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| Project IGI | // review | ||
| I'm glad I got the chance to review Project IGI, as I have been following the development of game engines with great interest for some time now. id Software showed the way with Quake and others have taken the concept and techniques developed there and taken it further and further. In many ways it almost appears that id Software are being left behind in terms of pure 3D engine development, what with the LithTech 2 engine, the Tribes 2 engine and now this one. A lot of interest had been generated around this game based on the apparent freeform nature of the outdoor environments, although this was tempered with comments from some quarters casting aspersions on Innerloop's Flight-Sim background. I have to admit to being slightly disappointed when the demo was released in that you were apparently restricted to a small base. I've since found that it is actually possible to get over the fence if you want to have a run around in the Project IGI world without buying the game. Graphics This game has the most amazing graphical engine I have yet seen. The only engine that comes close is the updated Unreal engine that will be used in Unreal 2, but so far we've only seen a technology demo of it. The pure scale of the vista displayed is belied in the first couple of levels by the bounding of fences. Once you move past these levels into the more open ones, you start to see what Innerloop have managed. With this game engine, based on that used in previous flightsims, the bar for outdoor rendering has been raised enormously. A lot of the press has harped over the fact that you can head in a direction and keep going. The truth of the matter? You can. Run as far and for as long as you want. You can even go mountain climbing, and I have done. The designers have made good use of the game engine when creating the levels, and quite often the area you are playing in is much larger than can be displayed on your PDA map. As you move through each level you have to be aware not just of what's close by, but what may be several kilometers away. Your standard equipment, always available, includes a knife and a pair of binoculars which have the handy function of being able to identify, by means of a red box, any nasties which may be within your field of view. The binoculars also have a very good zoom function, allowing you to scout out the entire enemy base from a distance, and well outside guard range. Coupled with the Dragunov Sniper Rifle (not always immediately available, but in most levels you can collect one from a downed guard) which has an even more extreme zoom range you can generally clear out all guards before getting anywhere near your objective. Close up detail has been catered to as well. The physical model of the game supprots the transition of projectiles through some structures. In english that means you can shoot through walls. And so can the enemy. Bullet holes appear where rounds strike the walls, and if a bullet passes through something you can see the path the projectile took by looking at the bullet markings on the walls. And unlike many other games, any bullet hole textures remain for as long as the level is loaded. The holes also look different depending on the apparent material they have appeared in, so a bullet hole decal on wood looks different to one on stone which looks different to one in glass. If bullets strike stone, concrete or brick, small chips fly out, although these are only transient artifacts rather than permanent damage done to the structures. Bullets will in some cases ricochet off some materials, so in a close-in firefight you not only have to be aware of direct fire, but the ricochet as well. I should mention quickly that while you can destroy some objects, 'bullet holes' are virtual rather than actual. There are a few things you can destroy should your fancy take it, such as security cameras, windows, trucks (if you have an LAW or they're a fuel carrier and you lob a grenade at them), Tanks/APC's (again with the LAW) and the odd barrel. Wooden bars over windows can generally be destroyed as well, although removing these from windows whilst giving you a nice clear line of fire also does the same for the enemy. Your player character is also affected quite heavily by the environment. Rounds from something like the AK47 will knock you back a few steps, and exploding fuel tankers will generally kill you, as will falling from a great height, so no jumping off buildings. Damage is calculated depending on the height you fall, so while jumping off say a one story building won't kill you (unless you're almost dead already), falling out of a watch tower (say through injudicious use of binoculars) will almost certainly mean you're restarting the mission. Interaction with your environment varies depending on the situation you are in as well. Generally you play in First person mode, however when dealing with specific items such as ladders, rope slides (or crawls), unlocking doors or hacking computers the view switches to third person. Simple objects like buttons and fixed-emplacement machine guns still work in first person mode though. Story Progression One area that this game does excel is in the beginning and end of mission cut scenes. The game engine is used to great effect along with very cinematic camera angles and movements. Each of the cut scenes is part of the mission itself, although you can skip past them so you don't have to watch them every time. Generally, the beginning of a mission cut scene sets the scene and gives you your mission objectives. These can be garnered later by looking at your PDA, which will keep a running tally of which objectives you have completed and those you haven't. Each objective's action location on the level is also marked on your PDA, making it easy to determine where to go next. Also included is a log of all conversations and actions undertaken during the mission, so if you're in the middle of a fire fight when new instructions come in, you won't miss them. You can really see Innerloop's flight-sim heritage in some of the cut scenes as they have accurately modelled the flight characteristics of Mig fighter planes, down to the movement of flaps when changing direction. It's a small thing, but it certainly shows the attention to detail in this game. Watching vehicles moving around whilst playing and in the cut scenes is fun in itself. I can see this engine becoming a favourite for machinima practitioners, given the scope and obvious control available for creating movies. Weapons One of the levels actually relies on your ability to use the sniper rifle, with your objective being to take out as many guards as possible by providing covering fire for a friendly infiltration team. Luckily, at least in easy mode, you can't kill friendlies as identifying the various targets at the extreme distances involved can be hard. You start to rely on the sniper rifle a lot during normal levels, when sometimes you shouldn't, as ammunition is generally limited. Thankfully you can collect the weapons dropped by dead guards, allowing you to add to your arsenal. The most common collectable weapons are the AK47 and a very nice Uzi, although sometimes you can also grab a Spas12 - a very effective shotgun, although it has a long recycle time - or a Bulldog shotgun, which is almost like a rifle but using shotgun shells. Handguns are also there, although having said that I rarely used them. There are also various other weapons, including proximity mines which you can attach to walls (and which will explode if you get to near them once you've set them), grenades (both fragmentation and flash bang), a LAW80 which is very useful for destroying Armoured Personnel Carriers, Tanks and Trucks, and some additional items which are used for specific tasks. You can't actually use any of the vehicles except as a passenger in cut scenes, which is slightly annoying although given the scope of the game as it stands.
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