Scourge: Outbreak (PC) Review

By Javier Jimenez 13.04.2014

Review for Scourge: Outbreak on PC

Some background might be helpful in understanding Scourge: Outbreak. Originally released on Xbox 360 Arcade, Scourge: Outbreak was almost universally panned by critics. Everything from the gunplay to the story, art style to its tired shooting tropes was met with the most acidic commentary. Fast forward a year and Scourge: Outbreak's developer has promised to breathe new life into its baby with a re-release on Steam. Has it succeeded?

Well, sort of…maybe a little. Tragnarion has put some work into the title. The gunplay is a little tighter than it once was, for instance. Recoil is a bit less dramatic, leading to slightly more precise aiming. Of course, that may also be due to the more accurate mouse controls and not so much on the part of the team's effort.

Developers are also active in the game's Steam community, with patches released semi-regularly. Individual developers have even gone as far as engaging in multiplayer sessions with fans and posting about it afterwards. That's something most big games can't boast.

Therefore, perhaps it's a case of 'not really' succeeding, because all of the problems that plagued the game originally are still there. Characters are loathsome stereotypes, as before. For instance, the female character, Amp, features a rear end a horse would be proud of, and sports an over-the-pants G-string that rides so far up her backside it's a wonder she can aim straight. Then there's the extraordinarily bland, square-jawed, crew-cutted leader who has the personality of a slug.

Screenshot for Scourge: Outbreak on PC

Detestable and boring characters wouldn't be much of a problem if there were other qualities to focus on. Sadly, Scourge: Outbreak fails to provide almost any compelling features. Gunplay is its most competent mechanic, and that in itself is only painfully average in comparison to the rest of the industry. Cover mechanics are cludgy but passable, weapons are remarkably unremarkable - from a shotgun to rifles.

The game does attempt uniqueness with its "Abrosia Suits" and squad AI, however. The player suits feature a shield and shockwave power. Unfortunately, though, these are abilities completely uninteresting in actual gameplay, and inferior to just aiming and shooting at things. Also, squad AI is much like the rest of the game's Artificial Intelligence: almost always terrible. Characters will run around in circles, charge into walls, stand in corners, and generally be useless.

On top of this, the story will likely not be of any interest to pretty much anyone. 'Trite,' 'cliché,' and 'boring' are all words that would accurately describe what is going on in Scourge: Outbreak's tale of running through corridors and shooting endless waves of enemies. Speaking of shooting endless waves of enemies, the game also does a poor job of indicating when the player must stand and defeat a just a limited number of enemies and when they have to fight through endless waves to reach an objective point.

Screenshot for Scourge: Outbreak on PC

Cubed3 Rating

3/10
Rated 3 out of 10

Bad

Scourge: Outbreak does just about everything poorly. Its models and textures are rough, even by "indie" standards. Game design is only average at the best of times, and frustratingly poor at others. The game is also plagued by technical glitches and deficiencies, from hard crashes to the desktop when attempting to load a new level, to failing to provide keyboard/mouse specific button prompts (yes, the game will always prompt to use the "A" button or the "right trigger", even when using keyboard/mouse controls).

Even so, with basically competent gunplay, the multiplayer mode should be a bargain at its low price. That is it should be, but it isn't. See, given the game's poor reputation, the online community is non-existent. For this review, an attempt was made to play ANY multiplayer mode at 2pm on a Saturday. The reviewer waited... and waited... and waited... until the game decided it had waited long enough and started a one player deathmatch.

Conclusion? Scourge: Outbreak is recommended only to a group of friends who absolutely have to have a new third-person cover-based shooter, no matter the quality, and are able to setup matches together.

Developer

Tragnarion

Publisher

TransGaming

Genre

Action

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  3/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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