Shadowgrounds Preview - PC

Overview:

Amidst the crowded action shooter market, Shadowgrounds comes on as a breath of fresh air, with its unique top-down perspective, realistic lighting and a good storyline. Frozenbyte from Finland develops this shooter. The game has already garnered good reviews from the countries it was released in, namely Finland, Germany, to name a few. It’s expected to be released in other parts of the world by March 2006. Published by Meridian4, Shadowgrounds costs only 29$.

Story:

The story takes place on Jupiter’s moon Ganymede in the 2090’s. We have successfully made the moon inhabitable and have built a colony there with a population of over 8,000 inhabitants. You play Wesley Tyler, a mechanic on New Atlantis, a repair base on Ganymede. A raging storm cuts the power supply and you are sent in to fix the generators in the dark. Little do you know of the horrors that lay within? Much to your dismay, you realize that there is an alien attack. “How cliché”, the crowd roars. Fear not, as Frozenbyte promises an epic deep storyline with helpful allies and missions like discovering alien origins, evacuation and rescue and setting up defense parameters.

Graphics:

This is easily one of the best looking top-down shooters there is. The developers seem to be going big on making this game as atmospheric as possible. The detail and lighting are beautiful and set this game apart from your run-of-the-mill casual top-down action game. The game is made to look as atmospheric and eerie as possible and this is clearly seen in the way the lighting has been used. Shadowgrounds uses realistic lighting and glow technology to light up the environment. The game also employs procedural animation, allowing “virtually unlimited number of animatable effects such as water and lava”, as the developers promise. So you would want to know as to what good is all this apart from aesthetic appeal? Frozenbyte promises much more in their press release – “What good are weapons and special effects if you can’t wreak havoc on the environment? Shadowgrounds lets you go all-out - glass shatters, ground shakes, trees fall, barrels explode and furniture blows to smithereens. Use the environment to your advantage.”

Audio:

The amount of detail in graphics that goes into creating this atmospheric game is only heightened by the realistic sound environment. Frozenbyte have an in-house musician that has been working on the soundtrack and sound effects for over a year now. The soundtrack ranges from eerie during your running about stages and full out rock as you empty shells onto the alien horde.

Gameplay:

Shadowgrounds employs an interesting use of lighting, actually making it a part of gameplay rather than just a roadside attraction. You spend most of your time in the dark with only your flashlight helping you. Don’t worry, this isn’t like Doom 3, the flashlight is strapped onto your shoulder. The flashlight bounces all around; casting creepy shadows all over the place making you wonder if that was an enemy or just your active imagination.

You are equipped with a range of high-tech weaponry. There are ten customisable and upgradeable weapons starting from the standard pistol, shotgun and grenade launcher to the more explosive flamer, rocket launcher, pulse rifle and electric gun. Enemies are varied throughout the game with big bosses interspersed throughout.

Overall reaction to the game has been good with it getting good reviews from the places it has been released in. The only issue that seems to irk gamers is the lack of a ‘save game’ feature. If release goes well, we can expect a great looking game, with an engaging storyline, kickass weapons, eerie atmosphere and lots of blazing action.

Meshach Thomas