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PSP | Action | Infected

Boxart for Infected
Infected 93 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.0
  • SOUND: 4.0
  • CONTROL: 3.5
  • FUN FACTOR 3.5
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.5
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.6

Hands-On: Infected

Hands-On by Rice Burner | 09/09/2005 | 14:28:45 PM PST

Planet Moon Studios (developers of quirky hit titles such as Armed and Dangerous, and Giants Citizen Kabuto) are adding their unique flavoring to the PSP mix with Infected.

Considering that the PSP has been out since March there seems to be a considerable lack of shooters out on the market for Sony's handheld UMD powerhouse. Planet Moon Studios (developers of quirky hit titles such as Armed and Dangerous, and Giants Citizen Kabuto) are adding their unique flavoring to the PSP mix with Infected.

Infected will be a FPS set in a viral infected New York City-the plot seems very reminiscent to the film 28 Days Later. Players will assume the role of rookie NYPD cop Stevens who was one of the first citizens infected by the mysterious virus which turns people into uncontrollable blood thirsty killers. Fortunately for Stevens, he discovers that he's mysteriously immune to the viral outbreak, and his own blood can actually kill the diseased. Armed with an arsenal of traditional weapons in one hand, and a viral gun (a water gun hooked up to his veins which squirts his own blood) in the other, Stevens sets out to single-handedly purge the Big Apple of the infected.

Single player campaign mode will sport the traditional third person view point, and take place among levels that are separated by quadrants. Initially, there will be only a few infected on the entire level. The player must hunt the infected down before they can come into contact with ordinary citizens otherwise the infection will spread across the game area. If the number of infected goes beyond the quadrants threshold the area will be lost and the infected in that area will go crazy and become more aggressive.

While the single player campaign mode looks solid, the multiplayer wi-fi mode is where the game engine really shines. Multiplayer mode will support 4 player wi-fi and allow players to select from multiple modes and games. However, the coolest aspect of multiplayer mode is that if you defeat your opponent in a match you can infect their player profiles with your avatar-the victorious player's avatar will replace all the infected sprite skins in single player mode. The only way to get rid of the player profile infection is to defeat another person in multiplayer, pass the infection on to someone else, or to go through the entire single player campaign mode again.

Our hands-on time featured combo attacks and pretty solid game mechanics-you have to weaken the infected with traditional attacks before spraying your blood on them with the viral gun to kill them. The AI looked solid, and the control scheme offered a 180 turn with the shoulder button to compensate for the lack of a second toggle stick.

Infected is still very early in development, but what we saw looked extremely promising and the ability to infect other player profiles is an intriguing prospect. Look for Infected to be released sometime this winter.


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