Developer: Dez
Publisher: The Lo-Fi Apocalypse, Inc
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
OBEY – Preview
If you’re a fan of clever multiplayer games such as Trouble in Terrorist Town, Town of Salem and Spy Party, where you must use your charm and wit to befriend and manipulate other players into doing what you want, then you will want to pay close attention to this next early-access title. OBEY takes a unique spin on this burgeoning genre, as it challenges you take control of a giant mech and use the threat of its vast array of weapons to control and command other players, each of whom seeks to usurp you and take control of the robot for himself.
As an entirely multiplayer game there is no set storyline, the only story is the one you make for yourself each game. And believe me, it’s going to be an epic tale of wit, betrayal and charm each and every time.
The graphics are surprisingly excellent for such a little indie title. The bunnies that each player controls are cute and hilarious, and the explosions, fire and general destruction wreaked by the robot are very well done.You can easily believe you’re in a warzone as you run through bullets and shrapnel as fast as your little bunny feet will carry you, shrieking in terror. The robot itself looks absolutely incredible, albeit menacing, and other aspects such as the drop ship and map features are just as impressive.
The music isn’t anything amazing but is more than adequate and definitely does the job. It is the sound effects that really shine and can sell the terror you feel as you’re running for your life among a hail of bullets and explosions.
OBEY is an entirely multiplayer online game, but not in the way that you would expect. This is no online-only shooter, nor is it another Moba title, this is something different entirely. OBEY is a game where you must talk to other players and by any means possible, convince them to do your bidding.
All players start as cute little bunny rabbits on a map that is dominated by a gigantic robot mech. All the bunnies are unarmed but can carry and use various items. The first player to enter the front door at the base of the robot then takes full control of it and its arsenal of weapons. So if you’re the kind of player that likes explosions, you’ll enjoy playing with the machine-guns, flamethrowers and rocket launchers now at your disposal.
However things are not quite that easy, you need a steady supply of ammo and items to survive and all it takes is another bunny to walk in the front door and you get ejected out of your precious death machine for them to take control. You control a spotlight to peer into the darkness and keep an eye on your cute little subjects, but it’s all to easy to miss a lone bunny sneaking up to your door.
You can spend your money to order supplies such as ammo, items or uranium (which can be used to make you quite a bit of money). A drop ship will deposit your order on the ground and you must convince your fellow players to pick them up and deposit them into your inventory for you. You can do this by threats of violence, paying them money, or most likely, a mixture of both. You can also buy lots of fun, defensive items to help you stay in power, such as laser fences, deadly mines, and exploding collars to keep tabs on your fluffy little minions, but again you must convince your fellow players to set up all of your defenses for you. A feat that isn’t so easy when they’re all secretly working against you.
There are also plenty of little ways for the other bunnies to really mess with you. They can go and temporarily turn off the generator on the map that generates your money, or even clog up the exhaust vent with items so that it stops working. They can overload and crash your drop-ship, or even penalize you by entering the fried corpses of dead bunnies into your inventory instead of items.
So far you could be forgiven for mistaking OBEY as a strange kind of “king of the hill” game, but the truly exciting thing about this title is that you don’t have to take control of the robot at all in order to win. In fact by playing cleverly, you can win without ever entering the robot at all. To win the game you must be the first to reach $10,000 in your little bunny bank account. All players slowly earn cash over time, but whoever controls the robot gets 10x the amount and normally uses some of it to buy items and pay the bunnies.
There are tons of different strategies and friendships to abuse in order to win. You could be a snitch, helping the robot against everyone and getting paid handsomely for the trouble. You could hide, convince the robot to spend all his money on supplies and then swoop in to steal control at the crucial moment. You could even play honest and ferry the most items for the robot, getting paid modestly for each and every item delivered until you slip into the lead.
There are a variety of different maps to experiment with, as well as bots to practice with when you’re still trying to get the hang of things. The only real problem we encountered was how quiet the servers are. If you’re not playing at peak times there can be literally no other players on, not even one, and as we all know, playing with bots is never as fun or satisfying as the real thing.
Conclusion
OBEY is a great concept and an incredible game that changes each and every time that you play it. Sometimes you will play with trigger happy tyrants, other times with a nice robot who seems to want what’s best for all the bunnies, so you can never really tell what you’re going to get. There are more maps and items being added constantly and honestly it looks like it’s only going to get better.
The only down side, and unfortunately it’s a big one, is the total ghost town status of the servers. If you’re unlucky you can log on for a whole hour at weekend and not see a single other player in a game. So although trying this title is definitely recommended, you might want to grab the (heavily discounted) 4 pack and share it out with some friends so that you’ll never be short of people to play against.
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