Spacelords
“Aleph must flow,” a paraphrased line from Dune, is the unspoken refrain of the Raiders of the Broken Planet plot. Everything revolves around Aleph – a rare and very valuable component that allowed the inhabitants of the then unbroken planet to travel in space at an incredible speed, giving rise to earthlings in particular. But greedy corporations wanted more of the miraculous component, and the decision was made to drill to the center of the planet. Big mistake. The resulting collapse tore the planet into several slowly but surely moving away from each other pieces. And then the earthlings decide to return to their native land, which the locals do not like at all … What remains for a small liberation detachment to do, how not to wedge into squabbles between several factions and solve their problems?
Raiders of the Broken Planet is a cooperative third-person shooter. Of course, no one bothers to go through it alone, but very soon you will be convinced that this is a dreary task, because the levels are clearly tailored for the game by the company. There are several characters to choose from with their own weapons and additional abilities; at first there are not many of them, but already in the first campaign we recruit two more, and then the number will only increase. All characters are bright personalities of a very exotic kind, and this is one of the main features of the game. There is a sniper here, an uncle with a Gatling gun, and several fighters at short distances with shotguns. As for additional abilities, they are not very original, but they are diverse: for example, a sniper can teleport to some wall and from there accurately punch holes in the heads of enemies, while the Heavy creates a protective field around him, allowing only brothers in arms to pass. In addition, each of the heroes can fight with their fists in a dashing way, because there are captures and evasions in the arsenal, and the game is structured in such a way that it is often easier to quickly score an adversary hand-to-hand than to shoot. Plus, it gives extra ammo.
No wonder Aleph was mentioned above: Spacelords
the component is often used in the missions themselves to recharge generators and the like. It is obtained from hefty soldiers in the same hand-to-hand combat, but it is important here not to get caught, otherwise, you will be instantly smeared to death. Moreover, if after heavy damage from shooting or blows from simple warriors you can sit in a corner for recovery, then frostbitten healthy men kill with lightning speed. In conjunction with a somewhat clumsy combat system (you need to get used to it), this periodically brings to white heat, since the big ones can easily grab from the back with a fatal outcome.
Enemies in the game are sparse at first, but with each level the variety increases. Ordinary soldiers are diluted with armored ones, then snipers appear. The number of factions also helps earthlings, indigenous people, empty-headed cyborgs reminiscent of Stroggs from Quake and another frostbitten mutant, as if they had escaped from Fallout. Bosses are not forgotten either: in the currently open campaign, there are a couple of main ones, and a couple of intermediate ones. They, as usual, are not so simple, you even have to pick up your own key for the latter – the task is not very difficult, but interesting.
Each level has its own highlight. Somewhere you have to hide behind the ledges and shoot the oncoming cyborgs, first kill the steel tentacles of a hefty flying garbage, finish it off, and then rein in the mad scientist who decided to confuse the future team member. In another place, you need to save another companion from chains and a muzzle, shooting enemies who encroach on his suspended carcass. The game is distributed in separate small campaigns, so there are not very many levels in it yet, but it is interesting to fight on them and the inevitable replays with an uncoordinated team do not frighten.
Raiders of the Broken Planet also has an antagonist mode – a very nasty and fun thing. The fact is that anyone can connect to your cooperative passage and start shitting with all their might. Imagine: you are smashing the boss with might and main, but suddenly an enemy player jumps out from behind and sends you to the forefathers with a deft grip. This mode brings some extra fun to a normal playthrough, albeit sometimes flowing into a frantic howl, when the agile beast manages to finish off the entire team on the last boss.
Plot inserts are shown in a torn clip style, which is successfully combined with incessant swearing and fights between the characters, creating their own unique style. The cutscenes are interesting to watch, already in the first campaign there are sudden twists and turns, and the characters are well written and voiced. The authors generally registered the whole universe … and complicated access to it. There is a special tab in the game menu where you can read the story, but you have to open new fragments for in-game finances, and the money received for simply completing missions is not always enough – for example, you have to win several times in antagonist mode. At the same time, reading the purchased excerpts is not at all boring, and the money spent is not a pity.
For completing missions, you can choose gold, faction points, character points, weapon blueprints (not always). You need to fight for the above, and the whole team can pounce on some especially rare blueprint – then only the lot will decide who gets it. Points are needed for further development, each character has more advanced types of weapons, which require a blueprint and gold to purchase, as well as passive skills, for which, again, you have to pay. In a separate article, there are character skins that do not affect the gameplay, which you can buy in addition for real money.
Raiders of the Broken Planet turned out to be additively reckless, it may well bring to the state of “I’ll try again – and sleep.” Even the existing small set is enough to try out the game, but an interesting “serial” plot really asks you to wait for the continuation and move on. At the same time, if you are an apologist for the single, then Raiders of the Broken Planet is not for you. Yes, there is an opportunity to go through the campaign alone, but you get the real fun from it only in a team. Covering each other and striving for the goal together is much more exciting than hacking through hordes of enemies solo with a sullen mine. True, the creators forgot to report the voice chat to the set, which is somewhat strange with an emphasis on team play, and because of not the highest popularity, it can be more difficult to find co-players than we would like … But there’s nothing to be done about it.
