Men In Black:
Infogrames
Genre:
1st Person Shooter
Players:
1
Type/#:
CD
/
1
Overall Rating
80
%
Graphics and Sound
Right away, as I started playing this FPS based on Men In Black: The
Series from Infogrames, I was rocketed back to 1997, when Psygnosis
released an often overlooked title, Codename: Tenka. Tenka was one of, if
not THE first PS game of its type, a fully 3D FPS of real quality. Really,
when I played it back in '97 or '98, it seemed very cool. So now, bringing
us back to the modern day, what's it like to see a game that feels all too
similar to the FPS titles from 4 or 5 years ago? Well, if the quality is
there, it's there. And, Crashdown plays the MIB theme well
enough to make this fun to watch, even if the technical quality isn't
dazzling. As a PSone owner, you'll find that to really fill out the bill
for FPS titles, you may have to go back to the late 1990's, and if
you've already played all of the oldies (Tenka, Descent, Doom, Disruptor,
etc.) you'll be happy enough to see another entry in the Hall of FPS.
The music and voices (with only some slight complaints about the
voice-acting) come right out of the TV series, and the visuals at least nod
to the style of the show. It's not like we're talking Gamecube or PS2,
where processing power lets developers clone the look of the show exactly.
Runecraft, the developer, did a good job of mixing in CG cut-scenes that
advance the story, and there's definitely that 'MIB' feeling throughout the
game. Character is always half the fun of playing FPS games, and playing
both agents with all their neat weaponry is sure to please even the most
casual fan of Men In Black: The Series.
Gameplay
After some quick training to illustrate the weapons you'll use and the
techniques to use them, Crashdown jumps right into the action. The
missions begin in small, loosely populated levels, but get harder and bigger
with time. You'll end up shooting your way through over 25 levels before
it's over. In training, you work through several types of weapons, but will
typically be given only one as you begin a stage. Hidden weapons or items
you take from aliens are scattered through levels, and often play a part in
solving puzzles and progressing in the game. Mission objectives are clear
and even small levels are broken up into 3 or 4 objectives, meaning that you
won't be wandering around lost wondering what to do next.
Comparing the
style of play to previous entries in the FPS category, Crashdown
isn't venturing into new territory. It covers the usual areas thoroughly,
such as puzzles involving key-cards that you steal from zapped aliens,
puzzles involving hot-buttons like sensors or cameras that you shoot to move
forward, and the various switches and levers that make up standard door
puzzles. Plenty of ugly aliens will get in your way, and over a dozen
varieties will be found in the course of your game. The quickest way to
ruin a FPS is to include dumb enemies or have the same handful of enemies
show up again and again. Crashdown does well in presenting a mixed
bag. Aliens that attack you on the ground, flying aliens, aliens hanging
from the wall, aliens that dodge your shots and shoot back at you... The
list goes on, but trust that you'll have some challenging moments and more
than a few surprises as you're bushwhacked by lurking aliens. Choosing what
items you have at any given time is simple, and we all know how FPS people
like to pick their poison in terms of working with different weapons. Since
this IS the MIB world, weapons are usually just recharged, so ammo dumps or
clips are replaced by recharge stations. Health powerups work the same way,
and big, colorful icons clue you in to where you need to go to refuel.
Crashdown doesn't limit you to just one or two weapons, but the
amount of pickups in any one level seemed sparse. Replay value is hurt when
you can't go back through and try beating the game with something like a
knife or grenades. Luckily, cheat codes can be found in some levels and
entered to activate special modes, so replay doesn't take too much of a hit.
Difficulty Level
Instead of giving a range of difficulty options, Crashdown offers an
experience that most veteran FPS gamers will breeze through, but then gives
you some metrics to improve by. At the end of each level, you see the
scores for accuracy and stats on shots fired, etc. If you're the
perfectionist, you may play through to improve your ranking, but don't be
let down if the whole thing seems a little too easy. Cautious players can
go through the first half of the game without a scratch on 'em, and even the
incautious won't find too many enemies that don't go down like a big man on
ball bearings. Bosses are challenging, but infrequent. Usually, you'll
spend more time consulting the map and figuring out how to resolve mission
objectives than you will taking down end-level bosses or nests of aggressive
aliens.
Game Mechanics
Probably the biggest difference between this and the FPS games of yore would
be that control feels tight as tight can be. Going up ladders and moving
around obstacles is smooth and analog works well, if a little slow at times.
You can't do too much to change the analog settings, and a range of choices
for control only affect the mapping of buttons to actions. Obvious toggles
like inverted aim and auto-crouch are there, along with auto-aim and
vibration. Controlling actions in the game through analog sets motion on
the left stick with the right stick controlling camera motion up and down
along with strafe stepping left and right. A quick push on the R2 button
changes the left stick to let you look in all directions without moving,
ideal for times when you need to focus on targeting without any moving
around. You can choose to control left-right motion on the shoulder
buttons, and your crouch is controlled on a shoulder button also. An action
button is used for switches and things you can't shoot or blow up, but
otherwise it's slag 'till the slaggin's done!
PS2: Most of the textures that seem rough and show their polygons on
a PSone are smoothed out nicely when running this on a PS2 in Fast &
Smooth mode. Load times in each level are negligible, due probably to the
small size of each level. But, the faster loading makes a difference in the
CG loading and time between levels. The FPS fans who haven't yet moved
up to PS2 will definitely want to score a copy of Crashdown if only
for a weekend rental to enjoy playing Agents K and J. It would have been
nice to see some kind of multiplayer mode, even just some 2-Player access to
a handful of levels. Be ready to take a trip down memory lane with these
graphics, but we would have been astounded back then to see everything
moving so smoothly and controlling as nice. Rough edges and slowdown hurt
the performance in areas, but if you don't mind a bumpy ride, there are lots
of nice design touches, fun weapons and cool enemies lying in wait before
you polish this game off. Favorite touch: Using the flash device to erase
people's memory after they see you in action. If only I had one of these
for the days I take a 2 hour lunch at work...
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