Review: Damnation

To be fair Damnation on PlayStation 3 does start well. Through an attractive movie clip we're introduced to the game's action, weaponry and general destruction. It whets the appetite and will have you reaching for the controller in earnest. Unfortunately everything goes downhill very quickly from this point on. Still, nice intro. Dreadful game.

Damnation opens in familiar style - teaching you how to make best use of the controls and your surrounding environment. You're also introduced to the two sidekicks who follow you through most of the game.

It wasn't long before I had the feeling of déjà vu. Damnation sure feels like a Tomb Raider, I thought, but the mid-period rubbish ones, not the better new adventures.

Turn left at the giant boulder

Now that's not the first thing in the world. We like the odd puzzle or two, it breaks up the monotony of blowing the crap out of stuff. And here in Damnation the puzzle elements are actually the title's most well thought out and developer aspect.

Even ignoring the enemy for the moment the actual level design often poses a challenge. Sometimes you're faced with a straightforward blast from A to B, other times you'll have to use that lump on top of your shoulders.

However Damnation is more than these challenging environments. And that's a shame. A stronger focus on puzzle elements, acrobatics and scaling heights would have been very welcome. But just as many Tomb Raider games have been ruined by combat so has Damnation.

If Damnation was to win an award the most likely would be for the most stupid AI ever conceived. The AI isn't just stupid, it's also wifely inconsistent. There are many occasions when restarting from a checkpoints where AI behaviour seems to have changed completely.

A case of temporary blindness

Thankfully we didn't pay any money to play Damnation so we found plenty of amusement in the AI behaviour. You'll wander into a room, sometimes straight in the enemy's line of site and nothing happens. No movement, no reaction.

At one point I was shooting an enemy in the back and the AI completely failed to react. Was he paralysed with fear? Each shot saw the fellow suffer from a spasm but no attempt to turn around or fight back. It made me feel rather mean for finishing the hapless imbecile off.

Damnation feels like a game that hasn't been thoroughly tested. There are problems all over the shop, with bugs, glitches and other issues which drag the game down.

Many was the time I ran into such glitches. Examples include holding onto floorboards rather than ledges and floating up the side of walls and cliffs. The most entertaining - well annoying - glitch has to be concerning the different partner characters that join you throughout the game.

How do you use the teleporter?

These partner characters are intended to lead you to your destination or at the very least follow you. However on many occasions they remain in place at a checkpoint, only moving to explore the small area you find yourself in. But after spending time and effort getting to the next checkpoint, lo and behold, they are there waiting for you.

Is Damnation haunted by the ghost of Daikatana? [Damnation actually sits next to Daikatana in our game database, perhaps there has been some osmosis? - Ed.]

At other times the characters disappear before your very eyes to respawn elsewhere. Not good, not good at all. To make matters worse the combat is rather ropey too. When a partner is down and injured you'll see an on screen notification in a not too dissimilar fashion to Gears of War. Unlike Gears you won't be given any navigation information to help you find the partner. Until you receive the spirit view perk you'll find yourself wandering around aimlessly trying to find your injured buddy.

Broken Gears

The promotion of the game has hinted at a game not too different to Gears of War which is rather unfair to the Epic Games title. Damnation doesn't feature a cover system any more complex than you positioning your avatar behind an object and popping out to fire at nearby enemies.

To make matters worse the aiming system seems to be totally out. The crosshair turns red when you have an enemy in your sight. So far so good. Unfortunately you'll find that shoot into walls while crouching, despite the red crosshair appearing, is a regular occurrence.

Frankly Damnation is a real mess. There seem to be many problems that were not found by testing or just ignored. The acting is poor, the AI is poor, the combat is poor. There's nothing here that implies the game has any potential. In my mind it's a candidate for worst game of the year and in we're only in June.