Developer: Gingerbred
Developer: Gingerbred, Gingerbred LLC
Platform: PC (Steam)
Tested On: PC (Steam
ExoCorps – Preview
Multiplayer first-person shooters are nothing new, they’ve been around for a very long time and probably will be one of the key selling components of the industry for many years to come. Across their iterations, some have been realistic while others delved more into science fiction. ExoCorps belongs to the latter, featuring high-speed matches in open arenas with futuristic Exo suits and weapons.
There is no story to speak of as far as the game shows, although the Steam page features a short explanation. In the future, an international team has created a new conflict doctrine through innovative technologies. Applicants from peacekeeping services around the world have been recruited to test these new technologies, creating the ExoCorps.
Luckily, the other important parts of the game aren’t as barren as its story, featuring some great graphics and definitely interesting gameplay. That said, as impressive as the graphics may be for an indie game made on an old engine, there is not much variety to speak of. There are no different weapons and only five maps, three of which are almost identical to each other. The same goes for player customization, which does exist but at the moment is little more than a few different colors for the base suit.
Sound doesn’t have much worth mentioning at the moment since the game currently lacks anything besides SFX. Those sounds that are present are well made though, recognizable without becoming overwhelming and not loud enough to become a cacophony when several enemies are close.
The gameplay itself is, as previously mentioned, that of a first-person shooter applied to a multiplayer arena. Players employ a weapon known as a “multi rifle” with the ability to swap between different types of projectiles while flying around in pursuit of opponents. The gist of the gameplay is quite simple, as games of this genre tend to be, but there are several mechanics worth mentioning.
One of these mechanics would be the already mentioned multi rifle and its different projectiles. Each of these has different uses for different situations, being mainly classifiable as short-range, long-range and bombardment weapons. While the first two types are clear enough, the last would be referring to the “Autocannon” weapon, mainly used to wipe out grounded targets while flying overhead. Each of the weapons has strengths and weaknesses, although the current state of the game doesn’t make them as evident as they should be.
It is also worth mentioning how the game makes firing at enemies a risk-reward situation, by utilizing the player’s health as ammo instead of an independent resource. Wildly shooting without paying mind to the amount of power left can lead players to an early death against a few well-placed shots.
Other mechanics at the player’s disposal would be the ability to fire missile barrages and flares to intercept those coming from the enemy. These missiles are mainly utilized to force the enemy to touch the ground when they’re flying, but can be intercepted by said flares. While this would be their main use, they are also quite effective on the ground, allowing players to distract the enemy while firing on them.
As it can be guessed from previous paragraphs, flying is also quite an important mechanic at the player’s disposal. By powering on their jetpacks, players can displace through the air at high speed, gaining an advantage over their opponents. This flight must be carefully controlled though, since an impact against any surface will net the player a good chunk of damage.
Lastly, the mechanic into which all others tie into would be heat and detection, through which players can locate each other in the arena. By using weapons and flying, the detection meter on a player increases, which then makes them locatable through the use of “recon”, showing their position through any terrain. To prevent detection, players will need to juggle the amount of power used at all times and keep their guards up to enable their “cloak” to become harder to locate.
A very important mention for anyone interested in the game would be the current state of its servers: completely empty. Playing against other humans is possible but extremely hard, with nobody to be found at most times of the day. Seeing as ExoCorps is mainly a multiplayer game, single-player only existing against bots, this is a major issue to its playability. While this is most likely due to the game being an Early Access title, it is still important to keep in mind. It is not only applicable to one of the match types either, both deathmatches and flag capture modes are barren, leaving no other option than playing against bots.
Conclusion
In conclusion, ExoCorps is an interesting title with quite good ideas but not much to offer besides a few types of matches against bots. It is definitely too early for the community to be large enough for the game to work, but perhaps with time, it will be. Those interested in the game should look into its discord server and other groups before deciding on its purchase, seeing as most active players can be found there.
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