Nexuiz Review

One drawback of speedy arena shooter Nexuiz is trying to pronounce its name, which seems like it's supposed to be something like "Nexus." Even though the nomenclature is hard to get your tongue around, developer Illfonic has done a great job of resurrecting the classic craziness of run-and-gun multiplayer first-person shooter games like Quake III Arena or Unreal Tournament. Innovation may be in short supply, but pure speed and excitement are not. This $10 Xbox Live game soars, thanks to zippy, brutal matches set in sharp-looking sci-fi battlegrounds brought to living color with the CryEngine 3 engine. The primary complaint is the platform itself, as this is the sort of old-timey strafe-and-shoot game that practically demands you play with a mouse and keyboard rather than the clumsier console gamepad.

Shiny aliens and lots of shooting make up a good chunk of what you find in the arenas of Nexuiz.

Guiding principles of the game design stick closely to the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle. This is a simple, straightforward FPS with objectives that never get more complicated than shooting the other guy in the face early and often. There are just two modes of play in Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. Both are playable online with other humans, as well as alone with allied and enemy bots (which are just smart enough to give you a slight challenge in Team Deathmatch but dumb when it comes to Capture the Flag). Matches play out with a maximum of just six players, and there are no classes, experience, or any other extras to clutter up the killing. All of the brief, bloody battles on offer take place on nine small maps. And there are just nine weapons with which to murder one another. This is a modern rendition of a multiplayer arena shooter from circa 2000 here, all decked out with modern visuals and sound, as well as a few little tweaks to satisfy contemporary sensibilities.

The carnage has been revved up due to the cramped maps and small number of players on each team. Nine weapons may seem chintzy, but it's hard to complain when you start with an effective shotgun. You soon collect the likes of a thumpy rocket launcher and an enemy-shredding railgun called The Nex. All weapons have secondary firing abilities as well. So you can love the shotgun for its close-range kills and go to the alternative option that keeps the shot pattern a little tighter for foes a bit farther away. Secondary weapon attributes can also be different from the core ones, letting you vary up battle tactics without swapping. The brutally powerful Nex can turn into a backup sniper rifle, for example.

An almost art deco look gives Nexuiz a really distinctive appearance, as well as some rather fearsome weapons.

Pace is extremely fast; it's in line with the Quake Arena and Unreal Tournament franchises that served as Nexuiz's inspirations. You stop; you die. It's that simple. Maps are tightly constructed for both Capture the Flag and Team Deathmatch, with each being set aside for one mode of play or the other. The main focus of both types of design is to push the small teams together for lots of quick, chaotic bloodletting.