Disintegration Review
Disintegration
Publisher: Private Division & Take-Two Interactive
Developer: V1 Interactive
Genre:
PEGI:
Comments:
Disintegration is a first-person shooter developed by V1 Interactive, a relatively new indie-developer, that aims to blast away any preconceived notions of what a first person shooter should be. While there is no doubt how ambitious of a project that might be for a team of under 30 people, some of the best games are ones that were built out of heart and passion for the hobby of gaming – not simple by those who have the most money and resources to throw at it. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what Disintegration has to offer!
Robo-Battle Royale
Disintegration’s core concept is one that speaks to me on a real level – a good vs evil, robot death-brawl. Robots, like zombies, are one of the best enemies to go after in a FPS title, as there are no pesky moral qualms for one to have about blowing them out of existence. After all, they’re just robots. Or are they? Disintegration is set in a world where most humans have left their organic bodies behind and instead transferred their consciousness to a robotic shell through the process of ‘integration’ due to the crises that were befalling Earth at the time.
OK, so these robots aren’t quite the guilt-free slayable kind, but they still get the job done. Disintegration does have a fully functioning multiplayer facet, however as online interactions can vary so heavily, I will be sticking to the single-player campaign for the purposes of this review. While the storyline can be confusing at times, the cut-scenes are well done and the voice acting is on point (even if the lip syncing isn’t). The base story is this: you play as a pilot in a good-versus-evil battle between robot factions. You pilot a gravcycle, which is a one-man hovercraft equipped with an arsenal of weaponry.
The gameplay levels are broken up with bouts of walking around in third-person view and communicating with other members of your faction – Destiny-style. Unfortunately, those you can interact with have very little to say, and no real reason for providing you with the side-quests and bonus objectives that they offer.
Michael Bay Would Be Proud
The one thing that nobody can argue a lack of in this game is explosions. Beautifully rendered, extremely satisfying explosions. And really, in a futuristic sci-fi robo war, I would be heavily disappointed if there somehow managed to exist a lack of explosions. But there doesn’t and I am not. The combat in Disintegration is actually very enjoyable and engaging. From your first-person pilot view, you can hover around the battlefield, issue commands to your team by having them attack, move or return to you, and also engage enemies yourself with the guns on your gravcycle. You also control when and where each of your team deploys their special abilities, which can really turn the tide of battle.
Speaking of battle, you will quickly notice that enemy AI is not particularly powerful or strategic, making most encounters fairly straightforward. Occasionally, enemies will spawn from all sides, forcing you to keep your units actively moving into cover and pushing various flanks to avoid being overrun completely. This adds a nice flavour to the game that will make at least the first few hours of Disintegration satisfactorily engaging.
While most of the graphics are quite average, the levels all feel unique and match the game’s setting to a T. Metal-filled junk yards, abandoned and overgrown settlements all suit the post-apocalyptic robot-dominated world. The voice acting might be some of the best I have experienced in a long time – a serious kudos to V1 here.
Shooting For The Stars, Hitting The Moon
It is quite evident how ambitious the vision for Disintegration was, and let me be clear, it is a good game. It just seems that perhaps some areas had to be left unfinished or abandoned entirely in order to make this game a reality. The truth of the matter is that this game will be appealing to a wide range of players, from FPS fans, to fans of other minion-commanding RTS/action games like Overlord and Pikmin, it simply has a few too many shortcomings to proudly display its AA pricing.
If you are interested in taking this kind of combat online in a multiplayer setting in addition to the ~10-15 hour campaign, you will certainly get your money’s worth out of the game. If, like me, you are mostly concerned with single-player and would not log the hours into the multiplayer modes, I would keep this in your wishlist and look for at least a slight sale.
To learn more about Disintegration and its developer, V1, visit: https://www.disintegrationgame.com/