I must admit, I did go on a bit of a posting run of first-person shooter reviews recently. I was going to leave them be for a while, because it’s typically not a genre of games I’m particularly good at.
My thoughts on this changed since. I did do a review of Hellbound, mainly because it was similar to the old Quake and Doom games that I grew up with in the 90s. And now we have Combatant, which appears to be part of a family of games that appear to be first-person shooters with a bit more of a storyline. This did intrigue me somewhat, so I thought it worthy of testing.
Gameplay
Launching the game for the first time, and there are a few options to set. The graphics options do seem to be rather conservative by default, setting themselves to the minimum quality settings. Most hardware should be able to run well at higher settings, so don’t be scared to up these slightly.
Launching the game proper and it’s apparent that it is a little more than a straight first-person shooter. You’re assigned missions that you must work your way towards.
The short version is that you are part of a company who have had their information stolen by a Russian competitor. You hire a sharpshooter, Alfie, whose job it is to try and recover this information.
This is when the first-person shooter comes in. There will be a lot of enemy combatants out to get you. This will require a lot of strategy to be able to get through.
The strategy makes it actually quite difficult. Even on the easiest difficulty levels, the constant charge of enemy combatants can be a little overwhelming at first. You will need to be able to build a strategy to deal with that. Going for a straight hack-and-slash is a recipe to have your character killed over and over.
This can make the game a little frustrating at first. However, it does add to the challenge and I found that I was really starting to develop the strategy.
I did appreciate the addition of the storyline and strategy elements. They do add a lot to the game and have been done very well. They make the game more challenging and fun. The only thing I thought was missing was multiplayer. Given the number of bad games you have to take on, sometimes it feels like having a second person would help you build your strategy. Even local multiplayer would be an improvement, though online would be ideal.
Graphics
Combatant Image
The graphics do look a little bit dated. They’re not the worst graphics I’ve seen in a game, however they’re also not highly detailed.
The graphics are definitely not horrible. Given the lower tiered hardware they’re targeting, the graphics are actually surprisingly decent. I think it will disappoint some that will be looking for a high-end graphical experience. I’d describe it as middle of the road. I’ve definitely seen significantly worse, though it’s still impressive what they’ve done for a game that targets some rather antique hardware. It just feels a little antiquated by modern standards.
Verdict
Combatant is definitely as much strategy game as it is a first-person shooter. It’s definitely not just a simple hack-and-slash. This part they’ve actually done fairly well.
The difficulty can become a little frustrating sometimes, however I’ve found this does bring out a certain competitive streak. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
The graphics might be a little dated for some, but given the game is targeting lower end hardware it is actually fairly impressive. If you’re looking for a first-person shooter that has a storyline and isn’t just a simple shoot-em-up, this game would be a good candidate. I also think multiplayer would be a fantastic addition to this game.
