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Gameplay

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When I first laid eyes on Gene Rain I thought: “great, it’s a Gears of War and Call of Duty mash-up” (my two favorite games). In hindsight, this is a very hard benchmark for me to set and the bar is high to beat, it’s a bit like comparing a Harley Davidson to a push bike; both may look great but one is a powerhouse and the other one isn’t. Now that wasn’t a criticism, it’s just a bit of advice to look at Gene Rain as a completely unique and different FPS.

My first impressions of the game were great, the graphics are well put together and everything seems to run smoothly. Where you begin to see Gene Rain’s flaws are the cutscenes; although they look good, the same can’t be said from the dialogue, you get a robotic feel from it and all feels a bit awkward and clunky.

Getting into the game, you are treated to a breathtaking cutscene giving you a decent intro to the game, the action is there from the off as you are thrown in at the deep end straight into a firefight. The controls are straightforward enough, basically the same as any FPS, you quickly get used to the controls and there are helpful onscreen hints that will help you with what each button does if you need this. The firefight has a Gears / Halo feel to it as you have a cover and shoot system giving you the ideal advantage to take down the enemy.

Now the tricky part of Gene Rain is keeping up with the story as it does tend to bounce around and the cutscenes do make you want to skip as fast as you can. The story is a play out of Emily’s diary, a kind of look back if you will, before Gene Rain took place, four different levels see you play out the four major events in Emily’s diary and past life; this also makes you play as the different characters including Emily, and my favorite characters have to be the “Gears” style soldiers.

The further you get into the game for me is where the gameplay improves as you come across bigger and more dangerous foes and mechs to defeat, now you need to either be careful with your ammo or make a mental note of where the ammo crates are as it gets frustrating when you are battling the bigger enemies and then you need to run for cover as your ammo runs out. The AI has a self learning system built in so it makes for a lot better and more balanced fight and also gives the player a better experience. Overall I can definitely see what Deeli Network is trying to do and given the backing and support it will get there and in future could turn into a good franchise but at the moment, we have a game that is good but is in need of a few tweaks here and there. The major letdown for me with this game is the lack of multiplayer for an FPS like Gene Rain, in my opinion, crying out for a Gears style 5v5 Deathmatch or similar and for me, it wouldn’t really matter how strong the campaign is as if the multiplayer works, you would have a cracker of a game. Maybe in Gene Rain 2… we shall see.

 

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Graphics and Sound

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The graphics of Gene Rain are good really good, I don’t think anyone could fault them, and it is clear to see where the inspiration has come from; the levels and scenery are very well planned out and the characters look good, even up close, the only downside, in my opinion, is the sound. The music and sound effects are good, it’s the voice acting which isn’t and seems to let it all down slightly. It all sounds as if a robot is reading from a sheet and doesn’t flow for me at all but it is something that maybe on a later date, if they do produce a sequel (which I sincerely hope they do), can maybe be amended.

 

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Summary

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To summarise then, Gene Rain has the potential to be a great game and I am excited to see where they can go next with this, it’s difficult to remember that this is an indie game and not a release from the usual big FPS players so big credit to Deeli for that. The groundwork and basics are there, the graphics and overall gameplay and experience are good, they just need to sort out the cutscenes and voice acting and then you will have a great game on your hands. The omission of multiplayer however is a criminal decision and would totally bring a whole different dimension to the game. I do recommend to buy the game but like I said earlier, it’s best not to compare to the bigger FPS games as you will be disappointed, you need to see the game as an entirely new concept and you will find an overall good game.