Shooters nowadays have become so common that you have come to expect two or three releases each month. The hard part for these publishers is standing out, due to there being so much variety for the player to choose. Established brands such as your Call of Duty, Battlefield and so on will have little problem in overcoming these problems due to a loyal, often blinded player base made of casuals.
This problem of having established titles means that for a new shooter to break through the ranks and make it up there with the top, the game must make an impact which lets players notice said title. One of the most recent titles to do this is Titanfall, which took everyone by storm at E3 2013 by introducing a set of new mechanics to the first person shooter genre. Danish studio Logic Artistsβ new title Clandestine aims to revolutionize the first person genre, adding a twist to normal co-op mode. Called asymmetric co-op, Clandestine is still in early access but its core concept is a very interesting and intriguing one. Situated in the mid 1990s, Clandestine pits a hacker and a spy who must work together to infiltrate through the level. The spy, Katya, is played from a third person point of view, while the Hacker, Martin, will not appear in physical form but will have a view of the various elements that you can hack into to provide information to the spy, such as level plants or cameras. It is this dissimilarity in roles that earns the game the title of asymmetrical co-op, since although both players are helping each other, they are doing different roles. The whole game is reminiscent of the separate set pieces of co-op games, especially the Army of Two franchise, which although featuring a lot of the same action for both players, there were parts in which each player had different tasks.
The gameplay in Clandestine is a generic shooter type, featuring similar command buttons, for Katya at least. There is also a detection meter which, as the name itself implies, will start filling up as enemies begin to notice you. One should always be alert and keep the bar empty at all times, to avoid detection at all costs. Being still in early access, there were only a handful of Challenge maps, four to be exact, but which contained the full experience of what is to be expected of the game come release. These challenge maps have a high replayability though since one can choose out of different settings for each map. This was done by Logic Artists to avoid plot spoilers. Before the start of the level, one may choose the loadout which Katya will have on the field, and the selection is vast. Along the three pistols, there is the choice of lethal or non-lethal ammo type, as well as gadgets like pagers, to distract enemies. One can also choose between a series of grenade types or outfits, the latter of which may affect the number of gadgets or items you can carry. On the other hand, Martin is in a van and does not appear physically. Controlling him will feature a computer screen split into different tasks, be it a plan of the level or security cameras waiting to be hacked. The hacker can also tag enemies for the spy, so the latter can see them through walls, and thus gain the upper hand on them. Co-operation is essential in the game since unlike other shooters, the onfield player does not have a map and thus is clueless about the whereabouts of the enemy. One should say that the game can be played solo but co-op is definitely recommended due to the focus which Logic Artists have made on it. If playing solo, there is the opportunity to swap between Katya and Martin with a single press of a button, but one must say that playing solo will take much more time and will probably result in more failed attempts due to not being fully able to control both characters simultaneously.
Clandestine features different methods of getting rid of enemies, and there are not as much stealth games which offer the options which Clandestine does. Apart from non-lethal ammo and pagers which distract enemies, there are also lethal and non-lethal stealth takedowns, as well as cover mechanics, enabling also the reduction of any possible contact with the enemy. The game also features a small tutorial level, with preset loadouts, to help you familiarize yourself with the game, the surroundings and the different controls and commands one will need to make use of during the game.
Logic Artists have devised a game which, if goes to plan, may be the start of a revolution in co-op shooters, due to its unique asymmetrical gameplay. Launching the game on Steamβs Early Access was also a very smart move, promoting the game through an incredibly huge network and asking for feedback on Steamβs own forums. The game, as also stated by the developers, needs more work and rightly so, but for a game being this early to look this promising, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out this could be big. Ambitious is an understatement for what Logic Artists are trying to achieve, but with a great idea and intelligent mechanics, it is clear that they can make it.
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