S.U.A.V.E. Review

Written by: David Laprad Published: June 30, 2005 What's in a name? Some would argue everything. Take Doom, for example. The title, however short, inspires visions of hellish first-person carnage. What does the title "S.u.a.v.e." bring to mind? No, S.u.a.v.e. isn't a shampoo sim; it's an explosive 3D shooter. As in Doom, you obliterate everything in sight while you search for the exit. You'll also find keys, unlock doors, discover secret areas and snap up bone-jarring weaponry. So the name of the game, however odd, isn't everything. Although Doom is a good starting point for describing the breakneck action in S.u.a.v.e., the first release from Blinkenlichten Productions takes the gameplay in a different direction. Instead of seeing the world through the eyes of a gun-toting marine, you control an assault vehicle from a third-person perspective. Using the familiar WASD keyboard scheme, you move your fast and mobile transport through a 3D environment consisting of metallic hallways, dusty canyons and crystalline caves. Your weapon is mounted on a turret at the top of your vehicle. Using your mouse, you can swivel the turret independently of the rest of your vehicle, allowing you to drive in one direction while looking and shooting in another. After a little practice, this setup felt perfectly natural to me. A friend of mine, however, never grew accustomed to the controls. All of the enemies in S.u.a.v.e. are robotic, so there's no blood. From turrets that grind to life when you approach them to several kinds of automated enemies, there's plenty of stuff to blow up. The artificial intelligence can be quite good; one enemy can retreat behind a nearby wall when you back off, forcing you into a direct confrontation. When you're not watching out for enemies, you'll be scanning the horizon for a new weapon. Your assault vehicle can carry just one, and, with the exception of your default gun, ammunition is available in limited quantities. The default weapon fires a small laser bolt. Other implements include the Vulcan, which spits out armor-piercing bullets; the Tesla Coil, which fires a stream of electrical energy; the Flame Thrower, which can protect you from enemy gunfire; the Plasma Shotgun; the Rocket Launcher; and single-shot nukes. When you change weapons, your turret rotates vertically and swaps your current gun for the new one. S.u.a.v.e. also includes bonuses. One restores your armor, another generates a temporary shield, a third grants you an extra life and a fourth allows you to slow down time at will. The effect of the latter bonus is startling the first time you see it. The screen blurs, the sounds lower in pitch and everything moves in slow motion, including your vehicle, your enemies, any bullets slicing through the air and any explosions. Watching a nuke gradually detonate while your speakers play warped audio is downright cool. If you like straightforward shooters that don't weigh down the action with puzzles and tactical elements, S.u.a.v.e. will be your cup of radioactive tea. Unfortunately, the game comes with just one primary map, an Endurance Mode with randomized rooms and a few add-on levels. The default map is very well designed; it forces you to manage your ammo wisely, it starts out easy and builds in intensity, and it effectively mixes indoor and outdoor areas to provide a sense of scope and progress. There are also some clever secrets. The two bonus levels designed by creator Al Mackey are also exceptional; the others are less so. In the end, the lack of a cohesive set of maps is disappointing. In fact, if it weren't for the included level editor, S.u.a.v.e. wouldn't be worth the asking price, regardless of how fun the gameplay is. The ability to create your own levels and share them with others online, however, salvages the product. Put simply, the editor is brilliant. Not since Build allowed fans of Duke Nukem 3D to throw together new maps has an editor for a 3D shooter been as easy to use. From an overhead 2D view, you use your mouse to draw rooms, choose a graphics theme, connect rooms with doors and assign the doors special properties, such as being locked until all of the enemies in a room have been destroyed. You can then click on a room to draw walls, add enemies, weapons and power-ups, and pepper your creation with barrels and crates. The editor allows you to give each enemy and weapon unique properties, including varying degrees of intelligence for the former and differing amounts of ammo for the latter. As you construct rooms, you can play test them to see how the gameplay is turning out. Once you're done, you can upload the map to Blinkenlichten's forums for other people to download. Even though the process of building a map is easy and the tools at your disposal are few in number, the editor allows for a surprising degree of creativity. One of the maps I designed, for example, gives you two minutes worth of shields and then challenges you to blast your way through a maze to the final room before the shields run out. Since the final room contains several automated turrets armed with nukes, you'll lose if you run out of shields. Casual map designers will love S.u.a.v.e.'s editor. For a shareware game, S.u.a.v.e. looks great. The environments don't contain a lot of detail, but the weapon effects, enemy animations and explosions are all pleasing to the eye. If you have a low-end system, you can knock down the resolution to as low as 320x240 and turn off the finer details, such as the fiery explosions. If you've a newer system with a good 3D card, though, you can crank up your display to 1600x1200 and activate all of the visual goodies. Your vehicle will belch smoke when damaged, debris from explosions will litter the ground and scorch marks will serve as reminders of past battles. For a one man job, S.u.a.v.e. is impressive. It's also one of the overlooked gems of shareware gaming. Unfortunately, in spite of looking great, playing even better and solid community support from Mackey, it's not made much of a splash. If you enjoy 3D shooters and making levels, give the demo a try and consider shelling out a few bucks for the full version. S.u.a.v.e. reminds us that gameplay and player-created add-ons are what counts. Who cares about the goofy name?