BATTLECRY from Battlecry Studios is a game where a world has no gunpowder. Ever since WWI, the Black Powder Treaty was created to avoid weapons of mass destruction. As a result the European countries have established certain zones or battlefields to settle any breaches, acts of war, and treaty issues in which 4 lucky people can help settle the score for their King and Country – or something like that. In this timeline, there is the Pansophic Revolution where the golden age of industrial manufacturing and design heralds a new era. Since that time they have banned gunpowder based weaponry, there are new weapons for both melee and projectile helped fill in the void.
These are the same people with backgrounds in Half-Life 2, Team Fortress, Call of Duty: Black Ops and a few other ones that would make any other person’s resume look very paltry. The game itself is very fast-pace and quick – much like Team Fortress and for the alpha build, there were a few countries available for actual play. Since my friend came in with me and he was an actual Scotsman – he played the team from the UK: The Royal Marines. I got the pre-Commie Russian team: The Cossacks (I liked the woman with a really BIG knife because Homey definitely does play that.
Each of the teams has their own character designs, but the 4 classes are consistent across the board. The ones that were playable were the Enforcer, Tech Archer, and Duelist.
Enforcer: A meelee sword fighter with a BIG sword that you can have change into a shield. Heavy-hitter and will swing that thing around like a mad ape.
Tech Archer: The tech bow and a quick hand are what moves you forward. They do have limited close combat attacks.
Duelists: They have the ability to cloak and shock you. They attack with a bunch of rapid knife/sword attacks.
Gadgeteer: They shoot projectile weapons that are Gauss (electricity based). Think of them as machine gun specialists.
Brawlers: Meelee fighters that have replaced one hand with a BIG MEATY METAL FIST.
There is an adrenaline bar that works like an Ultra or Super Bar in a lot of fighting games. When that powers up, you can use a special ability to either be invulnerable for a short period of time, or to use fragments of it for your own class’ special abilities. The action was fast-paced and it was fun hurling insults back and forth between my friend and I as we just literally tore into each other. The UI was easy to read and the controls were very flexible between the game pad and PC. I will say the leaping was a bit frustrating as using it double-time could make you really go forward, but there were times I got stuck. However, the kills were bloody and the art was especially good. Very cel-like and of a pastoral quality.
So lovely, especially that flaming eyeball sun in the corner.
Hi, nice to meet you. You’re lovely. Here are my knife skills.
I ASDF’ed it all the way to victory man. Yeah, my Scottish buddy got a few shots in.
It will be free to play and with be through Zenimax Online. The beta will be released in 2015 through Bethesda as the publisher.
