Developer: Flow Fire Games
Publisher: Flow Fire Games
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Synthetik: Legion Rising – Review
Nowadays building a game from scratch isn’t impossible for young developers. Although Flow Fire Games didn’t have the easiest path to develop their first game. Because of the overwhelming competition in 2016, Flow Fire Games’ Kickstarter project was canceled. After two years the developer could finally release their game thanks to a dedicated community. With Synthetik we receive another top down shooter that is packed with RPG elements and customization options.
Story
In the world of Synthetik: Legion Rising humanity is at the edge of extinction. Hordes of robots of the Kaida Corporation stand between you, an android filled with a human consciousness, and the destruction of humanity. While completing the levels you will notice that the given information is very limited. The story progress is very limited in telling why you are chosen to defend humanity or why these entities want to eradicate our species. Despite the lack of a real storyline, you will experience that survival is the main idea in Synthetik.
Graphics
Synthetik uses the retro-inspired top-down view angle but still delivers a presentation with modern effects and models. From the start you will be amazed by the beautiful explosions from canisters, debris from the destructible environment that flies around, sparks from fired bullets, blood and broken parts of enemies that are lying around and so on. Also the models of your weaponry, the hostiles and environments are visually very detailed. While moving on in the level ,you get the feeling you are on a real modern battlefield. Everything combined is a nice detailed presentation that pleases the eye. Performance wise the game is solid with some issues here and there. Especially when lots of enemies are on the screen you can encounter some frame drops but it doesn’t affect the gameplay.
Sound
Synthetik is visually attractive but the added soundtrack is from an equivalent quality. Cyberpunk and Metal inspired tracks will pass by while destroying enemies which certainly fires up your spirit. The sound effects of ricocheting bullets from the walls, explosions and ejecting magazines, are definitely on point. That satisfied sound of annihilating your enemies into pieces is nicely done. It adds to the experience of the game
Gameplay
Flow Fire Games delivers with Synthetik an action-packed top-down shooter with great RPG and tactical elements. Although its idea is simple: Survive the level and destroy the bosses ,Synthetik is far more profound than it looks. When starting the game you will be instructed how the gameplay works in a short and tutorial. Then it is up to you to stay alive in a very hostile environment. It becomes clear quite quickly that staying still is not an option in this game. You will notice that your enemies are plentiful with a very aggressive temper. The AI of the enemy is very intelligent with changing attack patterns and different placements. You need to carefully plan, hide and adapt said plans while progressing in the levels.
Shooting, choosing the right weapons and movement are the base elements of the game. You get to choose one of the four classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. You can choose between the guardian, the rogue, the specialist and the commando. The guardian has more HP, where the rogue delivers critical damage, while the other two have their own perks.
Your character has plenty of firearms at his disposal, like shotguns, grenade launchers, machine guns and pistols. Like we said before, aiming and movement are key to survive but Synthetik adds that extra difficulty with the active reload system. When reloading a meter will appear next to your character that will fill up. In that meter you will notice a green area where the rising indicator needs to stop into. If not, your weapon will jam and you are not allowed to fire for a couple of seconds, which can be deadly. Taking in consideration that ammo is scarce and the remaining bullets in your clip will be destroyed when reloading a new clip, adds an extra tactical aspect of the game.
The active reload system will benefit your character, depending which class you are. Also power-ups are present on the battlefield like deployable turrets, launching missiles with your next shot, boosting your health with every killed enemy and so on.
The game can be played in Co-op mode with one extra player to face the overwhelming hordes of enemies.
Conclusion
Synthetik delivers what you’d expect from a fast paced action-packed top-down shooter: challenging gameplay mechanics, destructible environments, ruthless AI and lots of weaponry added with a good soundtrack, strong sound effects, all wrapped into a cleanly detailed package. The minor issues don’t affect the real enjoyable experience of the game.
Synthetik: Legion Rising - Review,
No Comments