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| Preview - Alpha Black Zero: Intrepid Protocol |
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| by Jason "Rodzilla" Rodzik |
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| Posted on January 21, 2004 |
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After retreating back up the valley and issuing the suppressive fire command, most of the forces were either killed or fled. As we came out the other side of the valley, several enemies popped up from over the ledge on the right side of us and did some serious damage to my squad with weapons fire and grenades. Although the enemy is smart, it is not too smart for you to be able to complete your objectives, and it is possible to lose all but one man and still finish. On this particular instance, I was able to finish the mission with three of my five members left alive. This was only one occasion out of many in which the enemy AI really shone, making use of clever tactics, and knowing when to flee when hopelessly out-gunned.
Similar to its father Serious Sam, Alpha Black Zero features some massive outdoor landscapes. This may be one of the few things that the game shares with the Serious Sam games, however, and the landscapes are extremely detailed, featuring numerous ridges, valleys, hills, and broad open expanses. The character and weapon models are also well done as are the textures used for the terrain and buildings. In addition to the landscape looking absolutely stunning, you can use it to your tactical advantage, as can the enemy. Character shadows are rendered in detail on the landscape, and all this occurs without any slowdown or chugging, even amid intense firefights. I was amazed that I was even able to crank up the "Terrain detail" setting to "Extreme," with everything else at normal, the shadows at normal detail, and the textures at optimal, and was still able to play through the game without any loss of performance.
Unlike most games, in which you pick up tons of ammo and additional weapons as you go, Alpha Black Zero gives you a limited amount of ammo for your main weapon and your sidearm. Once one weapon's ammo is depleted, you have to switch to the other weapon, and once both have depleted their ammunition, you still have the option of either switching control to a teammate with ammo left, using the melee attack at close-range, or finding more ammo. In order to stock up on more ammunition and stamina (your squadmates' health is represented through stamina), you have to find various crates placed throughout the levels. After cycling through your men and refilling part or all of their ammunition and stamina, you can then continue on.
One of the only gripes I had, aside from the fact that I only got to play one mission, was that it took a significant amount of damage to kill an enemy. While the powerful snub rifle and sniper rifle will easily take out enemies in one shot, the assault rifle frequently requires several shots, even to the head at point blank. Hopefully this will have been refined in the final game.
The full game will offer a cooperative playing mode that will allow up to five people to play online together. Unfortunately, this mode was not available for me to try out in the demo build I recieved, and I eagerly await recieving the full game to try this out. The full game contains 17 different missions, both indoor and outdoor, and reportedly has an estimated playing time of around 50 hours, however the game will likely be shorter should you choose the more aggressive route and longer should you choose to stealthily sneak around the levels. While mod tools such as the modified Serious Editor will not be released directly with the game, they will be released seperately for download via the internet at some point near or after the game's release. Alpha Black Zero will also feature three different difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, and Hard), which adjust not only the enemy's resiliance but their intelligence as well, which should lead to even more interesting enemy tactics.
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