Top Secret Magazine Get Medieval

Sometimes you just gotta grab your gun, strap on some goggles and leave the game behind. Extreme Paintbrawl is a game that makes you realize that some games just DON'T come near the real thing ...

The first thing I noticed about the game is that it loads fast. Unfortunately, I also found out that it loads fast only because it just doesn't have much to load.. It uses a really, really out-dated looking graphics engine that ultimately makes the action and graphics painfully reminiscent of the glory days of Duke Nukem, which itself was not a bad game for its time, but is well behind the technology curve. Quite boring.

Still, I decided to keep an open mind and give it a try. Extreme paintbrawl boasts five fields of battle including a scorching desert, a medieval scenario, an urban concrete jungle and outerspace. Additionally, you have different modes of play which include; capture the flag, strategic assault or elimination. Further, you aren't given much choice when it comes to weapons. You are limited to eight total weapons, of which only one can be carried at a time. Though this is realistic, it doesn't offer much variety. You can choose to play single, multi-player or you can also use the opportunity to use the "practice" mode to try your hand before getting into a real game. Then once you become proficient with your gun, you can then jump into a game or start a tournament against your friends. After starting up a team, I purchased my weapons, ammo, air, and suited up each one of my team members. We then practiced a capture the flag game for a little while on the urban concrete jungle map

First, let me warn you that the game has a huge learning curve and it takes about four hours,

See, he gave up on this game too...

Run forrest, RUN!!

to figure out all the little quirks of the game.

Then as you get better and better at aiming and shooting and hunting down your opponents' flags in all sorts of places including all kinds of rooms done in bad graphics, you then suddenly realize that you've wasted your time and money for a game that can't even compete with the FREE Paintball mods for Quake1 and Quake2.

I can admit that it would probably be a really good game for younger kids. There isn't any blood or guts or scary noises to keep them up at night. In fact there are hardly any audible noises at all. The music in the menus make up most of them. In game sounds include two sounds, the splattering of a paintball and the firing of a gun. Other than this, it's quite quiet. This game would be good for those younger kids who want to play FPS games that you might think are too violent. In addition, they'd get to play via the internet and have the opportunity to go head-to-head against some other people across the world. They can also link up with their friends via a phone line and use the game's dual player mode.

On the other hand, for the rest of us, including die-hard gamers, the only thing this game has going for it is that it is unusual in the fact that it is a PAINTBALL Game. That's it. The graphics, as I said before, are boring, the action is lame, the sound is mediocre and the outcome is unexciting. For my count, let me rifle through my closet for my paintball stuff, dig into my wallet for some bucks and visit a real paintball arena with a couple of buddies. The real stuff is better.

Company:
Head Games

www.headgames.net

Category:

NOTES:

Interest: 80%
Control : 70%
Graphics: 50%
Sound : 45%
Originality : 80%

TOTAL : 65%

Requirements:

Operating System:
Windows 98

Processor:
Pentium 90

Memory:
16 MB Ram

Hard Drive:
50 MB

Sound Card:
Sound Blaster Compatible sound card

Video:
Super VGA video card

Joshua Westhoven