Review // Leviathan Crossfire : Revelation

Hey Internet!

Its time for another review. This time the Fpscreator title "Leviathan Crossfire - Revelation".

Revelation is actually a Alpha-Demo version of the game "Leviathan Crossfire" currently under development by DHK Games which you might now for the Indie title "Xarelok" which was in development for a long timespan but unfortunately got discontinued.

So lets look into this Alpha...promotional....techdemo...standalone. Whatever! Lets take a look at ...the Revelation.

Description
Revelation is a preview tech demo for Leviathan Crossfire. It can be treated as a game on its own, though.

Thats what I will do. I won't be too hard on some minor issues as I have to say I am very impressed by this title, however, lets take a look at the description:

 Story
In a distant future: The Rakan Empire is secretly constructing the most powerful space ship ever below the surface of their home planet. However, a secret too oftenly cannot be kept for too long, and the insurgent inhabitants of the planet Nuvebia are already sending their special forces to enter and investigate the Rakan underground dockyard.

In LC Revelation players will experience the battle from the perspective of a Rakan soldier, equipped with a high-tech future assault rifle, who has to stop the Nuvebian invasion. For the Empire.

There isn't much revelation in revelation. The Nuvebian rebels will discover this leviathan spaceship (which we never see) in this underground complex...thats it. However, for a techdemo: Thats more than enough. So I can't go deeper into the "Rakan Empire" and its relation to "Nuvebia"...nor do I know what planet this adventure takes place on. All I know is that I'm corporal Trask and I got some performers of the bluemangroup to shoot in the face. Thats all I need to enjoy this alpha.

The synopsis above however has a part that just...pisses me off. "Hightech future assault rifle?"
That gun is a piece of crap that no serious military force would ever hand out to their soldiers.
The rate of fire is far too low and the recoil is a joke. I feel a lot like I handle a B.A.R. from 1917. Not a spacegun.

Even though I don't like the style. I can see that the gun is well modeled and animated. I'm not talking about that: I'm speaking of gameplay and handling.

Two Rakan Soldiers ready for combat.

The game opens up with a very impressive menu screen. You must know that I review this title from the perspective of an FPSC user. I will give you a statment for the average video game player below though. The text slides in the screen after a slightly amateur'ish designed image of a planet shows up. Color and layout remind of the menu screen of "Crysis" but I call coincidence on that one.

What follows is an awesome rendered intro sequence. The sequence shows a bunch of techno stuff and a rendered underground facility with some voice over. Music and dubbing is appropriate  but can be wonderfully campy at some points. Some of the voiceactors have a german (?) accent and are hearable younger people (I guess 16 to 20 years old). Their linedelivery however is better than in ...Twilight or your average B-Movie. I'm only bringing this up because some of the voiceacting shows some genuine talent and effort while some voices are just slightly out of place. This adds a lot to the "indie" charme of the game.

The introduction is also one of the better ones I've seen in an FPSC Game. I also enjoyed how it was visually coherent with the games visual style.

The visual style didn't connect with me. I see how it was crafted to work well in FPSC while still keeping a general good look... I just don't enjoy this bland grey/orange corridor scenery. It feels a lot like a set of star trek TNG. A bit soulless.

This however isn't my mainproblem with the visuals. My major issue with this is the spacesuit. The uniform thing... it looks utterly pathetic. Where other scifi games like Halo or Warhammer 40K also have some pretty unrealistic designs...their uniforms are usually full of scratchmarks and are colored different...the ones in Leviathan just look like action figurines from the 80's. I don't know...powerrangers or something. It also doesn't help that the Nurvebian's color theirs blue. (Wouldnt they color them orange if they would infiltrate a secret undergound base...how did they get in there anyway?)
I have to add to this segment that I have been asked to design the spacesuits...and my designs where far less fitting for the setting! I'm stating a personal oppinion here...I do KNOW about the sheer amount of work to get these custom characters working like this.
If you like the design, you still have the major issue of proportions at your hands. Apparently, in the future everyone has short legs and large hands...in general: we are evolving to be midgets.


Well, maybe this will get me a role in the future remake of "the sinful dwarf".

  I think I've benn very negative on this little gem so far...so lets dive into some of the good stuff.
Leviathan Crossfire flows very well. Following your commander through these hallways feels a lot more like in a studio-title than an indie game. It also takes you 2 playthroughs to notice minor flaws as everything is set-up very well and convincing.

I, however, am just glad to finally see an FPSC title where there is a real interaction between the protagonist and his officer in command. Your seargent follows you around and even supports you in firefights. Now there is a lot of "shooting the wall" involved..but screw it!! In fact: My AI companion even killed a hostile character (even though I have to add that he didnt react in the first conflict but this didn't annoy me at all.) It is noteworthy that the AI never seems to be in the way or stuck somewhere. It follows its path flawlessly...even though faster than its walking animation. ;)

3D Models of the environment are splendid. You can detect minor unwrapping flaws but hey! Who gives a fuck? :) While I have to point out that environment feels rather sterile and I don't really know the purpose of these huge empty hallways. It seems like a waste of space for an underground complex to have these large rooms without anything in them but thats just nitpicking. Pipes, lightobjects and boxes are well put into place and while it is very empty, it allows the creators to do large levels in fpsc. And THAT is quiet an undertaking. I really liked the computers and projectors in this game. They are my favorite part in this game. Especially the interactive computer is something I haven't seen in FPSC like this.


Now, since this is an Alpha version, I would concentrate on the actual firefights most as they feel too "FPSC'ish" Everything else is so well developed and crafted to be custommade...why having these jarring combats. The "shielded" enemies where already a good and interesting start so is the allies system. But you really have to work on the sound of the guns and enemies, impact of bullets and a so on. There is already a fairly natural response of characters to situations. Yelling "incoming" etc. makes everything feel a lot more intense.

In conclusion: Leviathan Crossfire is already winning in this techdemo. I will definately get it once its released and I recommend this to every single FPSC user out there.
Feel free to download this game if you are a lover of indie games...you will have a few minutes of slightly campy but overall well executed fun. The average gamer will most likely not find a lot of joy in this game but since its free...download it anyway!

Visit the developers website

Now if the developers aren't too pissed of my criticism...maybe I can get them to do a little interview with me

"THEY ARE SHIELDED!!"

-Adrien