Project: Snowblind Preview

First-person shooters have been done to death. FPS’s set in the future are all over the place. So what will set Snowblind apart from the rest? Eidos hopes that solid gameplay, some nifty futuristic weapons, and tons of abilities will separate this title from the pack.

In the war torn future, clans and factions struggle to take power. The player-controlled character is a bio-enhanced covert operative who is essentially a gun-for-hire. Armed with some high-tech doodads, players use a myriad of future weaponry and special powers to take down targets.

Nothing stands out in Snowblind, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Being an FPS in a crowded market, the developers had to focus on ways to keep the game fresh, and they did so by cramming the game with features. Players can use the bio-enhanced abilities to cloak themselves, mentally hack robots, and slow down time among other things. An intelligent AI has enemies and friendlies using whatever they can for cover, and because of the destructible environment, create or destroy potential cover.

“We wanted to promote situations where you think you’re safe, but you’re not, so you have to keep on moving”, said John Chowanec, developer at Crystal Dynamics. And that they did. Taking cover behind short walls is good… as long as the cove is still available. John showed us such a situation in which the AI shot at the wall, reducing pieces to rubble and exposing his character to fire. This isn’t a game for the static. Keep movin’, or lose your head.

Another stellar portion of the game is the awesome arsenal of weapons. Of course the usual suspects are there such as shotguns, grenades, assault rifles, but the real stars are the future technology weapons. The few that John showed me were quite impressive, particularly the kinetic inducer, or “Kicker” as it’s known in the game. This gun doesn’t actually fire ammo. It uses kinetic energy to push and pull objects and is more of a utility gun. But because the AI uses cover so often, this gun comes in handy frequently. Another weapon was the riot wall, a gun that fires out an energy wall that can be used as a barrier or cover. Gamers will find many uses for this in the single-player campaign, but creative ones will find greater use for it in multiplayer. Weapon upgrades are possible, such as sticky bomb for shotguns, and add life to that old gun collecting dust in the inventory.

The game features sixteen maps, twenty-four weapons, and ten multiplayer maps with all the standard multiplayer modes. There has been no release date set for Snowblind.

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