A genre that is hard to get into these days, on the eve of such titles like Destiny 2, Outriders, Battlefield and Call of Duty, is first person shooters. It's just painful to break into this field because there's just such a high expectation for FPS. "Does the game have online play?" "Does the game have an amazing and accurate hitbox registry?" I mean, the list goes on and on. Though I commend Snaketakes Studios for jumping into this field with their current title, End of the Beginning, let's face it, they have a stacked deck against them. The question is, does End of the Beginning have what it takes to compete; or will it just be a footnote in history?
Let's first start out with what we know. Snaketakes Studios foundation for advertising this game is that they will "prove that aliens exist." You will be able to unlock real life, formally classified, case files recovered from top secret, and higher, documentation from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Do I believe this? It's not my place to say if I believe it or not. What I will say that this kind of advertising does seem intriguing enough for me to give the game a shot. It's what caught my attention as a skeptic / conspiracy theorist. I'm not saying I believe in all conspiracy theories; I'm just saying my inner Mulder believes that the truth is out there rather if we are talking about aliens or government cover ups or why Taco Bell decided to remove the apple empanadas but keep Cinnabon knots and Cinna twist. Which makes no sense to me at all, because the empanadas were the CLEAR best. But I digress. Point is, this tidbit in their ad on G.Round was what caught my attention. It was the hook, for me at least.
Once I actually played the game, it was kind of a disappointment. Though this is their first Alpha test of the game, I was really looking forward to something a tad bit more polished. There wasn't really much for me to go on because the game played like a normal FPS game. It gave me remnants of Duke Nukem or Quake II. From what I saw in the video trailer, and what I actually played I was a little bit thrown off. The enemies were jumping all over the place, no sort of sound triggers or notices that they were behind me, and the UI was very clunky. The game was glitchy, especially with the mouse pointer going off the screen and into my second monitor, which made it very hard for me to target and aim. I was constantly clicking outside of the game and thus getting shot and hit. The controls were not responsive, they lagged quite a bit, and there was so much going on with the audio that you couldn't pin down much of anything. This was a kaleidoscope of sloppy work that didn't allow the game to be enjoyable, even though it is very much the alpha test. I really would have enjoyed it a tad bit better if the game didn't feel just unplayable in this state.
Now do not get this mixed up, because as I always say, you need alpha tests and beta tests to produce quality work. That is the whole point of gaming think tanks like G.Round. To provide developers feedback that they need to be able to create their vision and dreams. If you have read my earlier reviews, I will never tell someone that they are bad and they should give up. It's all about the dreams of Snaketakes Studios, and helping them produce the work they seem to want. This test, unfortunately, just wasn't that great. Granted, the environments, though decent, were just such a cluster in hopes of creating an in-depth world that traverses the stars. There is just a lot of clutter here. So, with that said, I didn't enjoy this test at all. But I didn't give up just yet.
I watched the videos a couple of times. The trailers were enjoyable. The voice acting, though stereotypical, was very well done. I really loved the trailer that used Snowden's name and had the people recording their conversation with an alien. It was fantastically done. Rather if it's real or fake, not my place to say, but what I will say, that this kept me enthralled in lore and background of this game. Watching the test video of space and planets also was fantastic and gave me the thought that maybe this game actually will have something different to offer than games like Destiny 2 and Outriders. I get the feeling that this game is like No Man's Sky, where you can navigate to many worlds and see different species of plants and animals and aliens. It shows obvious multiplayer functions and from what it looks, character customization.
So even though the test wasn't that great, the future of this game has not lost my interest. I'm actually really interested in seeing where this goes. I forgot to mention how much I loved they added a third person view, though could be a little bit better. Make the camera a little higher over the shoulder, and the body not block off so much screen space. As someone who gets nauseous from FPS games, this little feature was a huge help. But overall, I don't feel like this game is on its final road yet. I feel like there is so much room to grow, and once more information is brought out about it, the fundamental gaming mechanics, what makes it different from the other FPS, a fleshed-out UI, fleshed-out environmental differences, then I really can make a better judgment call on if this game is something I would like to play or not. Right now, I'm just intrigued. There was ENOUGH bait on the hook to keep me interested, but not enough to reel me in. Not enough chum in the water for me to attack it. So, till then, I will just keep any definitive opinions on hold. But if what I suspected earlier is correct, and this is kind of like No Man's Sky meets Halo, then that very well could be the lynch pin needed to make this FPS standout from the others.
You can find the demo for End of the Beginning on G.Round by clicking the link here. Make sure you sign up and download the client so that you can take part in the evolution of gamer meets developer relationships.
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