UberSoldier is more or less a bread and butter first person shooter - it's nothing you haven't seen a million times before. But, it's not really a bad thing, as UberSoldier is a pretty fun ride, generally filled with wall-to-wall action. The game moves at a cracking pace - the main character goes out his business at a fairly fast pace, with enemies lurking around every corner. Tactics come second to a quick trigger finger. Interestingly, Burut have borrowed the Resident Evil 4's knife - simply hit the left shift button, and you will attack with shiny silver blade. Extremely handy for those up close and personal encounters.
The fantastic bullet shield in all its glory
The only real new idea UberSoldier brings to the table is the bullet shield. Hit the tab button, and an impressive blue sphere will surround your character, absording bullets going in each direction - meaning you're invulnerable, but also can't really shoot anyone. The bullets however stick on the outside of the shield, so walking into enemies can kill them - bonus! There is a limit on how much 'shield power' you have, though. In order to boost it, you'll have to either get three quick knife kills or headshots in succession, which is a lot harder than it sounds. There's the standard German World War II weapons here - sub-machine gun, assault rifle, etc. A few of the weapons still need work though - particularly the sniper rifle, which seemed to recoil without any animation, leaving the player disorientated for a few seconds.
The artificial intelligence for this sort of budget-priced FPS is actually quite good. Enemies are usually always behind cover, and tend to have quite good aim. Snipers litter some levels in the game, making progression a right pain, especially if you've run out of ammo for your sniper rifle. The enemy soldiers do get caught out every now and then doing something stupid, such as standing still in the open to reload. But, this is a preview version of the game, so we expect to be ironed out for the finished version.
He's already dead, Uber - is there really any need to throw a grenade at him?
The graphics aren't on the level of the PC elite, but are more than acceptable. There are some fairly spectacular special effects, with the bullet shield in particular standing out. Interaction in the environment is possible, but it is somewhat limited. The audio in this version was a long way from complete. Dialogue was virtually non-existent, and most of the time the in-game sound effects would drop out completely after a few seconds play, making things feel rather odd and soulless. Hence, that's about all the analysis you get in that area. Sorry.
A slightly disappointing aspect of the is the complete lack of multiplayer. The game will be released at a budget price to compensate for this glaring omission, but still, we would have liked the opportunity to use the bullet shield in a multiplayer environment. Still, we're told the single player campaign should clock in at around twelve hours, which is fairly reasonable for this kind of shooter anyway, especially considering the price.
While it won't set the world on fire with it's creativity or innovation, UberSoldier is still a fun slice of shooting mayhem. If you're into shooters, you should definitely give this game a good look come March. Hopefully, we'll have a full review closer to the late March release date.
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