fire. When not holding position, he'll tag along closely by your side, mirroring your moves while on the lookout for hostiles. In fact, your AI partner has a real eagle eye. He'll sometimes spot and open fire on the enemy before you do, which may very well save your neck but may detract a little from the feeling that you're the central hero of the game.

Peace Through Superior Firepower

To accomplish your goals, you'll need both massive firepower and discretion. To help you snoop around, you'll have night-vision goggles and the ability to walk quietly, crouch, and go prone. When it's time to open fire, you'll have plenty of near-future military hardware to dole out the damage with. Your main weapon is a multifunction gun with an Aliens-style digital ammo counter. This single weapon is like the Swiss Army knife of firearms, functioning as a submachine gun, laser, sniper rifle, shotgun, and rocket launcher. For special situations, you can employ a flare launcher or a flash-grenade launcher. When only heavy-hitting weapons will do, you can also cut loose with mines and grenade launchers to wreak added havoc.

It looks like Codename: Outbreak is trying to straddle the line between Rogue Spear-style tactical shooters and the more traditional "run and gun" shooter gameplay. In a nod to the tactical subgenre, when you hold down the trigger of your submachine gun, the muzzle rides up and the crosshairs "bloom" to indicate the effect of the recoil on your aim. You can aim more steadily, though, when firing from a prone position. Location-specific damage means a headshot will kill, whereas a hit to an armored torso will just wound. Also for added realism, it doesn't take much of a fall to injure your character. Casual leaps off buildings aren't an option here. Even with these realistic touches, don't expect to die from a single shot. On the easier difficulty levels, at least, you can take a fair amount of punishment, thanks to your advanced body armor.

In addition to an arsenal of lethal weaponry, you'll get a futuristic HUD to help you deal with threats. It will visually bracket enemies with yellow rectangles, as well as identify the items you find during your missions with text descriptions. A scrolling compass bar at the top of the screen keeps you oriented, and color-coded waypoint triangles direct you to targets and mission goals. A handy zoom lets you get a bead on distant foes. On top of these features, you'll also have to access a small picture-in-picture display that you can toggle between a minimap and the view from your partner's eyes. In an unusual touch, health and armor status numbers are listed on little digital readouts on your character's sleeve when you play in first-person view.

You can also access an inventory screen with slots that hold your weapons, magazines, and other military gear, as well as items you pick up along the way, like key cards or notepads that advance the story. From here, you'll choose what items you want to use, though you select weapons using the number keys, in typical shooter fashion. There shouldn't be any clumsy fumbling with your inventory during a firefight. While you can lug a fair amount of equipment around, you won't be a walking tank, either. Every item has a listed weight, and your inventory can't exceed a specified total weight.

The Sound of Violence

Codename: Outbreak's world of suspense and violence is brought to life with GSC Game World's proprietary Vital Engine ZL. The visuals it produces likely won't be able to compete with the very best that the shooter genre has to offer, but the engine has some clear strengths. Most obviously, it renders expansive outdoor areas with seeming ease. While these areas may not be as impressively enormous as those found in Operation Flashpoint or Tribes 2, they nevertheless convey a real sense of space. The outdoor levels don't feel like indoor levels that have just been thinly disguised with a few trees and bushes.

The graphic design should hopefully help make up for some of the possible technical shortcomings of the visuals. Soldier and police uniforms, consisting of futuristic body armor, look appropriately menacing. The weapon models look interesting, too. GSC Game World is paying attention to the little details that can help create immersive scenes--telephone poles line roads, misty clouds float by, papers litter an abandoned camp, and beer cans and cigarette packs sit on a table in a guardhouse.

The game's sound sets the action-oriented mood from the start. Hard-driving guitar riffs, a minor-key bass line, and thudding drums accompany the main menu screen. You'll often hear the same sort of hard rock instrumentals when you engage enemies. The weapon sound effects, so vital for helping convey a feeling of power in a shooter, should also get your attention right away. Even the basic submachine gun's action features a wall-shaking mix of metallic clanking and a booming report. In a genre whose very name derives from firing guns, that sort of attention to weapon sound effects bodes well.

GSC Game World is paying attention to the smaller sonic details as well. In outdoor levels, you'll quickly notice the ambient sounds of all different types of birds. Other environmental sounds receive their due, like footsteps crunching gravel as you hustle down a road or glass shattering as you shoot out a window. Sounds also echo realistically in enclosed areas. Electronic items have their own unique effects, like a slight electric whirring as your weapon's zoom feature slides into focus.

One aspect of the game's sonic design that may cause some difficulties is the voice-overs, which seem to be the Achilles' heel of so many games. As it stands, the voices all seem to feature prominently Slavic-sounding accents. Some may find that this detracts from the immersion, considering the game begins in the US. Of more concern, some of the accents sound so thick that bits of the dialogue might be hard to make out. Fortunately, you get a message log and subtitles for some of the dialogue.

Since Codename: Outbreak is primarily about sneaking around and blasting deadly creatures, dialogue probably won't be incredibly important, anyway. The game looks to be an interesting blend of science fiction and realism and of various types of shooters. Expect some fun weaponry and interesting level designs, too. A full multiplayer suite should add to the gameplay possibilities. For die-hard shooter fans, Codename: Outbreak may be one to keep an eye on.