Once you get into a little action you can get a feel for how the weapons work and their damage ability. Now even though the weapons are meant to be realistic for entertainment sake you can take a little more damage than say Raven Shield. Nothing is more annoying to me than playing a game where one lucky shot or a teammate kill can leave you sitting and waiting 3 minutes till the match is over. Lame. If I wanted to play realistic games I would play more Paint Ball than I do. That gripe aside the weapons in the game are pretty fun considering the fact they are real life weapons. The weapons range from a small 9mm pistol all the way up to a pretty bad ass Sniper Rifle.

One of the main gripes that the Devastation Team received after releasing the demo was the weapon sounds. Most people thought they were pretty 'Toy Gun' sounding. In one of the fastest responses I have seen from a company (even faster than my friends at Digital Extremes). Digitalo posted in the forums that the sounds would be better in the first patch. Low and behold they were correct, they do sound better (I tested the sounds before and after the patch). Out of all the weapons in the game the one most fun is the Micro Viper. It is a small Uzi-like weapon that can be used in a dual form. It goes through ammo fast and is not very accurate but is a ton of fun. As seen by the picture below.


Overall the weapons in the game are both fun and practical. While some of you may beg to differ with me that is just my two cents on the subject.

Let's get into the storyline and bot interaction a little. The storyline works well with the gameplay as the game goes on and this is where we run into a few problems. The bots are a fun part of the game but they are not without their flaws. For example there were several times that the Bots got 'stuck'. Meaning they were stuck in one area due to a problem with Bot Mapping. There were also a couple of times where the Bots wouldn't follow your instructions as well. While the A.I. wasn't revolutionary it didn't hurt the gameplay though.

However the different characters matched well with the story itself, such as when you follow Gus around Chinatown and back to his apartment. The character looks the part and the scenery does as well (see pic below).


I will touch on one more mission that I thought added some fun to the game that really hadn't been done much before. There is a mission in the game where you get to have battles on the rooftops and have to avoid not only enemies but automated guns as well. This level was fun and pretty original (see pic below).


We have covered the graphics, bots and weapons now it is time to wrap it up with music and multiplayer. The music was a little bit of a disappointment for me. The music they had in the game was good but there wasn't enough of it. While I don't really listen to the game music when playing online, I do like a little 'mood' music when playing in a single player game. A good example of this was the music in American McGee's Alice. When something bad was going to happen the music kicks up but not exactly when the bad guy was going to come out. So you had to suffer a little before you fought. Devastation does well in this area but overall it falls a little short.

As far as Internet Multiplayer is concerned I think this is where the game will get extra life after you have finished it. The netcode isn't the greatest but it is definitely playable. I think once the MOD Community gets a hold of the proper tools the game will get even more life and play time. Hopefully developers will take notice in this because I still think for longevity in a game there needs to be a Multiplayer aspect attached (*cough* Unreal 2 *cough*).

Now as you can see even though I really liked the game it was not without a couple of flaws. However the flaws are not showstoppers and Devastation is indeed very good. I also respect the Dev Team for listening to their fans and responding really quickly to suggestions and complaints. If I had to quote how this game felt to me it would be 'A very good looking Neo-Apocalyptic shooter that flows very well'. This is because it does look good and the movement 'feels' pretty smooth.

Is this game worth $35 of your hard earned jack? Definitely. I have no problems giving this game the UO stamp of approval.

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Tycho