A LOVE LETTER TO EARLY SPLINTER CELL GAMES
You just entered the warehouse through the vent shaft as you hear voices from outside. They know you’re here. Someone must have tipped them off.
You continue to stay in the shadows. You shoot out lights, flip off circuit breakers and lockpick doors. Y...
You just entered the warehouse through the vent shaft as you hear voices from outside. They know you’re here. Someone must have tipped them off.
You continue to stay in the shadows. You shoot out lights, flip off circuit breakers and lockpick doors. You are a silent assassin.
You distract the guards by throwing bottles or imitating their wives voices. One by one you pick their lights out.
Fuck. You’ve been compromised. You shoot out the next door lock and go in guns-blazing. In an adrenaline filled shootout you eliminate your target and barely manage to escape. Well done!
Enter the world of Intravenous as Steve Robbins - a man set out for revenge after losing his brother to low-life junkies. Delve deep into the criminal world under the guise of darkness or go armed to the teeth, guns-blazing, and padded with armor.
Old-school stealth. Your visibility depends on how well-lit the environment is, and every step you take makes noise.
Teeth-grinding action. Fun stealth gameplay does not exclude fun gunplay. Intravenous is meticulously designed to offer stealth for those looking for it, as well as no-brakes gunplay to those itching for a gunfight.
Reactive AI. Your enemies will do more than just rush straight at you. If they've found a dead body they will alert their friends in hopes of finding you. If they hear you sneaking about, they will investigate. If they see you, they will open fire. If they're unarmed, they will try to find their friends and warn them of you.
Capable enemies. Enemies take cover during gunfights, use flashlights in darkness, and radio in suspicious activity. Any misstep you make will result in your opponents responding appropriately.
Lots of weapons. Multiple weapons, each with their unique handling. Each works best in a specific situation. You're sure to find your personal favorite here.
Choose your loadout. Pick a rifle, a pistol, and a bulletproof vest to be ready for combat, or just a pistol and naught else, to be quick, agile, and silent- ready for improvisation.
Adapt to your surroundings. Shoot lights out, crawl through vent shafts, flip circuit breakers off, throw bottles to distract your foes, lockpick doors to find alternative ways in - or simply shoot the door lock out, and go in guns-blazing.
A gritty story. Steve Robbins lost the single most important person in his life - his brother. With aid from a mysterious person claiming to have suffered a similar fate, he decides it's time to take matters into his own hands after the police turns up empty-handed. Nothing is as clear cut as it seems to be.
Uncapped frames per second. 60hz display? Yep. 144hz? No problem. Enjoy the swift action or edge-of-the-seat stealth on your preferred monitor refresh rate.
As someone already wrote: "What if Hotline Miami was a stealth game. The result is masterpiece"
Exactly that but with one thing added: I liked Hotline Miami controls more.
This is a bit (tiny bit) clunkier game. But that's just my opinion. Try the game first if you think it's exactly like Hotline Miami. Oh yes, one more thing: it's harder than Miami.
Disclaimer: I haven't finished the game.
Intravenous should be right up my alley: I love stealth games like Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell, Hitman and so on, and I thought a pure top-down version would be great. Sadly, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
The story is a weak revenge tale, with morally questionable characters. After the intro I honestly just started skipping, it's not worthwhile in any way.
The gameplay, however, is worse. First, the map design feels messy: buildings are haphazardly thrown around, enemy patrols are impossible to follow since they all move way beyond your current screen, buildings have often bizarre layouts, with tons of windows and other openings just to make things more annoying for you. You rarely ever have a good hiding spot from which to study the situation, so you are always moving. Often, you only have vague objectives and directions, which doesn't help.
The game does a bad job at showing how dark any given spot of the map really is (other than your current one, since you have a "light meter" to tell you how exposed you are). It's also made harder by the fact that you have a cone of view, making it unable to know how dark what's behind you is. This is a huge issue, since:
A) As mentioned above, hiding spots are rare in certain areas;
B) Patrols move fast, so if they do a sudden turn toward you, it can be too late to change position, and you can't even be sure it will hide you;
C) The terrain can be hard to read for obstacles, getting you stuck in the enemy's way;
D) Some of the controls are awkward, so you need to know you are well hidden when starting some actions.
That isn't to say the game is difficult: you have a limited amount of saves per level, but you can do so anywhere, it's just that the gameplay is super stiff this way. The AI is also stupid, prone to overreacting, and generally uninteresting to handle. It's often easier to not engage with it.
There are other issues, but I have hit the 2000 letters mark.
I've sank hours into this game ~accidentally~ which usually tells me how fun a game really is.
I enjoy games like Jydge and Neon Chrome, and this game fits right in.
The level of challenge is high enough to punish you for more than just carelessness, it will punish you for lack of planning and forethought.
I suggest everyone try this game for themselves, especially if you've enjoyed a top-down shooter before.
What I mean by top down magic is the way the game handles and I've played more then 50 hours of this game. I'm currently playing the new game plus mode and that gives it a better sense of progression for the most part that wasn't reakky there before. the story is your standard revenge plot but, the style makes it work.
There is even a decent modding coummunity and the game gets some cool updates as well. Bottom line, if you even have a passing interest in stealth shooters you'll love this game.