kill.switch Review

Written by: Tracy Bosworth Posted: 7th January 2008

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kill.switch PC review.

kill.switch Details:

	Third Person Shooter
	PC
	Bitmap Brothers
	Hp Interactive

Out Now

If you’re sick of playing the good guy, out to bring about world peace then the storyline for kill.Switch may just appeal to you. Basically the world is on the brink of global conflict and rather than trying to prevent it, you take control of a super soldier, via a neural link intent on bringing the world to war.

The game itself is relatively simple, you must run through numerous areas ducking for cover, killing various enemies and making it to the end in one piece. There are objectives to complete but all involve the same sort of scenario that is pressing a specific button, pulling a switch or planting something at the end of each area.

Saying that though the game itself is quite good, featuring fast paced action that requires the player to constantly dive for cover behind whatever is available at the time. Various stealth moves are available such as hugging walls and crouching behind various objects but none of it feels particularly stealthy, as it’s all so fast moving and the enemies know where you are anyway, it’s basically just a case of looking for a safe place to shoot from.

The shooting itself is obviously the main part of the game, there are a number of weapons available throughout including various machine guns, sniper rifles, shotguns and assault rifles as well as a good selection of grenades for taking out large numbers of enemies at once. Targeting is easy enough thanks to the games precise cursor movements, there is also the option of shooting ‘blindly’ from behind cover although accuracy is poor but at least you can’t get shot.

Enemy AI contributes to the ease of Kill.Switch allowing the average player to complete the game within 7 or 8 hours. Enemies will take cover behind various objects, but it all seems very robotic and automatic! They do bob up and down to shoot at you every few seconds leaving themselves very much open to fire, at one point I threw a grenade in the direction of an enemy, and after it landed he dived for cover before it blew up, which impressed me a little bit but apart from that, you will feel like you are up against robots, and not very smart ones at that.

On the whole Kill.Switch looks pretty good with varying environments which actually look the part. Problems are present however in the character’s animation which looks a bit too robotic and clumsy. There were a few good touches though such as the way the enemies hobble in agony when you shoot them in the leg, and the way that soldiers frantically thrash around in mid air when they get caught up in a grenade attack.

The games audio manages to serve its purpose with realistic weapon sounds and explosions but the rest is pretty much forgettable with gun shots and footsteps happening when they shouldn’t and a completely uninspiring soundtrack that doesn’t seem very fitting with this type of game.

When it comes down to it, Kill.Switch is a fairly average game with some good and bad points. The action is great but without any decent story involvement to back it up it seems very ‘empty’ with linear levels and objectives and slightly repetitive gameplay. If you’re a fan of the genre this game may serve to entertain you for a while and you may even go back to it now and again, and although there’s nothing special here, at its super budget price you could do a lot worse.