Review - Deadfall Adventures

Deadfall Adventures is a first person shooter, action and adventure game taking you around the globe. Based of the novels by H. R. Haggard, play as James Lee Quatermain, the great grandson of famous adventurer Allan Quatermain, as you set out to find lost treasure and battle un-dead mummies.

Visual Style

Built using the Unreal Engine 3, the games visuals are a highlight of the game and throughout each level remain impressive. There are four environments you travel through in you globe trotting adventure, and each one provides a nice contrast to those that came before it. Although once you’re inside the temples the walls, structures, browns and greys can get a bit reused, it was never enough to make me board of the environments. Overall the visuals are put to good use for some awesome locations.

Gameplay

Deadfall does not do anything new with its gameplay, but neither does it get anything wrong.
It’s your traditional first person shooter when facing of against humans, with an extra mechanic being added when facing mummies, using a flashlight to weaken them before finishing them of with bullets. You do stubble across the occasional trap you can activate to your advantage, and I found myself using these more and more as the game progressed. Although theirs nothing to differentiate it from other shooters, combat felt solid through out the game, the only problems encounter being less than obvious solutions to some of the boss battles.
Mind you the combat only forms half the game play, the other health consisting of puzzle solving and treasure hunting. Once again the game does nothing new here, but does not disappointed either. They help break up the moments of gunplay, and for the most part provide fun challenges with a diversity of puzzles to tackle.
Whilst the puzzles never remained to difficult, they were not overly easy, and if you need a little extra help on the on them, you can always flick to Quatermain’s notebook, giving you hints, which many times I found useful without it being to obvious in just giving you the answers.
Unfortunately, whilst for the vast amount of the puzzles are great, their were a few that provided utterly frustrating, without a clear answer, or even hints as to what your supposed to do, being given.
Throughout the game, exploration is also encouraged with the rewards being treasures that can be used for upgrades, such as to increase health or reloading speed for example, faster reloading being extra useful considering how slow the revolvers, which you always carry and have infinite ammunition, reload. Finding these treasures offers a nice little diversion from the main game play, without distracting you to much from the path you should be following.

Multiplayer

Deadfall: Adventures multiplayer consists of six modes that can be played across seven maps. The modes available are all based of familiar game types, such as traditional team death match and treasure hunt mode, which involves collecting treasure of your fallen enemies. You can set traps within the maps, and I imagine the competent game play mechanics would make for a great time, sadly though I can not form a proper opinion on the multiplayer due to a lack of players when searching for games.
Survival mode is also included in the game. You have a choice of five maps to play on in an attempt to survive against waves of enemies. Although it’s not made clear how long you have till a round ends, when it does you get the chance to grab new weapons. Using the game play mechanics of the game, with traps chucked onto the maps, it makes for an enjoyable mode, but one that may get repetitive fairly quickly.
There is also a range of skins for you to choose from, if you have a particular preference towards a character from the game.

Immersion

Whilst playing the game I found it as immersive as watching an adventure film. Whilst the world and temples you visit never offer much in the way of lore to explore and to pull you into its world, the game play, both in terms of combat and puzzle solving, are such fun that I never felt of board of the world, and wanted to remain in it right up till the end.

Life Span

The campaign made for a healthy few hours of game play, and I would glad replay when in the mood for a more entertaining, laid back game. Although I have had no luck in finding players for multiplayer, I did find myself getting sucked into and enjoying survival mode.

Conclusion

It’s not got a complex plot full of depth, or revolutionary game play to bring to the first person shooter table; rather it’s just an incredibly fun game. For the hours I sat playing the single player, I felt incredibly entertained by its cheesy, cliché filled plot and mummy blasting moments. I enjoyed exploring and felt satisfied every time I got past a trap and found a treasure. It does not do anything new, but what it does do it does right, and makes for a very enjoyable game.