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| The Stalin Subway: Red Veil: From Russia... with Blood... |
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The Stalin Subway: Red Veil is brought to us by producer Buka Entertainment, and developed by Orion Games. Both companies are Russian, and no doubt that played a role in bringing this game to fruition. This FPS combines many of the time-tested elements in classic shooters like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor, but is set in the 1950s, after the death of the seemingly immortal Joseph Stalin. You are Lena, wife of the main character in the original game, on a hunt to find your missing husband. Playing as a woman was a nice change of pace, but a bit alarming at first when you take a few hits, followed by a feminine “oof.” There has always been a special place for women in Russian history and literature, most notably the significant presence of women fighters during World War Two, something unseen among the other allied nations.
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Visually, The Stalin Subway: Red Veil is pretty phenomenal looking. The environments draw you in with their gritty atmosphere of the subway area, with steam rising, sunlight glinting off of cracked windows, and the abundance of dust seemingly everywhere. The way the bullets and other materials ricochet and fly about is also impressive, even to the point of fearing for my life. Luckily, I don’t think it is possible to nail yourself from a bullet fragment. Squeamish folks should be warned: when spraying down some Russians with an automatic weapon, things tend to get a little messy; each bullet will leave crimson holes, with a splash of blood. Additionally, the character models are pretty top notch, and resemble those from Half-Life 2, although they do die a little oddly, contorting strangely in not quite rag-doll physics style. Little touches, such as Russian propaganda posters, show that extra attention to detail so crucial for successful games. Sound-wise, the game has a nice ambient feel to it, from the rumbling of the subway trains, to the dripping of water and the roar of a firefight. The material-specific noises from contact are always a nice touch. Whether it be from bullet or grenade, wood has a nice “pfft” sound, while metal has the classic “ping” associated with it. Now expand this list to include TVs, pots, glass, plaster and more - quite a bit of auditory variety.
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As far as gameplay goes, Red Veil is a fairly basic FPS. You have an assortment of weapons, from the early version of the Kalashnikov rifle, to the PPK sub-machine gun, the Makarov pistol, grenades, and Molotov cocktails, just to name a few. In this preview build, you run through some claustrophobic indoor environs and basically search and destroy, blasting away at windows and bad guys alike. I did notice a weird glitch with some of the doors, where you had to hit the use key, but also step back to allow the door to open inward. While nothing major, I hope they don’t have more of this in the final version. The enemy A.I. didn’t seem all that smart either, so hopefully they can improve on that as well. All together, nothing revolutionary here in the gameplay department. There is also multiplayer for the full version, with up to 16 people.
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Overall, The Stalin Subway: Red Veil seems like a fairly intriguing entry in the clogged field of PC First-Person-Shooters. Considering the quality presentation from visuals to sound, and the unique setting of post-WW2 Russia, look for this title to surprise some folks coming up this Fall.
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-Tybo, GameVortex Communications AKA Tyler Whitney |
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