(XBLA) Nexuiz Review
In a time when the first person military shooter is reigning supreme on every platform, it’s refreshing to see a game step out and do things its own way. Nexuiz is one that does it alone, developed by Illfonic on the CryENGINE3 game engine and in the mould of the old school arcade shoots. This arcade really is a throwback to what a shooter used to be thinking Unreal tournament or Quake.
First opinion of a lot of modern gamers will be no doubt “wow this is fast, this is hard” or “wtf am I doing” and that’s cool I used to play the old school shooters a lot and even I thought that when I picked this up for the first time. However give it a small handful of games and in no time you’ll be zipping around the map at 100km/h knocking out headshots while anyone sitting on the lounge watching will still be rubbing their eyes and trying to work out what’s going on.
Gameplay
Set out with 2 main game mods you have “Online” which is a 3 Vs. 3 deathmatch. You win the match via either reaching the kill count limit or reaching the capture the flag limit. While 3 Vs. 3 may seem like a small number the game does flow nicely, and a 4 Vs. 4 option will be added at a later date.
Dynamic Mutators are a nifty little feature for this game, placed around the map they can be major game changers or just slight modifications. That depends on which one you pick up and when you activate them. Outside of the basic “run shoot kill” game style and the game changing Mutators there isn’t much else to this game, at least not on the outside.
Weapon wise, everyone starts with a shotgun and collects random weapons from around the map as you run over them. You don’t need to drop the old ones or anything you simply run over it and keep going, changing to your new gun when the time is right. I had a few times there where I didn’t even notice I had a new gun until I hit the (Y) and thought “oh wow, I got more than 2 guns” again it’s the small things that count and carrying multiple weapons is a plus in my eyes and a feature I have missed in newer games.
Graphics
There isn’t much to this, you get a bright colourful arcade game that’s pleasing on the eyes. There are no attempts to look real and no attempts to chase a “best graphics” award. The developers have focused on what the game requires and in a graphics sense delivered it well. Something that will stand out to the tech heads however is the engine used to make Nexiuz, CryENGINE3 which I touched on in the intro, other games you might be familiar with that have been developed on the same engine are “Crysis 2” and “Crysis” (XBLA/PSN version) as well as the upcoming “Fary Cry 3” so that’s pretty impressive company right there and one that should give some faith to those worried about the feel of the game.
Sound
The same can be said for the audio as I originally said about the graphics, you aren’t getting a Top40 band singing a cover of their biggest hit, and you aren’t getting an orchestra recording an entire soundtrack. What you are getting is music that fits the game and doesn’t feel over done or out of place.
Keep It
- It’s different, and in a good way
- Throw back to old school games when it was about the fun not the graphics
- Pick up and play, there isn’t any real advantage in being a long time player.
Ditch it
- Can be a struggle at times to find a match.
- No real campaign to it or overall objectives outside of the standard "CTF"
- It might be a throw back that some gamers won't understand.
Anything Else?
Nexuiz is a fast arena game where you carry multiple weapons, zip around the map at 100km/h and never slow down unless the game has ended. That was the intention of the developers, and that’s the result. This isn’t a clone of MW3 like a lot of shooters, and I think personally that has hurt A LOT of its reviews. A game like this needs to be judged on its own merits not the merits of other first person shooters out there who while similar are very different.
This doesn’t just go for reviews either; it goes for you as well. When you’re feeling worn out with the standard of FPS on the market right now take a break and pick up an arcade shooter like Nexuis even if it’s only for an hour a day, you’ll feel refreshed and ready for anything.
Score: 7.5/10