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The
role of the First-Person-Shooter in this industry has  changed
dramatically since it’s first conception back in the late
seventies, the time that computer games were still evolving a true
sense of genre-structure. The initial idea, I believe, was to bring
the user into the game environment and allow them to experience the
game almost as the on screen avatar would – with the initial
conception being of the belief that such a view would heighten the
player’s sense of awareness and relation to the real world.
It’s a much more constricted way of playing, as you can only see
exactly what’s in front of you.
Many
titles since have been made based on this model of gaming, they
really weren’t always as complex as the titles released today,
often restricting your movement to only a square at a time and with
heavy limitations placed on the interaction featured. One game of
note in the initial stages of this genre was released during the
early eighties; it was an interaction-based First-Person Adventure
title - which, as previously mentioned, offered a limited variety
of gameplay - entitled ShadowGate. The title received a luke-warm
reception on the ZX Spectrum and was consequently released on the
NES to raise the developers’ profile. Another very popular
First-Person title that first saw life in the Arcades and increased
it’s audience and popularity by later being released on the SNES
was - hailed by all to be the first true First-Person-Shooter - Wolfenstein
3D. This game really conceptualised the genre and paved the way
for the likes of DOOM and Quake; two more huge First-Perso n-Shooters from the ID Software stable. With these
titles having become renown in the hardcore market for their
quality, their sales peaks have incited others within the industry
to produce many, many replicas based on the new formula for
First-Person titles. These release having since become the pinnacle
of sales within the European market, causing an influx of
developer-ready funds, bringing more realism and user immersion
than many other genres available.
It’s
this quality of user immersion that really makes Conspiracy:
Weapons of Mass Destruction the game that it is. From the
moment yo u touch the ground it’s non-stop action and because you
never get a chance to take a back seat it can all get a little
hectic. You star as Cole Justice, an ex-Special Agent mercenary
conscripted to go into a know arms-dealers base to find out
what’s going on, you just find out a lot more than anyone
intended. If the storyline doesn’t drag you into the game the
constant updates over your in-game communications-system, and the
large amount of enemies to play with, will certainly get you
charging through the levels, AK and grenades in hand, ducking and
diving as you do so.
There
are a multitude of weapons to pick up as you progress through the
game, although you can only carry two weapons from the many
available to pick up at any one time, clearly a tactic borrowed from
the mighty Halo to add a much need level of strategy to the
proceedings, so you really have to specialise yourself as to how
you want to fight. As you can probably see, the AK is generally the
dominant weapon, grenades are optional and a little silenced pistol
is d efaulted unto you for when you run out of bullets - or for the
parts where a small amount of stealth is required. You could always
go for the Sniper Rifle and Shotgun approach - deadly long range
combined with a powerful close range chaser - or the Rocket
Launcher, or the hefty hand pistol, or any number of other weapon
combinations you can think up whilst playing through the game.
The
controls are orientated in the modern formulaic First-Person
Shooter standard, with the Right Trigger used to fire, moving and
looking are on the Left and Right Analogue Sticks respectively.
Reloading is controlled via the B Button, and change weapon, throw
grenade and action are located on the other three Face Buttons.
This game also has a useful “focus” function for all of the
guns as well, which adds a nice feeling of the human-eye focusing
in the distance.
Unfortunately
though, the title isn’t the game it should have been; it’s let
down by occasional problems with bugging, pop-up and poor graphical
design. The enemies are animated quite well but for the time of
release the scenic detail really isn’t up to the expected
standard. There are some rather cool GoldenEye 007-esque
bullet-hole effects when walls and objects are shot, but very
infrequently do they better the ones featured in the title released
over eight years prior, on a much less technically capable system,
and there’s even less capacity for the bullet holes on screen in Conspiracy:
Weapons of Mass Destruction!
Conspiracy:
Weapons of Mass Destruction is a game that will receive a
recommendation for big fans of the genre. With an interesting plot
and lots of enjoyable fire-fights, the title offers a truly generic
First-Person-Shooter experience, but I feel that this game
wouldn’t appeal to the average gamer. Thinking on your feet and
avoiding the crimson shade of death is an all-too common occurrence
and having to know exactly what you’re  doing all the way through
each Level before rewarding yourself with the confidence to
progress to the next is often a tiring exercise. The poorly
developed graphical standard would probably put off the people that
have experienced the slick presentation of many other recent
releases within the genre, so this title would only be suited for
you collection should you wish to exercise a large amount of
forgiveness and overlook many of the games “blunder points”.
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