As a big fan of Outerlight's previous PC-only offering The Ship, I don't mind admitting that I was seriously looking forward to BGT when itAs a big fan of Outerlight's previous PC-only offering The Ship, I don't mind admitting that I was seriously looking forward to BGT when it was finally announced.
The concept is an interesting one - the primary game mode is 'Hunt' - you wander the (very well designed) maps waiting for the Director to announce a target for you - someone you must then kill. Different weapons (ranging from a Frying Pan to an Assault Rifle) will award different 'style' scores (measured in stars from 2 for a mundane weapon to 5 for a stylish one) depending on how frequently and recently they've been used. Kill someone who's not your target? You'll be penalised, either in stars, a forced time-out, or ultimately the dreaded boot from the game.
Of course, it'd be silly to think that just because you're hunting someone that you're in the clear - someone is hunting you too, and they're unlikely to just walk up to you and tell you (although they get a bonus star if they do!), so you have to be on your guard at all times. Added to this mix are the security guards and cameras, who'll come down hard on anyone seen acting antisocially, plus the odd change in game mode to either a free-for-all deathmatch, a infection-based 'tag' game, and the 'grab an item and hold it as long as possible' mode.
Upon playing it, my reactions are mixed. The good? The gameplay is still fresh, fun and gets better with friends. The bad? It's massively light on content, buggy and the combat is in serious need of refinement.
The bad things first - the control scheme is pretty poor. Combat often dissolves into two (or possibly more) players running round in circles swinging their melee weapons wildly in the hope of scoring a lucky hit. If you get your hands on a firearm, congratulations, but hitting anything with it is another matter altogether. I'm no 1337 pr0, but I've been playing FPS games long enough to know when it's my aim and when it's something else, and this is something else. There is a 'lock-on' system, which makes things infinitely easier, but it's a little erratic and imprecise in a crowd.
The content issue is inexcusable. The game has been in development a bloody long time (no pun intended), and to take that long to roll out just three maps is a pretty poor show on the part of Outerlight. If you're wanting people to play your game for a long time, you have to give them plenty of variety, and three maps isn't even close to enough.
As for bugginess, it may be a lag issue, but I've had several occasions where the camera has trapped me in third person view, unable to do anything but walk about and wait for death to reset me back inside my body. More worryingly, the game has completely locked up on me several times now, forcing a hard reset of the console.
However, in spite of all the faults, it's difficult not to be charmed by the game. The 'needs' meters (your character's desire for food, rest and, well... 'evacuation') are a fantastic way of keeping players on the move rather than killing their quarry and then camping a corner for two and a half minutes, and the dreaded decisions on whether to kill that player who *might* be following you in order to kill you, but *might* just be headed the same way get no easier with time. The weapons are all well-balanced, with the more powerful ones having very little ammo to compensate, and there are no obvious gamebreakers in the mix, which is always good.
Games are occasionally tough to find, and sadly, as with many games on Xbox Live, there's always the odd idiot who doesn't want to play by the rules, and takes a little bit of the fun away. However, get a group of friends or clanmates together on voice chat and start hunting each other, and I promise you, you won't find more bang for your buck - it's an absolute riot.… Expand