Thursday, June 9, 2011

Cortex Command - A Review




Been a sluggish day right? Really hot, sticky and humid. Keep yourself busy today, and this weekend with a indie game called "Cortex Command"

The idea of the game, is basically, you're a dismembered brain that you must protect with "bodies" or soldiers. The game is produced by a independent team composed of a small group. What makes this game stand out from most other games, is its a 2d side scrolling physics based game.


This is you. Might want to protect this.

The game is still under development, and lacks a campaign. The game could be called a "sandbox" type of game in the sense that you can do anything you want with no direction. The standard game alone, features three factions, the Coalition, the Ronins, and the Dummys. The Coalition represents a standard normal military-centered faction, the Ronins represent a group of rebels using "ancient weapons", and the Dummys represent dummys.

Dummy(Left) Coalition(Middle) Ronin(Right)

All three factions have their own "type" of weapons, Dummies with "energy based weapons", Coalition with standard shotguns/rifles/snipers, and Ronin with weapons we have today. The actual idea is that, you're a prospector, in space. You've recently discovered a earth-like planet, and a large spaceship brought you here with many other adventurers named TradeStar. You and many others fight for the rich deposits of gold on the surface. The plot continues, but the story is only in theory, no plot or story is in the game other then the factions themselves.

Diggy Diggy.

The game itself, has decently balanced factions, and is pretty fun as a sandbox-type of game. They have a forums in which you can download "scenes" or maps, and more factions/weapons/bodies(soldiers) created by their somewhat large user base that they have. Its a thrill sometimes to build a base and put in a bunch of weak soldiers with bad weapons, and one superawesome over-powered sniper to infiltrate the base and destroy the "brain" to "win".

Pwfaishew!
Death is assured.

There are, obviously bugs that need some serious stomping. The game is unstable, sometimes, you would be playing a map or doing a "mission" and suddenly, you shoot, and the game crashes. Another problem with not only the game itself is, development is slow, it takes maybe almost a year or so for the next "build" or update to be release. Which brings butterflies in your stomach while wondering if it'll ever pass development. Also, though there are plenty of mods to fill you up with joy and happiness, the forum community has been slow recently, and mods have been coming out in lower quantity.

Quote from the website:
This is the normal deal which will get you all updates of Cortex Command up to and including the full campaign if and when it is completed. This option is discounted from the full final price because the whole campaign and content are currently NOT in the game yet.
Despite of the development and the bug problem, its still a fun game. Running around shooting people's legs and ribcage's off their body isn't something you can do in real life, legally.

Ouchie.

If you don't mind a a crash every now and then, and the slow development, you might enjoy this game. In fact, the game won the "Independent Games Festival" award for Technical Excellence, and Audience Award.

If you want to try out this game, there's a demo available at: http://www.datarealms.com/

If you want to buy it, it costs 18 dollars and will get you all future updates, and the full campaign. If you want to support the developers, you can buy it for 38 dollars for the same game at the "webstore" they have.

Their webstore.: Store