I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of robots and A.I., just the idea and imagery of a robot or android with it’s own intelligence adapting and learning enhancements, is an incredible concept. Didn’t help when movies like Terminator and Robocop came out and threw hardcore violence into the mix. Still, one can dream of the day. Though reality of these robots may be a way off, in virtual gaming form, we are now presented with a similar concept with that of the game: Disintegration!

GAMEPLAY

Disintegration offers up the ideology that humanity has embraced the concept of androids, by placing human brains inside robots. You play as Romer Shoal, one of the first to be ‘integrated’ (brain in robot). You are now fighting against the evil company, Rayonne (aka Red Eyes), who are now forcing people to undertake integration, rather than volunteer.

Your main movement in-game comes via a Gravcycle, which is armed to the teeth with all sorts of weapons, gadgets and rockets (oh my!). Upon certain missions, you’ll be offered up the options of being supported by up to four ground units. The game takes on an RTS style vibe here, as not only will you fly around and shoot, but you also now have to command your ground units to help undertake any main and secondary tasks. The ground units differ in look and special ability: some have grenades, whilst others slow down time.

After going through the Tutorial mode and learning the fundamentals, it was time to hit the hypothetical Gravcycle boost and blast into Campaign mode. Historically, campaign modes on FPS games are very run of the mill: Objective here, shoot this item or person with this weapon and, last but not least, survive. In a weird turn of events, Disintegration’s Campaign mode is its unappealing feature. After about 4 or so missions, you tend to feel a very ‘rinse-and-repeat’ style approach to the upcoming ‘story mission’. Not to mention the timing of these missions. I’m no pro shooter here, but some of these missions genuinely feel endless. I clocked one in at 30mins! There was no hidden objective or random enemy hiding, it quite literally went that long. For one mission, it’s just very draining overall.

MULTIPLAYER

On the other hand, Multiplayer mode is a blast! There’s only a handful of options and modes available right now, but many more could be implemented in future. ‘Collector’ mode is your standard basic deathmatch race to 100 points, which is admittedly quite addictive.

‘Zone Control’ mode, similar to that of King of the Hill style matches of shooter games from the past. Last, ‘Retrieval’ mode, where you find and retrieve bomb cores, returning them to a drop point, similar to that of Capture the Flag.

CONTROLS

For as intricate as the game presents itself to be, the controls for the game were pretty easy to adapt to. The tutorial mode does a great job introducing all the mechanics in a simple, informative way that allows you to adjust your playstyle accordingly. Like most shooters, point and click is your go to button combo for shooting, and controlling your allies is a simple key press away. Admittedly, the first time you get the option of controlling your teammates, you tend to forget that you and your flying hovercraft of doom can still shoot too!

GRAPHICS + SOUND

If The Matrix, iRobot and Minority Report movies all combined and turned into a game, then this is it! The level design is absolutely amazing, with a complete variation of locations and obstacles. Upon reading that you’d think ‘well yes, duh!’, but as history has shown, sometimes with these futuristic games, the level designs tend to feel copy and paste towards the end. I’m a stickler for the devil in the detail, and Disintegration does a great job of making all the ins and outs of both the robots and character designs almost lifelike in the way they react and move, that you’d swear you’d forget you were playing a game — it’s that immersive!

The sound is second to none. Immersive, engaging battle sounds. Soundtrack doesn’t drown you out and leave you feeling deaf after a battle. It complements the scene, adjusts its volume when needed (usually during dialogue related scenes / situations).

CONCLUSION

Disintegration is a great take on a futuristic FPS/RTS hybrid. Though, the story mode may leave you feeling drained, the Multiplayer is a stand out experience to play through!

Written by: Brutaleo