Necrovision

It’s a mental WWI FPS action – as this game’s tag line said. Maybe they were right on the money when they said this. Released early this year in February 2009, Necrovision – or rather NecroVisioN – is set in an alternative World War I history. This game is classified as a survival horror FPS developed by The Farm 51 of Poland.

The year is 1916, you take on the role of Simon Bukner and you’re the new blood in the Allied Army. Soon enough, you realize that Germans are not the only foes you’re contending with. You find yourself exploring the deep secret caverns in WWI war-torn areas and battlefields, and decking it out with demons, vampires, zombies, and other supernatural unknown entities.

You may experience a clunky start to Necrovision. The controls are somewhat awkward, there’s not enough to blast off, and the story is so unrealistic it’s not easy to immerse yourself totally in it. You know when you play some slow starting games, and you’re hoping that sometime somewhere it actually gets better? Thankfully this is one of those. Still, its playability has nothing to do with the wafer-thin storyline. The fun part though is in its shooter element – the selection of weapons ensure good action-packed gaming sessions The player is presented with a wide array of pistols, rifles, machine guns, and more weapons. Most of them can even be dual-wielded, which makes for some great zombie-shooting spree. Close combat is also very much an integral component of Necrovision. Which means that dual-wielding can also be both melee and range weapon. So while you make like a suave action hero with your pistol-toting right hand, your left hand is swinging about a sword in classic hero fashion. This game also turns heads due to its combo action options. A string of attacks can result in some very visual albeit fun zombie massacre.

You might soon forget that the game was taking place during World War I, because all of a sudden it seems as if the developers changed the entire creative team altogether. Suddenly, Bukner is armed with a Shadow Hand that contains powerful vampire magic. The bunkers are replaced with demonic realms that are filled with slithering beasts and robotic giants alike. At one point, you even get to go aboard a fire-breathing dragon. With this change, the visual art and level design also takes on an appalling transformation, and the player begins to understand why Necrovision is titled so.

The other elements of the game are not really worth delving into. Apart from the gameplay and the kitschy plot, Necrovision has a handful of flaws that might be hard to ignore. The loading times are a pain, character models are poorly done, and the atmospheric environment is not convincing. For a game that’s dubbed as a survival horror shooter, the voice acting is the most horrific part of the game. Good thing the soundtrack, with its horror-themed orchestra music and tribal rhythm, lends to the horror aspect of Necrovision.

This fantasy first-person shooter is worth to take a peek into, but it certainly won’t make it up the list of top survival horror shooters in history.