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Regular readers will notice that the following article is a slight departure from our usual preview style. For gamescom 2010 we’ve adopted a streamlined structure, allowing us to cover as many games as possible while giving you the important juice and info. In many cases we’ll be running longer, more detailed previews upon our return to the UK.
What is it?
“It’s Gears of War, basically,” as one journalist friend remarked to me. It’s a flash and expensive-looking third person cover-to-cover shooter from Namco and New Jersey studio Saber Interactive. And yes, while it does closely resemble Cliff Bleszinski’s hit series, Inversion has a load of showboating gravity-based weapons and effects – so it’s also a bit like Half Life 2.
What was shown?
This was the first time that Inversion has been shown to the press, following a rather quiet reveal late last year. The plot finds Earth under attack from an invasion force of mysterious, grubby-faced humanoids who attack using giant drilling machines and powerful anti-gravity technology. Our demo followed the two main characters as they fought their way through a ruined city, in the company of several soldiers. Neither hero was named, but apparently the main character is searching for his daughter, following the death of his wife.
From a gameplay perspective the main draw here are the excellent in-game physics, designed in conjunction with Havoc. A recharging weapon on the player’s back allows them to throw out energy balls that cause everything (and everyone) in the vicinity to rise and float in thin air. You can use this ability to pull enemies clean out of cover, or you can use it to pick up objects to throw or use as mobile shielding. Much of the surrounding game world is destructible, with terrain breaking down into itty bitty pieces (enemies will also gib into bloody chunks). Saber says that all of this deformation is dynamic, rather than pre-canned, and adds that enemies will be smart enough to adapt to their surroundings as it changes and erodes.
Other cool elements appearing in the demo included a set piece in which the fighters demolished an entire building using a fixed turret, and one area where the fighting took place across several different gravity fields. Here the hero was lobbing grenades forward, only to see them then curve off sideways into a group of hostiles walking along a nearby wall. It was a bit like Marcus and Dom invading Super Mario Galaxy. Only not.
Our Reaction
Another Gears-alike it may be, but Inversion has the kind of technical oomph that commands your attention. At the end of the day, there are a lot of gamers who like shooting, shiny things and physics effects that make stuff go “boom” with obsessive levels of detail. At first glance, Inversion seems to score highly in all three areas. Even at this pre-alpha stage the game looks like it cost a tonne of cash to produce – and let’s face it, it probably did.
We’ve seen most of the main ideas before in some form or another; if the developers can make something new out of these familiar ingredients – or even just take the established to the next level – then Inversion should be well worth a gander. Saber’s presentation was packed full of little stunts that were highly satisfying to watch – particularly the aforementioned grenade-curving – so hopefully these moments will be twice as gratifying in the final release. Two player co-op comes in both online and offline split-screen flavours and there will also be some form of multiplayer – though nobody is talking about this yet.
Inversion is due for release on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2011.
