kill.switch is a full out shooter, and dares not to dip into other genres to mix things up. You have no stats to build like in an RPG, you won’t be driving hoverboats every other mission. You only shoot. And then you shoot some more. And after that - yup - you’ll shoot again. Each mission contains some very straight-forward objectives. You may have to locate a certain person in a level and then get rid of them, or you might have to make it to an extraction point in order to deliver an item. The only constant is that you’ll have to go through wave after wave of enemies who are just as smart as you are in order to accomplish your mission.

Of course, with any shooter, you’re only as good as the battles you’re entrenched in. kill.switch allows no mercy for the weak, and you’ll have to get real good if you even want to survive through the first stage without being killed. The AI for every soldier is simply stunning in this game, especially if you throw the game onto Hard Mode. Unlike a lot of games that claim that soldiers use real-life tactics, you can actually see it happening in kill.switch. You’ll see enemies scamper into position, motion to each other to move in order to flank you, and suppress you with gunfire in order to protect their comrades who are taking their positions. They’ll even help each other out by covering a soldier who’s radioing for reinforcements so you can’t make him an easy kill. It all makes for a very intense battle every time you encounter the enemy, simply because you know you can’t go into a fight guns blazing, hoping to score some lucky kills. This is the type of game that requires you to keep a cool head at all times.

Luckily, you’ll have plenty of time to think things over when you’re pressed up against a wall, avoiding enemy cover. While it seemed kind of simple at first, using available cover will save your hide at least three or four times per stage. We’re not joking, it’s essential to make sure you stay hidden at all times in order to beat this game. In order to accommodate you, kill.switch implements what it calls an Offensive Cover System, which allows you to actually fire at targets without even popping up your head to aim at them. Of course, this comes at a price; you can’t aim accurately at all when firing blindly, as opposed to standing up and exposing yourself, but you remain safe at all times. The key thing to remember in the game is that you’ll have to innovate to get anywhere. Whether it’s flushing out enemies with a flash grenade and then ghosting them with your AK47, or spraying some blind shots and then rushing in for a rifle butt to the head, the game throws you in some very creative situations where equal amounts of brain and brawn are required.

Although some may think the game is too hard for its own good, the difficulty level of the game stays relatively the same for the majority of the game. By the time you’ve hit the midway point you should be accustomed to the controls and how each of your eight weapons feel. Sure, the game continually throws more and more enemies at you, but it does so in a way that it doesn’t feel like you’re going to be overwhelmed. Yes, you’ll have some moments where you’ll think ‘Jesus there’s a lot of them’, but you’ll never feel that a battle is impossible.

If there’s one knock we can give against the game, it’s that the game ends far too fast, and that there’s no incentive to replay the game once you have finished it. Chalk it up to tight deadlines or the developers simply not being able to come up with additional levels, but it’s sad that the game really hits its stride right when it ends. If the game had two or three more levels it would have been the perfect length. It’s also unfortunate that there are no worthwhile extras in the game at all. Even something like an online score ranking or different costumes for your character would’ve been nice, and would have given players the inspiration to continue playing through the game, no matter how short it is.

The camera system can also get wonky at times, especially when you’re up against a wall in a firefight. At times it can be very hard to actually aim at anything, while other times you’ll have no problem. It would have been okay if the camera acted one way or the other consistently, but a lot of times it seems to happen only in specific situations, which can lead to big time frustration.

The game is very solid when it comes to graphics, although you wouldn’t get that impression from the first couple of levels, which can be flat out boring. Once you get deeper into the game, some of the nice little touches really stand out, especially the lighting in one particular level when you get to do some fighting underground, as well as on an oil tanker. Other than the subtle touches, the game’s visuals hold up well. They aren’t amazing, and seem basic in design, but everything is solid and the framerate doesn’t drop at all from what we’ve seen, and that’s all that counts in a game like this.

kill.switch is a very surprising title, although it takes cues from several Namco games, namely Time Crisis and Dead to Rights. By combining some of the best elements of those games, Namco was able to create a title that creates a unique experience that you’re not going to find anywhere else. This is the sleeper hit personified, and whether you pick this game up at full price or in the bargain bin next year for $20, I guarantee that you’re going to be very surprised at how well this game is put together.

kill.switch trailer (26mb, mpeg)

· · · Reno