Interstellar Marines: Alpha Access Impressions

10 years in development, Zero Point Software’s Interstellar Marines claims to be an homage to old-school tactical shooters. Is it sticking to these ideals, or is it falling into the same cookie cutter formula of the current generation of FPS games?

First off, a bit of background and information about the game. Interstellar Marines began life in 2005 and is defined (by Zeropoint Software) as a AAA Indie title. Essentially this boils down to providing the same high quality of a AAA title, but without the creative stifling of an overbearing production company. So far this approach seems to be working well, as everything seen has been of the highest quality. Zero Point have been extremely open regarding the various stages of development, and it’s fantastic to see the level of excitement the dev’s clearly have for each step of the project. They have released some beautiful concept art and 3D renders, below are just a few of them!

Zeropoint Software have also made a number of playable demo’s available for free on their website (www.interstellarmarines.com). These demos show off the Unity Engine beautifully, with 4 having been made available so far:

The Vault: An in game showroom showing a squad of Interstellar Marines under attack by the rather awesome “carcharodon polemos”… essentially great white sharks with legs. Yes, freaking LAND SHARKS. Luckily the Marines have the support of a Titan Walker, a bipedal heavily armed/armoured walker unit which looks sleek and deadly and is something I can’t wait to jump into!  The Vault is beautifully detailed and gives you a chance to fully explore the 3D tableau.

Bullseye: A training range simulation in which you can progress through the various stages of taking down cutouts of bad guys while not taking out the poor little hostages. Standard fare, but runs beautifully in your browser using the Unity plugin. You will get a good chance to test fire a large number of the 27 customizable weapons that are going to be available at launch.

Running Man: Beat back waves of different training androids in this demo, which gives you full movement of your character and lets you really get a feel for how combat in IM will play out. This is currently the best option for experiencing the game. You’ll get a good feel for the movement and playstyle of the SP/CO-OP campaigns.

Deadlock: Was the last demo to be released, but was discontinued after IM was successfully Green-lit on Steam. It was the precursor to the current version available on Steam (which I will go into more details on below!)

So where are things currently? The Steam version currently consists of the Team Domination multiplayer game mode in which you must capture and hold 7 checkpoints around the map, whilst incapacitating enemies. In addition there are non-populated versions of each of the maps for you to explore and learn, so you can pwn your friends when they get it!  Obviously the game is in Alpha, so it’s not perfect as yet, and the multiplayer servers can be a bit sparsely populated. But when you get a game with decent sized squads it really opens your eyes to how good IM could be at full release.

There is currently a survival style game mode against Combat Training Bots, aptly named Get Killed By Bots, which can be accessed through an executable in the Steam installation folder (<installationdrive>:Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonInterstellar MarinesBonusGet Killed By BotsInterstellarMarines.exe). It’s in an arena that was designed for testing the bot’s AI, so nothing majorly exciting. Just a maze type setup and a lot of angry bots. Have fun mowing them down for as long as you can!

The multiplayer mode currently takes place in a training facility deep underground, complete with nonlethal shock rounds and changing environments. Man-made structures rise and fall, creating new pathways or blocking areas off. The lighting can go from broad daylight to the pitch black of night in a matter of seconds. Each change brings a new challenge to the table, and as per the oft repeated misquote of Charles Darwin, it will be the most adaptable who survive.
The maps themselves are beautiful and extremely well designed. With the background of being a training ground they can be made to contain a variety of environments without calling into question the realism of the game. In fact it adds to it, as they are reminiscent of the “killhouse” training facilities that are extensively used by special forces to practice assaulting a compound/building. As this blends interior and exterior combat it allows long range firefights to evolve into intense close quarters battles in the blink of an eye.

At present there are only two guns available, the Assault Rifle 03 and the CE-6 Sub Machine Gun (names may change). The AR-03 is a medium to long range semi automatic rifle with a 20 round magazine. It packs a serious punch and has become my weapon of choice, despite it’s relatively slow rate of fire. The CE-6 is, as you can imagine, more suited to CQB and has a much higher rate of fire and a 40 round magazine. It CHEWS through people at close range, but lacks the stopping power of the AR-03. It will be very interesting to see how these guns evolve, and which new ones are introduced as the Alpha goes on.

All in all Interstellar Marines is shaping up to be a beautifully put together game with a lot to recommend it. It’s fantastic to see the slower paced tactical approach to multiplayer winning out over the run’n’gun style. Fans of Counterstrike keep an eye on this one, because it’s going to be right up your alley!

Interstellar Marines is currently available for Alpha Access on Steam for $14.99 (or $39.99 for the Spearhead Edition with bonus items). There are set to be several campaigns released as they are created which will be made available to existing owners for no additional charge. The first of these campaigns is set to drop around the end of 2014.