Preview: THEY
A first-person mystery, or a mysterious first-person shooter? You decide.
Plasma bullets work best against the Phantoms, while energy bullets are bettter-suited for the robots. In some cases, it's easier to just kill off the crafty Phantoms first.
As I peer around the corner of a burned-out building, I see a red light swoop over me. A Spybot has scanned my location. I fire off a quick burst of shots, but the Spybot is long gone, and I know it's going to blow my cover. Looking for a way off the main street, I shoot down a decayed door and enter an empty room. I head out back into a dark alley and suddenly find myself confronted by half a dozen robots. Some are on the street; some are crawling across the buildings surrounding the courtyard. Eventually, I gun down the last drone, but as I kill it, the flash of my gun muzzle illuminates a red ghost-like figure. It's a Phantom.
Who are THEY?
Developer Metropolis Software calls THEY a "mystery" first-person shooter, which seems appropriate right from the get-go. When you start off, you're only equipped with the following knowledge: you're a British Army squadron fighter living in 2012, fighting an army of robots that has tried to wipe out your unit (along with the rest of humanity). You don't know where the robots came from, and as you play through THEY, the game throws you more questions than answers. Children taunt you in dream-like cutscenes, monsters lurk behind corners only to disappear when you chase them, and the world looks nothing like the 2012 we expect.
This is my rifle, this is my gun.
Unlike most first-person shooters, THEY centers its combat around the idea of fewer guns, more customization and upgrades. Metropolis Software calls it the "Pimp My Weapon" system, which is said to be inspired by car garages in racing games. As you play through THEY, you'll find various parts and upgrades that can be applied to your trusty gun: stabilizers for recoil dampening, generators for increased damage, bigger batteries, and so on. You can also give your gun a custom paint job, which makes it that much more unique. THEY's multiplayer mode especially focuses on this, since your friends will most likely be sporting guns with everything from polka dots to pictures of their pets.
There also won't be ammo drops or 20 extra guns to found in the game -- you'll be sticking with only a handful of weapons, but you'll be able to configure them in various ways. With over 250 parts to modify your gun with, you could be a rocket-blasting powerhouse or an accurate sniper. It's all up to you and your play style.
UPDATE: A studio representative for THEY clarified to GamePro that the final game will have "10 save slots for weapons," not a mere handful as we described in the paragraph above.
With the "Pimp My Weapon" customization system, you can paint unique and varied patterns, logos, and decals on your gun.
Robots are bad. Phantoms are worse.
While it's never stated that the invading robots army comes from an alien planet, nothing looks more alien than the stars of THEY, the Phantoms. Where they came from is unknown (for now), but the mysterious Phantoms are a real pain in the neck to kill. They crawl on ceilings, jump around cover like psychotic jackrabbits, and generally make life difficult. Even worse, they are able to possess the robots and control them. Alone, the robots have very basic walk-and-shoot A.I. But when controlled by a Phantom, they can suddenly duck-and-cover, chase you around objects, and outmaneuver you at every turn.
The mystery of THEY will have to wait for now-- the developers say the game is about 25 to 30 percent done-- but it should be hitting all PS3, Xbox 360 and PC late 2009. We'll be waiting.
Like Half Life 2's Man Hacks, the Spybots will alert other drones to your location if you don't shoot them down.
Every upgrade you slap on your gun will consume CPU, so choose wisely. Do you want power-packed shots or better aim?
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