Publisher: Futuremark Game Studios Developer: Futuremark Game Studios Year of Release: 2009 Platforms: PC Men floating in space is something not normally used by games. We have games about ships...

Publisher: Futuremark Game Studios
Developer: Futuremark Game Studios
Year of Release: 2009
Platforms: PC

Men floating in space is something not normally used by games. We have games about ships in space, civilisations in space and fighting inside space craft but very men are actually about someone just floating through the Deep Abyss. Dead Space had section of zero gravity but many were just on the outside of a ship or inside certain regions, staring into the infinite blackness between being munched by enemies. But there is nothing like flying around with a jetpack. Futuremark, the crazy tech guys who make 3DMark, the benchmarking tool, have also made a game called Shattered Horizon all about mano-mano space combat.

Its set in 2049 after a mining explosion causes the moon to explode (a good start) sending meteors of moon rock towards the earth and into satellites such as the ISS. This traps astronauts from the International Space Agency in orbit, unable to get home and forced to defend themselves from members of the Moon Mining Cooperative with some of the last supplies sent from Earth – guns. The story is a nice idea and a good setup, but next to nothing is said about it in game apart from a few map descriptions. This is a shame, as a singleplayer campaign would have been a nice addition

The games plays as a first person shooter but with a few little twists. First is that your in space – it is total Zero-G environment where enemies can come from any direction ready to puncture your oxygen tank and send you spiralling off into the black. It might sound like this would be a pain to control but actually is instead very intuitive. WASD moves you in a lateral plain with shift and space moving you down and up the y-axis respectively. Holding the right mouse button also allows you to rotate to orientate yourself. It can be slightly off putting to start with but after a while you’ll be jetting through the air doing flips and stuff. You can also anchor yourself to a flat surface as well should you need but the benefits of balanced weapons is outweighed by the risk of being exposed. Another twist is silent running. At the touch of a button, you shut down your suits extra systems and drift through space. This allows you to evade radar detection (there isn’t enough electronics for scanners to pick you up) but does mean you can’t hear either your teammates or gunfire due to the fact they are being generated by the suit as sound doesn’t travel through a vacuum. Its a cool effect that can be useful but it feels more like it was added just to show off the team’s science knowledge.

Up until the Firepower update, the game only had one weapon and a set of grenades. This was a serious issue for the game as it lacked some repeat interest. Luckily the update changed all this and allowed players to now choose from one of five weapons. Theses range from the shotgun and SMGs for close quarters up to the long range railguns and heavy machine guns by the way of the ubiquitous assault rifle. All the weapons have a nice kick to them and are great fun to use. The assault rifle and SMG are locked to the suit but the rest of them actually throw you backwards if you fire them while floating. Your spaceman also has six grenades that can be deployed as one of 6 types. This system is good as it doesn’t limit you to a single role in a life allowing you to switch it up depending on what’s going on. Your choices are ice (effectively smoke), flare (flashbang), MRP (concussion), EMP (knocks out enemy suits), pulse (find enemies) and decoy (hides your approach). Each feels like it has a use and although it is some times simpler to just shoot enemies repeatedly it is more satisfying to get someone you’ve emped and blow a hole in their oxygen tanks.

After the Moonrise expansion, the game now has a total of twelve maps. These are nearly all beautifully arranged, from the wreckage of the ISS to fragments of the moon floating through space. There are two game modes. Skirmish is a simple deathmatch while Assault and Defence is more like a linear conquest mode. They are simply multiplayer modes we have seen before in many other games and they are pretty serviceable though you might be wanting a little extra to go with it.

As it comes from 3D Mark you’d expect it to be rather good looking and it does not disappoint. The backdrop to all the battles looks pitch perfect for space and it looks fantastic. However, the player characters seem to lack in character animations and the weapons have a slightly plastiky look to them. In a similar way, the sound is serviceable yet nothing to write home about.

Overall, Shattered Horizon is a fun game that is only let down by its lack of singleplayer content. It is no longer held back by its overpowering requirements like at launch. Even so, the biggest problem now is the lack of players – it’s into the afterlife of a multiplayer game where the only constant players are the hardcore who know the levels like the back of their hand and will brutally murder any new players. Keep your eyes open for Steam weekends, where cheap (and we are talking sub-£5 cheap) copies are to be found and new players swarm in.