Kill.Switch
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10
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The Greatest Shooter that never was.
It's been almost 10 yrs since this game was first released, and I am finally accepting the fact that there is not going to be a sequel to this Diamond in the rough-gem of a game. What makes this game so awesome is that It has a dynamic cover fire system. This system immersed the player into the local landscape, really making the player map out routes and watch his back. The execution of blindfire tactics, and assaulting your enemy from behind cover was something that other games like SOCOM and the CONFLICT: series games only played at. While I loved Socom, the most cover mechanic you had was the ability to lean around a corner and fire. The next game to come close was the Ghost Recon games for PS2 and Xbox. On some levels there was a camera gun you could acquire that would allow you to stick the gun out and fire. Even some Next Gen games have missed the mark that Kill Switch hit right on the bull’s-eye. Gears of War only gives you a firing reticle when you're in precision aim. This makes firing from the shoulder unnecessarily harder. You can only crouch while running, and there are some other tweaks to consider. Even Army of Two lacks a precise targeting-while-cover-firing mechanic. You can hug walls, and sometimes lining up your targets can be a little difficult. So if Kill Switch is so much better in cover fire execution than Ghost Recon, Rainbow 6, SOCOM series, Gears of War, Army of Two, and so many others, why is it languishing in the EB-Games bargain bin, while GRAW2 and Gears of War have made a HUGE LEAP onto the next GEN consoles? Why is the Rainbow 6 series kicking butt and taking names, and the gaming world is holding it's breath for GOW2? One simple reason - STORY. The story to Kill Switch game is so convoluted and hard to follow it makes it very difficult to relate to the main character. Secondly the development team seemed to hang it's hope on the coverfire mechanic at the cost of telling a story in a manner that anyone could follow. I like a good mystery like anyone else, but you don't even begin to understand the story until over 2/3rds of the game is done. It will make since by then, if you still care. The Story writing of the other games makes you care about Scott Michell, You wanna see how Marquis Fennix is going to battle the next round of aliens. You care about Sam Fisher almost as a person. But Bishop, who is bishop? Why should I care about him, just because he can fire a gun from behind a box? Which brings me to my next point. The cutscenes. They used 1 very unimpressive cutscene over and over again like a bad 1967 Hanna Barbera cartoon I have read other reviews that stated that what killed this game was that cover fire was all it had to offer. Yes it could have benefitted from an online, and 2 player coop mode, but that did not kill it. What killed this game is that developers did not understand the psyche of game players. What the developer forgot in this game is that great game interaction and character control are no substitutes for well written game/story driven excitement. They are important parts of any good game, but not enough to carry a game. If you develop a character that people identify with and even want to be, then you’ve got the formula for a sequel that will have consumers clawing for any brief cut scene while the game is still in development. Oh sure, people might say "oh yeah-just give us a game with big guns and tons of stuff to blow up, and bad guys to kill". But make no mistake with out a clear plot (even with some turns and twist) There will be no sequel to that game GRAPHICS All of that being said, though, here is my overall review of Kill Switch. I gave the Graphics a 8, for a second gen game system I thought they were very good, obviously don't play COD4 then put this game in. You will be disappointed, but overall I thought they were good. SOUND 10. The gun sound effects are great, especially if you turn the t.v up and you have a stereo set. Explosions are loud as we
4/21/08