Post by Morreion on Sept 12, 2009 8:54:50 GMT -5
Reynald looks world-weary and suspicious, scanning the desert sands for both threats and riches.
Fallen Earth is an independent game set in the post-apocalyptic Grand Canyon. The Shiva Plague has wiped out most of humanity, and the few left are products of cloning technology struggling to make it in a harsh world full of mutations. Six factions, ranging from the straight-laced Enforcers to the anarchic Children of the Apocalypse compete for the remains of civilization.
Hello Mad Max!
The game is in the pre-release phase for people who have pre-ordered or downloaded the game directly from the website. I've played a handful of hours, and wanted to write down my impressions of the game so far, so here we go.
Character creation is pleasantly detailed- tattoo and body piercing fans will be gratified, for sure. There is no class to pick- this is a hybrid level-and-skill-based game. More on that in a bit.
The optional tutorial not only walks you through how to do the usual things, but gives you a solid background on the world and the factions existing in the Grand Canyon in what used to be the American southwest (the game map is actually modeled of the real topography of the Grand Canyon area). There were some clever cut scenes; the tutorial was easy, even if you fail the final task of defusing a bomb- hey, you get cloned and spawn in the game world, no worries.
You get to pick what starting town you spawn in, and these towns are oriented towards the different factions as well as what your playstyle centers around- combat, crafting, support. I picked a Traveler town which specialized in pistol/melee combat. Travelers are sort of shady characters grouped in families that will sell anything or provide any service to others.
One of the first things I noted was that I had to re-map some key commands ("no, I don't want to use Ctrl+Y or whatever to take a screenshot!"). A petty gripe of mine is when devs put standard actions on different keys. But remapping is easily done, so customization is one's friend.
The starting town I picked was labeled 'full', so I was prepared for lag. And I got it. Quite laggy. Once I got out of town, the lag disappeared. Later on, town lag was less serious and hey, it's the start of a game and everyone is piling in, so I'll give them a break on this.
Except for a bit of town lag here and there, the game ran smooth for me. I crashed to desktop once, all the other hours of play were fine. My framerate outside of towns was 100+ and my PC was a bit short of the recommended specs to play, so they did well on this vital issue (I still have nightmares about Vanguard's tech issues).
The look of the game is interesting, lots of ruins and desert scenery, which can be quite colorful. The characters have a realistic (as opposed to stylized) look, and are nicely detailed. You can wear all sorts of clothing and armor to make yourself look unique. The soundtrack was understated and effective, mainly acoustic guitar with sparse use of other instruments. The sound is crystal clear. I think it reflects the desert setting quite well. Some of the animations are a bit lacking and could use some improvement (for instance, when you die you just sort of freeze in place, no dramatic death rattle or gestures).
In Fallen Earth, your character has levels, but your main method of advancement is through APs (achievement points). For every level you receive 20 APs, 2 APs per 10% of each level achieved to be precise. This hybrid level/skill system is very much like Anarchy Online if you have ever played that. You place your APs in either your attributes (strength, dexterity, etc) or skills (pistol, rifle, melee, first aid, defense, armor, science, etc.). This allows you to customize your character more than you could in a class-based game. Surely there will be many people who will follow certain templates- there are even such templates suggested by the devs- but it is nice to be able to make the choice oneself.
Both scavenging and crafting in the game are important activities- this is no tacked-on afterthought. Crafted items are more powerful than NPC-purchased items; a good example is ammo. Ammo is fairly expensive to buy, but crafters using the Ballistics skill can make ammo out of harvested components that is cheaper than any NPC will sell it for. This makes both scavenging and crafting very vital activities. Crafting and scavenging are also different in the sense that you don't have to put APs into them to raise them- the more you do either activity the more your skill increases. Scavenging reminds me strongly of the harvesting in EQ2. Keep a lot of those craft materials you get, you can sell them to crafters. Crafting is straightforward- if you have all the components you need, you initiate your crafting action and then go do other things- ammo takes just a few minutes to make, but more complex things such as rifles will take hours, and an all-terrain vehicle will take days. While the time counts down to making your finished product, you can go do other things.
Whacking a bandit with a lead pipe. Guess I forgot about that crossbow on my back!
Combat is slightly different- you have to press the Tab key that brings up a target reticle (rather like Tabula Rasa). You place the reticle over your target, and start swinging or shooting. It took a bit of getting used to- the mobs move around and you have to keep the reticle target over them- but you get used to it pretty quickly. Melee fighting is more economical- you don't need ammo- but you end up taking more damage from mobs since they're whacking on you. Using bows, pistols or rifles can kill things at range, but you can burn through ammo fast. Craft your own out of scavanged materials (you also get the occasional ammo drop from slain bad guys). Keep an eye on your health bar, you can die easier than in some other games I've played (of course I was unarmored at this time). One nice thing about loot in this game is that it is appropriate to what the creature is. A mutated scorpion will drop stingers or a carapace, human bandits will drop a knife or a quantity of ammo. Incidentally, the cash system is poker chips (lots of those from nearby Las Vegas). Cash seems hard to come by in this game, and questing will give you more of it.
The quests are pretty straightforward, you'll often have to kill lots of things. The playstyle seems to revolve around both questing and grinding. One very nice mechanic is when you scavenge items found laying in the desert, you get leveling experience for doing it. Collect everything you see, even if it is tainted water, scrap lead (useful for ammo) or a dented can of beans! Leveling is slow- I made it to level 3 in a couple of days- but levels are not the main advancement system, it is your APs and how you place them. I get the impression it'll take quite a while to reach max level, so this isn't a fast breezy game.
Mounts are available in the form of horses, motorcycles and ATVs. They are persistent- you can leave your horse tied up outside a run-down general store and it will still be there hours later. A fairly common sight is to see a character ride into town on a horse wearing a cowboy-style duster with a crossbow or rifle strapped to their back. There are lots of emotes, and they have convenient icons that you can place on your hotbars (sleep, crouch, sit, etc.) that are conducive to roleplay.
Overall, the game looks pretty good from what I've experienced. The setting is fresh (how many fantasy games can you play, really?). I've held off on assigning my APs until I get a solid idea of what I want to do (decisions, decisions!). This is a title where you can't expect to be max level in a month, so it will probably take a commitment to get to the endgame (PvP will happen along the way). It looks to me like there will be grinding involved in getting there, too. This appears to be a big crafting game. It may be worth a try if you are looking for something different.
