Fast paced action with additional quirks made this game interesting enough however its three years overdue.
Graphics: 8
Sounds: 6
Value: 7
Tilt: 6
Actual score: 6.7
Ever since I have been introduced to Unreal Tournament back in 1999, I always wondered of how UT would fair in single player mode in form of a storyline as some of the multiplayer maps are truly remarkable (and I’m not talking about Unreal even though that's a phenomenal achievement in itself). Naturally I have downloaded many mods to fill this void yet the wait was over in 2002 where Dreamcatcher took up this concept in the form of Gore – that is using multiplayer maps, string them together, link it up in form of a story and added quirks to sparks things up. The overall feeling was mixed and a little confusing yet the changes made by Dreamcatcher to make multiplayer more fun were enough to keep me satisfied.
The premise of Gore is extremely simplistic and overused somewhat. The setting is in the mid 21st century where natural resources are almost depleted due to over population, street gangs rule the streets and even cities therefore the governments are left powerless. However a new discovery was made called ORE where this material can amplify electrical power that feeds into it and considering it’s public knowledge, every man and his dog wanted it. The main ‘terrorist’ group ‘The MOB’ are using this to travel into space in search of more ORE yet the UMC (the good guys) are using this to fuel the ‘meat machine’ – that is: a virtual combat simulator to train the best of the best using variety of different scenarios. Naturally only the strong will survive (as many soldiers suffered from cardiac arrest) however The MOB somehow infiltrates the machine (from space?) and stole important data that can cripple the machine. Your task is to hunt down and return the data core at any cost using real and virtual world simulations.
Considering the plot is quite simplistic, this places a reasonable excuse to add on as many multiplayer maps in a single player mode as you possibly can. When you trod from one map to another, there will be a huge contrast of scenarios ranging from urban hip hop to gothic churches to graveyards to space stations and many, many more. On the surface it does sound promising however considering that these maps are designed for multiplayer use, as a single player they are remarkably short hence there is no real ‘feelings’ for the surroundings; it’s like sampling wine where you simply just taste many different ones instead of taking a couple of bottles and totally immerse yourself into.
However all is not lost. Considering the publisher is Dreamcatcher expect some twists along the way. One of my major grips in any multiplayer game is the concept of camping near health packs and weaponry. Well in Gore if you shoot a health pack it explodes (just like a grenade) so a message goes out to all those campers – beware. This also extends to ammo packs and certain weaponry. And to those who’s like a jack rabbit on heat and strafe like there’s no tomorrow (e.g. me) there is also the concept of stamina; so your character can eventually slow down, tire and even pass out if you are not careful. Therefore this provides a nice balance and answers to many questions of making things fair on the multiplayer world.
Graphically the game is on par of looking pleasing enough. I’m not sure the name of the engine used to power Gore however the rending is quite smooth and detailed. Nice lighting effects, smooth animation and the likes reminds me of the Quake III engine (similar to Soldier of Fortune or Medal of Honor). However the character’s themselves can be improved with a little more animations but considering it’s designed for fast paced action that’s not too much of a concern. The flipside is that getting the game running on its fullest glory requires a powerful PC. That said, the optimisation is well constructed and will play well on most mid range PCs.
The sounds are a mixed bag though. Musically, Gore produces those short, sharp bursts of scores which uses that ‘looping’ style quite effectively. I think each loop lasts around thirty seconds however as an overall picture, it does presents itself quite nicely. Yet everything else is where it falls down. The weaponry, explosions and the taunts all sounds scratchy; it’s like playing music on a cheap stereo very loud to a point of distortion. It’s a shame that this has happened however I guess you cannot win them all. And the taunts needs a lot of work as well; seriously the guy armed with those throwing knives yelling at me ‘I’m the knife guy’ is not going to do much justice. Now compare this with UT2003 or Quake III and correct me otherwise.
The biggest selling point to this game and ironically the biggest drawback is the multiplayer mode. There are six modes to choose from ranging from death match, team death match, capture the flag, tactical extermination (basically DM without the respawning), tactical assault (one group defends whilst one group attack according to the objectives presented) and tactical escape/infiltration. Considering there are many modes to choose from there are all pretty much stock-standard multiplayer options. However with the added twist of exploding equipments and stamina it does place an edge to that otherwise mundane approach.
As advertised about being fast-paced, the entire single player mode lives up to that standard. An average FPS player can easily knock it off well within the ten hours range however considering the selling point is the multiplayer, well good luck in finding an active server. Yet all is not lost as after all those years Gore is still developing as the newest version 1.61 have made improvements to the original 2002 game (and its subsequent upgrades). This is good to see that the game is not placed in the ‘too hard’ basket and if you visit the Gore’s webpage there are still three active yet sizable clans.
Dreamcatcher Interactive have this thing about using a worn-out game play style and change it just enough to make things interesting yet again. In this game Gore, there’s no difference; that is using the fast paced Unreal Tournament 1999 style and fuses this with Team Fortress’ character classes, sprinkle with exploding health packs, guns, stamina and the likes, there you have Gore – sadly though it’s not that fast as UT 99 nor the characters’ are anything really different (save for the health and speed of the character) so it’s basically a ‘been there done that’ concept. To my knowledge the game itself was in development for over five years (therefore starting out in 1997); that said if it was released in 1999 maybe it could be a contender to be up there among the greats of multiplaying however looking in at 2002, the changes made will be not enough to take that spotlight.