kill.switch

"An overall good game, but it has its flaws."

The first two quarters of 2004 have been kind of lame. While many decent games have been released, so have a lot of stinkers. Luckily, for those of you looking for a fun, if short lived game, look no further than kill.switch. While some pretty big flaws hold it back from it's true potential, it is a game worth your money if you enjoy action games.

STORY
What can I say, this game's plot is really disjointed. While you don't need a plot for this sort of game, it would have worked out better if the designers had really worked on the storyline or not worked on it at all. All I've been able to glean from the cutscenes and manual is it is the future, and that war is a sort of virtual reality, and that your character has a troubled past. Hmm, maybe a little cliched?

3/10

GAMEPLAY
Here is where the game shines. kill.switch has an interesting control scheme, which uses the L1 button to make you go into to cover. From the cover, you can pop out and shoot. You can also blindfire safely from behind whatever it is you are behind. The overall controls are very well done, and they would work for a FPS. In fact, it seems like Namco just switched an FPS' contols around a little.

For those of you who have ever played a little game called Winback, kill.switch reminds me of it, alot. The AI for both games is relatively the same. Luckily, Winback had some decent AI. In kill.switch, your enemies duck behind cover, throw greandes, and blindfire. However, they never work with their friends in any way whatsoever.

The controls are solid, the AI is good, and the overall gameplay mechanics are intact. As I said before, the gameplay is where the game shines. The only problem with the gameplay is the lack of AI cohesion. Also, I have a little gripe about there being only a few weapons, but that's really more in the eye of the beholder.

9/10

GRAPHICS
The graphics for this game are pretty good. Enemies move fluently, but your character runs around like something is jammed up his ass, pardon my French. Anyways, the textures are nice and there is a good assortment of colors, making you feel like you are really in a wartorn area. Namco definitely went the lengths to make the graphics good. Perhaps that's why the story stinks, they spent too much money on graphics instead of investing on a story. Oh well, fine with me.

However, nonetheless, there are better games out there, graphics wise. If you are buying this game for eye candy only, than you would best be with something else.

Also, collision detection isn't so great with your enemies.

8/10

SOUND
The gun noises are good, and your enemies sound like the country or region they are from, whether you are sneaking up on two talking or whether they are shouting at their comrades to get down while throwing a greanade. However, the other voice acting parts, supposedly part of the "story," are not great. This next part is entirely my opinion, but the music is terrible. It revolves around a techno beat, with some guitar work or something. You've hear the drill before.

5/10

REPLAYIBILITY
The game has no replayability. Yup, no unlockables, no multiple endings, nothing. Just that one single player game. There is no multiplayer as well. Lemme tell you, the multiplayer would have been fun with this game. But there is none.

The only decent thing about this is there is a level select. Even then, that doesn't save kill.switch's ass when it doesn't have multiplayer.

3/10

Overall, this game is above average and definitely warrants a rent. Because the price on the game is rapidly dropping,y ou might want to consider buying it. I've owned my copy for about two months, and have played through the single player twice and still play select levels every now and then.

7/10, overall.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/04