Abuse

"It's ALL about the gameplay"

When was the last time you played a good action platform game; I mean REALY played one? Takes a minute to think of, doesn't it? Well, the last good one I can remember was Contra: Hardcorps for the Sega Genesis (we're talking TRUE side scrolling action platform here). Well, with Crack Dot Com's Abuse, we've got another to add to the pile.

Ok, first off I'm going to come right out and say it; I hate PC action games. They (in general) suck HARDCORE compared to console games of the same breed. Why is that you may ask? One thing cripples them: interface. (almost) Every PC action game is made to play with a keyboard... BIG mistake. For action games, a keyboard just can't compare to a controller. Before you start raging on me, I am FULLY aware that there are controllers available for PC's, but all of the ones I have tried have been very unresponsive with rather large delays between pressing the directional pad or buttons and the actual action on screen. It seems that the designers at Crack Dot Com noticed this as well and decided to do something about it.

Story, graphics, sound; all pretty sub par with Abuse, as none of it is anything to write home about, but where abuse shines is in it's revolutionary control scheme which works like this: KEYBOARD - This is where you control your character's movement from. Containing all of your standard controls (movement, jump, etc.), there's nothing to special about it; here's the special: MOUSE HAND - This controls a cursor on the screen that acts as the aimer for whatever weapon is currently in use. This might not seem like much of a revolutionary design, but what this does is allow your character to aim in any direction while moving any direction as well, and it's done flawlessly; it really has to be used to be believed. One of the major gripes I have with action platform games (they are my favourite games, though) is that you couldn’t aim without it affecting the character’s movement, but thanks to this brilliant control scheme that problem is completely alleviated.

I guess I should mention a bit more about the story, graphics, and sound, as this is a review. The story is pretty mundane actually. It’s just some uninspired thing where you’re a cyborg (explains the independent use of upper and lower bodies and therefore the control scheme) and you have to escape someplace that happens to be filled with aliens. The graphics are… well… they’re graphics. Actually they’re rendered sprites, which does look a deal better than regular bitmaps, but man do those aliens have some choppy animation. The sounds are just that; sounds. They’re rudimentary but they get the job done.

Like I said though, the thing that makes this game great is the game play. You really do owe it to yourself (and the now defunct Crack Dot Com) as a gamer to play Abuse, as another game of it’s kind will quite possibly not be released again. Not only that, but it’s been made free by Crack Dot Com, so you can find it out there and download it no problem; definitely check it out.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/26/02, Updated 08/26/02