I initially tried to play Scourge Project 1&2 and failed, mostly because the screen resolution was desperately set to "lowest". It was a blast to play Doom like this, but in full 3D, you just feel visually impaired. Anyhow, Scourge : Outbreak solved this problem, so I finally was able to play it.
Aside Left 4 Dead, it was the second time I played a "third person / team based / tacticalI initially tried to play Scourge Project 1&2 and failed, mostly because the screen resolution was desperately set to "lowest". It was a blast to play Doom like this, but in full 3D, you just feel visually impaired. Anyhow, Scourge : Outbreak solved this problem, so I finally was able to play it.
Aside Left 4 Dead, it was the second time I played a "third person / team based / tactical fps" but since I love real-time party-RPGs like Dungeon Siege, or turn-by-turn tactical RPGs like FallOut Tactics, this one sounded engaging.
The gameplay is pretty straightforward : choose one of the 4 characters, use a tutorial if you need and get some backstory (nice addition), then run into action with your fellow heavily armored buddies, receiving mission updates along the way.
It seems that the game makes a good use of modern FPS tropes like choose-2-weapons-to-carry and glue-yourself-behind-boxes. The orders you can give are contextualized : depending on where, who or what you are targeting, you can have the closer team member take cover, focus on an enemy, open a door, use a turret, revive another team member ; without losing the pace of the fight which is great. Overall, each team member is a decent shooter and never forgives to save you even under heavy fire.
The special abilities are kinda neat, but for me, the real pleasure of the game was to consider each confrontation as a puzzle : where should I position each team member in order to assault or defend? Sometimes an sub-optimal line of sight could cost your team frequent death/revive cycles.
The enemies are challenging enough, even in beginner more. Soldiers can take advantage of the level and bosses requires some strategic planning. But the strange design decision of infinite critters that mysteriously vanish when you reach the next checkpoint somewhat disrupted the experience.
Since the storyline is purely functional and the characters kinda stereotypical, playing solely for the story won't reward you. It seems that there is a leveling mechanic, granting you points in different categories like "short range kill", "head shot", "assistance" but I don't know if it grants you with bonuses except for the powers.
To wrap it up, Scourge Outbreak is a decent team-based shooter, with a nice game flow, and correct level design. Nothing truly memorable though, so it feels more like a filler.… Expand
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