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SCENE
GENRE
GRAPHICS
SOUND
PLAYABILITY
VALUE
OPINION



REVIEW INDEX

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PROJECT OVERKILL

Developer

Options

Distributer

Konami

1 Player

Game Type

Shoot-em-up

Mem. Card

Review Date

Oct 1996

Setting the Scene

Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe that we have ourselves a winner for the bloodiest Playstation game of 1996! Yep, Project Overkill is bloody, and damn bloody good to boot. You objective...kill everything in sight!! The game does actually have a plot...you play as any one of four hired agents sent down to a planet to stop Project Overkill and erradicate basically everything in site. Each of your four characters has his or her own specialty, and can complete certain missions better than the others. It's your call which one to use for each mission, but be forewarned, once you kill off a character, you lose that character for the entire game. Lose all four and you must start over, from the beginning. Nobody said killing was an easy business...

Genre

Shoot-em-up.

Graphics

The game is presented in a top-down isometric view similar to the one use in Loaded. Only in this game everything is crisp and bright. The character detail, while a bit on the small side, is very good and well animated. The backgrounds are well done too. Computers have little lights blinking on and off, as does wall panels and other objects. Every object (with the exception of walls) can be blown up and destroyed.

When I first started playing this game, I found myself wasting ammo, just to watch the equipment blow up (it also makes good target practice)! Now for the good stuff...there is blood and death everywhere to be found here and it is all presented in a wonderful, gruesome way. When you shoot an enemy, the blood spirts from their bodies and splatters on the floor and walls...and the bodies stay where you shoot them. In a major battle, you could have bodies littering the floor!

Which brings me to my favorite part...when you walk over a corpse, you leave bloody footprints in your wake. The Playstations transparency power is put to good use in this game too. As you walk towards walls that are blocked from your view, they turn translucent so you can see what goodies are there (extra health, ammo, etc). There is however some slowdown when you enter a room with a lot of creatures in it. Oh well, nothings perfect and this only happens rarely. Overall, very nice graphics.

Sounds and Effects

The sound effects are good. Everything that's should be there...is. Nice weapon sounds, death screams, explosions, etc. No problems. The music is, for lack of a better word, dramatic! The tunes are haunting, moody and fully orchestrated. A perfect soundtrack for this type of game.

Playability

There are a lot of levels in this game (the book claims over 40), with multiple paths to each location. I would venture to guess the replay value to be relatively high. The control is really weird at first to get used to though. Just walking and aiming at your target at first play is a chore but with a little persistance you will soon be strafing with the best of them.

The character animations are many. You can shoot off heads, body parts, etc. It usually takes two or three direct hits to drop an opponent. A nice touch is when you hit your target and it drops to it's kness...if you are close and quick enough, you can switch to hand to hand mode and bash the characters head in with the butt of your weapon! There must be dozens of death scenes, because each game I notice two or new ones that I haven't seen yet. One thing is for sure, it keeps you coming back for more.

Value for Money

This game is everything Loaded should have been and much, much more. It is a true 2nd generation title that is intended for a more mature audience that enjoys gratuitous violence. It's not for everyone! The missions are quite long and get harder and more complex are you get further into the game. The intense orchestration and theme of this game make for a BLOODY good time!!

Opinion

TOM

GRAPHICS:

Good

I have completed five missions and am amazed at the variety of creatures and missions that you are presented with. This game could easily be used as a tool for aggression therapy!!

SOUND:

Good

PLAYABILITY:

Good

VALUE:

Brilliant

OVERALL
8.5/10

JIM

GRAPHICS:

Good

All blood and no content Im afraid. Once you killed a few hundred of your enemies it all becomes a little bland.

SOUND:

Good

PLAYABILITY:

Average

VALUE:

Good

OVERALL
7.5/10

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