Customer Reviews

Infernal

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Infernal won't win any awards in the innovation department but it's a very good-looking shooter that adds enough hooks to keep you interested for a few hours. You're Ryan Lennox, a fallen angel looking for work when your recruited by Satan himself to take out various enemies.

The title comes from the power bestowed upon you by the Devil. After killing an enemy you can recharge your character's health by absorbing him in dramatic fashion. That alone is worth the price of admission. I haven't finished the game yet but anyone looking for a decent shooter should definitely check out Infernal. It's enjoyable, looks good, and is fun to play.

In the 3rd person shooter Infernal, you play as Ryan Lennox, a former agent of Heaven who recently joined the forces of Hell. I had this game sitting on my shelf for a while before I finally decided to play through it. I can honestly say I wasn't missing much. While I finished it I found it a struggle to want to do so. I quickly lost interest in the game by the end of the first mission.

PROS:

+ Graphics. They were quite nice overall. However like so many shooters the sky and background was a solid unmoving sheet.

+ Enemy AI was ok. However they were still stupid enough most times to come and find you instead of staying behind cover and firing at you.

CONS:

- Voice acting was bad all around. All of the lines were unemotional and delivered verbatim as if read for the first time from a script. The main character and his female spy assistant were by far the worst.

- The music was utterly painful! There was no atmospheric music (something I really enjoy), there was only cheesy, repetitive action guitar rock. My most hated kind. Now I know many younger players might enjoy the cliche driven angst rock while they're shooting things up but I however do not. Good action music in a game is essential for me and this game definitely DID NOT have it. Simply awful.

- Hell based powers were boring, uninspired and hardly useful. The only I really used from time to time (if I remembered) was the charged shot. The planar vision felt added on for lack of a better idea and the teleportation was simply awful in every way. I absoluted hated when I had to use it to accomplish an objective.

- Bland level design. The only level that was sort of interesting was aboard the aircraft carrier.

- Ho hum bosses and boring battles, especially the end boss.

- Friendly AI was awful. What little there was with the female character in the game I basically wanted to shoot her (which sadly you can't, trust me I tried). She prattled non stop saying, "Come on Ryan, we don't have much time. Hurry Ryan." Very annoying when you're trying to explore and or are low on health/ammo and searching for power ups. She was constantly getting shot and in the way while always saying, "I'll cover you" then stand there and do nothing while enemies were trying to fill you full of holes.

- Poor jumping/falling and cover mechanics. You could barely if at all jump over or climb on top of a crate. Also you could fall off of an 8' scaffolding and die instantly. Taking cover was cumbersome and always a chore.

- Searching enemies became more of a chore than a necessity. You could draw life from enemies to heal yourself and you could get ammo from them. However most of the time I just needed the ammo not the health. Unfortunately you couldn't pick what you wanted (at least not that I figured out). So basically I was wasting taking health from enemies just for the ammunition. A seperate key for each would have been nice.

There are more things I could go on about regarding this game but it's really not worth it. I really wanted to like this game but just couldn't. Would I recommend it to a friend? Definately not.

Hey, Gang! Tellurye is going to break it down for you. As owner of Fedora Technologies (www.fedoratech.com) we get access to lots of goodies. I decided to give this game a little dance, and what stands our company out is, yes I give you my opinion, but I will also state facts - this helps the user decide on whether they want to buy it. Not just "its good" or "bad", but also why and what you get. So let me sum up.

STORY: Set in the future, where the battle between Heaven and hell rages on. Corporations are ruling with an iron fist, either on one side or the other. They deploy opposing agents to battle it out to maintain control, whether it be good or evil, depending upon their allegiance. Fortunately, the Ethereal corporations are winning - crushing pretty much all of the Devil's agents. You play as Ryan Lennox, a fallen Angel kicked off Heaven's team (not too clear why, other than the fact you are quite brash and brazen sometimes) and kill time looking for employment; disgruntled. You're chillin' with a colleague at an upscale bar downtown, when Heaven's agents descend on the establishment and try and kill you....just as she was going to share a secret with you. When you escape, Satan approaches you (dressed in a black pinstripe suit, true to form) and gives you extraordinary powers if you do him a little favor. From there, you are given several missions to complete as you annihilate the agents of the "good" corporation. Nothin like workin for the devil.

Of course, I was a little taken by this as I did want it to be sacrilegious. If you were going around killing priests or destroying churches, then I'd have a major problem with this game. But its nothing like it. The baddies you kill are just regular humans working for the "Good" based corporations. And, not giving away the plot, but just cause a corporations are on Heaven's side, doesn't mean they are good. It's a setting where the corporations - all of them - are evil anyway, telling you how to run your life - similar to the recent game Time Shift, or movies like Equilibrium, Blade Runner, or Running Man. The first level, you are in a monastery. I think I saw one cross in the beginning, but I didn't see any religious symbols during the gun battles, so that shouldn't bother any of you. And the monks there are hardly the religious kind, as they run a vast computer system to monitor and house technology that does even more controlling of lay people. The rest of the levels are industrial, warehouses, shipyard docks and other locales. In fact, if it wasn't for the story told to you, you would think there was no religious base to this game at all.

GRAPHICS and SOUND: OMG!! This is the most gorgeous game I've seen in a long time. What will stand out the most is the volumetric lighting. A perfect example is when you are in a warehouse, and rays of light cut through the large open area. The detail is so great you can even see the dust particles in the beams of light as well! The level design is intuitive and jam packed full of items - not just a random chair or desk here or there. The sound is pretty decent - though the different punk rock music that plays during a battle can be reminiscent of Quake 2. Nothing new here. The sounds of weaponry shooting and reloading is pretty cool, but nothing you haven't heard before.

The cutscenes are done with decent writing, but VERY lame acting. The characters sound like they are just reading the lines. Even Lennox's pithy one-liners or comebacks are not done with the sarcasm its meant to be. They probably didn't even hire actors for this....probably used their own in house developers who have no people skills at all. Don't get me wrong, sometimes the best actors are lay people who have no desire to be actors and are quite natural. However, the folks they used sound like they are bored out of their mind...which doesn't help a typical 3rd person shooter game like this.

GAMEPLAY: The gameplay is a typical 3rd person shooter, with controls similar to Max Payne. Its very responsive aiming wise, and you do have a cool defensive maneuver. However, the cover system is counterintuitive as it makes you more vulnerable than if you ran around just ducking. If you flatten up against the wall, you can aim your crossairs so that when you step out, you are dead on the bad guy. Problem is, Lennox's reaction time using this technique is so slow, he makes grandma move like Jackie Chan. There is a noticeable delay when popping out and back in for cover, that the enemies have time to put a few rounds in you. It makes more sense to just stand or crouch behind cover. The bosses are challenging, and the puzzles are pretty darn creative - though it may take you a while to figure out what the heck you are supposed to do on some of them. But some are unique. I got frustrated in a few areas on medium level, but I think that's cause of me, not necessarily unfair AI. There's hardly any option for stealth - you may run into a guard or two who has his back towards you. Unrealistic, seeings how you are one guy, I don't think making a bunch of noise or calling attention to yourself like Brittany Spears is such a good idea. But hey...I guess disgruntled fallen angels want attention too.

I only ran into an issue where I had everything I needed to advance, but the trigger wouldn't work for me (opening the door to get on a train). Research on the net lists just about every person has this issue. I never found a fix other than going back to several earlier saved games until I found one that worked. On the forums, there are TONS OF COMPLAINTS. Most are having issues graphically, in general, or freezing crashing...even on XP. I never experienced these issues, however. I'm not sure if the newer CDs were updated, but I can find no patch that was released for this game. Does it just work on my system, or did they fix them in the later copies? Also, the FORUM even has problems. I couldn't even join the darn thing! So, I'm glad I didn't really have terrible issues; stands to reason I wouldn't get any support anyway. And posts from other users ripping on this game and being unable to contact and / or get any email or call back from support is just overwhelming. I think the developers have turned their back on this project.

Its such a shame, as this game shows so much promise. It definitely could have been the sleeper hit of the year. The graphics are phenomenal, story - semi-unique, gameplay -basic. However, marred with bugs, problems, poor delivery and no support, it's a waste of the developers and publishers talents, and a waste of gamers time.

I gave this a medium rating, which is WAY more than anyone else did, only because this game worked for the most part for me, and I could advance in areas where stuck (either on puzzles or thru the bugs). So I would stay away from this one. And even if you still want it, I would download the demo and make sure it works (that's what I did before even installing the full game) and I would SO wait till this dropped to $20...and that may be a stretch depending on your tastes and patience. Save this game for when your woman is out of town or you are sick / rainy day - I wouldn't plan any gaming time for it. With so many other choices out there (Like El Matador - now that they fixed most of the bugs with the patch), there are other 3rd person shooters that are more worthy of your attention.

Hope this helps, contact me with any questions!

Tellurye
Got 3D?
Fedoratech.com

Machine: Intel DG31PR, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz, 2gig RAM, Windows XP Pro, WD SATA 150 G HDD, GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB

I am not planning to write a poem in defense of this game. I consider my self a hardcore pc-gamer and very competitive on multiplayer shooters. I found this game surprisingly good, with the price you can not go wrong or hesitate to buy it. Especially, if you need a different taste once in a while. To me this game teaches Resident Evil how to get better. By the way it looks very good on 3D and the level desing is very good.

I personally dont like third person shooters, i think the controls are awkward but to me this game was sort of in between a first person and third person shooter and was one of the best budget shooters i have played. just a really fun game to play, you cant go wrong if you get this game for 5 bucks.

it's set in a world kinda like ours (good vs. evil).... but it has a different religious feel to it... but not to boring:)

graphics: i think the graphics are really good, i like the effects when you shoot someone with a devil charged bullet! and it runned really smooth on my playform: 64bit windows vista home premium, intel dual core centrino processor, 4GB RAM, and Nvidia GeForce' 9300m GS, 512MB. by the way... anything runs smooth on that! :) i don't know if it would run good on other platforms.

gameplay: well, it's kinda hard to get used to, but you can get the hang of it.... kinda quickly. i love the really dangerous weapons! like the rocket launcher, or some sorta huge laser! they're awesome!

music: it's really cool... i like it, but sometimes it gave me a headache! especially when i died and had to play the same part like 20 times, and it played the same music all the time!!!

story: rather short (only 5 missions).... but it has a point, and it's really interesting.

replay value: it has incredible replay value! i played like every level like 18 times, and i didn't have any glitches... as far as i can remember...

the really interesting part is that it took a whole 4 hours to beat the entire game!

it was fun.... probably because i like shooting gigantic monsters with bullets, but who doesn't^.^!!!

if you liked any of the tomb raiders, or maybe timeshift.... you would enjoy this.

ps. it's an FPS and 3rd person shooter... you can switch between them anytime you want.

Even though the actual story dialogue to this game is kinda cleche and at some points, overstylized, but the actual gameplay itself is pretty fun. Good way to kill some time.

Graphics are decent in gameplay, cinematic graphics lacked a lot of next-gen animation such as facial characteristics and realistic bodily movements. Not a lot of work was put into this game.

Overall, this game is a good timekiller and nothing more. Also, those with Physics cards get a great graphical and interactive boost since this game is compatable with Ageia PhysX.

Unless over processed effect hypnotise you, stay away from this game. It probably would have been ok, but they spent so much energy making it look "cool" that it is hard to focus on your task, which is simply KILL KILL KILL. I never made it past the first level due to the headache I got trying to see what was happening, and the sond track of some unseen dude on a mega-phone yelling at full volume to give up or you will die!! (you can't surrender)

looking at the screenshots of infernal, it looked like my kind of game, a max payne/hitman kind of style. however, it quickly falls apart not because it's a "bad" game, but simply because it's a mediocre game with no innovation.

first, the good: good graphics. runs well on my older computer/graphics card. shooting mechanics are decent. no auto-target noob crap so that's a definite plus.

the bad: you have to cannibalize corpses (steal their souls, whatever) to gain health and ammo. you have to aim your target at their body, and then wait for this animation (that's too long) to complete to get the goods. while this is cool for about .2 seconds, it quickly becomes old. for god's sake, IT'S 2007!!!!! can't we bring something better into games than that?! you HAVE to raid the corpses because you need the ammo and health. but it's not FUN. it's just a chore. and games are what we do to get our minds AWAY from chores, right??? chores shouldn't be in a game!!!!! one innovation is featured: the "stick to walls for cover" mechanic of gears of war. unfortunately this idea wasn't good in gears of war and it's not good here, either. the cover mechanics of the call of duty series are far more intuitive and fun. the one good thing i can say about it being in this game is to show what a ripoff and lame idea it is in gears of war.

anyway the worst thing about infernal is just that it offers nothing new. run around and kill some guys... ok, that gets old pretty quick. gamespot said it all: "Infernal embraces style over substance, resulting in a dull and repetitive shooting experience."