Shattered Horizon is a multiplayer FPS that takes place in zero-g and incorporates complete freedom of movement for a true 3D-experience.Futuremark, another Finnish gaming studio and also the developers of
3DMark and
PCMark -technologies, made their way in to the international gaming scene with their 2009 PC-only release
Shattered Horizon. The initial release was soon followed by the
Moonrise DLC, which adds 4 maps in to the game. Although the game has been critisized for lack of content, the servers seem crowded and the gamers' in-game comments are often appraising.
In Shattered Horizon the player becomes an astronaut, taking side with either the
International Space Agency or the
Moon Mining Cooperative. A catastrophic mining accident in Moon has thrown billions of tons of rock in space all around earth. With all the debris surrounding Earth,
the ISA and MMC employees are left stranded in space, the ISA with orders to capture any surviving MMC staff for their involvement in the accident. Cut off from Earth, the MMC see the ISA as a deadly threat, and the two factions engage in battles over resources and strategic locations, each trying to outlive the other in the cold emptiness of space.
In terms of gameplay the two factions are equal. Each astronaut has one multifunctional weapon, that acts as an assault rifle in normal mode and as a sniper rifle in zoom mode, and features an attached grenade launcher. The weapon even has a bayonet for (extremely rare) close combat fighting.
Each astronaut also carries a jetpack, which enables the player to rotate around his own axes and move forward, backward, up and down. The jetpack also has a limited rocket boost for a quick escape from the line of fire.
There are three modes of play, which are all team based. The first mode,
skirmish, is ye olde team death match. The other two,
assault and
battle are capture the flag types. In assault one team captures and the other defends, and in battle both teams capture and defend simultaneously. The game features eight locations or maps after the release of the
Moonrise DLC.
The game does feature an experience based ranking system. New ranks do not, however, add to the players strenght or abilities or unlock any new content. A new player is immediately on the same line with 100+ game veterans. This adds to the game's appeal, since players compete in skills rather than in amount of loot.
On paper an assortment of three weapons and eight maps is almost ridiculous. Most FPS games feature hundreds of maps and tens of weapons with different ammo types, many different armors as well various power-ups and temporary boosts and special items. In shattered Horizon the developers take a huge risk in exchanging a lot of content for a single trick. Is the Zero-G environment really worth it?
The first time you play Shattered Horizon your bound to feel some sort of disorientation.
There are no rules of movement, and you can go anywhere withtin the map limits. It takes
a few rounds to get used to thinking in terms of three axes instead of just two, but further gameplay reveals strong tactical aspects. The free movement means that enemy fire can come from any direction, and apart from fast reflexes you need a strong sense of direction to escape ans answer enemy fire.
Run and gun is most certainly not a good approach in this game. Most maps feature some sort of big, stationary object, such as space station or a mining facility, and smaller bits of debris circling this bigger body. The debris make for a nice hiding place for a sniper, and the bigger objects usually have an interior of tunnels to make attacks from various points possible. Working as a team is very important in the capture/defend games.
The free movement is not only fun, but does really bring something fundamentally new in FPS gameplay. It adds a level of challenge with the problem of orientation, and takes tactics on a
whole new level. It rewrites rules of traditional FPS tricks such as ambushing and flooding the
enemy territory with grenades.
Despite the innovative idea and all great aspects, it seems something is lacking from the game. Although the gameplay itself is top notch, and the game modes are fun to play, the three (or in all honesty, two) game modes soon lose their appeal. The maps are also, in the end, quite finite and confined. The game can probably keep you hooked for quite some time, while you marvel at all the tactical possibilities and painstakingly learn to master the controls in order to get your first melee kill. But the novelty will wear thin sooner or later, and without additional content the game might not stand the test of time. The
Moonrise DLC was, however, released only a few months after the game's initial release, so there's reasonable hope for more content in the near future.
A few words still on the graphics. Futuremark is known for it's PC benchmarks, so it shouldn't
be a surprise to anyone that the graphics in
Shattered Horizon are astonishing. The computer you are playing with needs to be equally astonishing, since the game is built around DirectX 10.
This means Windows XP will not do, and the graphics card on the computer has to be able to handle DirectX 10. The steep requirements are more than justified by the beautifully rendered clouds of space dust and grenade gas, explosions, shadows, reflections, sunlight and so on. My
not so great graphics card handled
Shattered Horizon better than
Crysis, however, and the graphics are certainly enjoyable even on lower settings.
All and all,
Shattered Horizon is a game that deserves your attention. It is fun to play and superbly executed, and the price is moderate (20 € through Steam). A few more play modes
and another eight maps, and this would easily make the top 5 games of 2009/2010.
