There are certain universal properties that are desirable in all first person games, most especially first person shooting games. The first and foremost is a good ability to control your actions and perceive the world around you. Closely following are a good variety of attacks, whether its different guns, alternate firing modes, or special attacks of some kind. Another great quality is presentation; we all want our games to look good and sound realistic. Finally, people want a good plot. No, most action games don't need the complexity of the Deus Ex universe to hold attention, but at the very least some cool enemies and a good reason to be fighting them will suffice. Ubersoldier's current build, while not quite failing completely on any front, has trouble with every one of these issues.

A game cannot be played well or for long unless the player can get comfortable, even bordering on instinctual, controlling the character in the game. Ubersoldier does a pretty good job on this, using the standard WASD keys and mouse to move about and shoot, respectively. However, the portion shown as a preview of the game had no tutorial whatsoever. It included a list of controls if you went into the control options and just read them, but several features, such as the time shield are not given any explanation.

Many of the features that players have taken for granted in recent years are somehow forgotten in this game. The demo didn't include an auto-switch from one weapon to another if you run out of ammo, meaning that you must keep much better track of your ammunition. Another nice touch would be the ability to carry two primary weapons, and to switch between them. However, despite there being five weapon slots on the screen, I could only carry one of the three main guns I found in the level.

Also, many features simply stop working at random times. When throwing a grenade, it is rare to get it to throw on the first try, so I would get in the habit of pressing more than once, which can sometimes cause multiple to be accidentally thrown. While this isn't a game-breaking problem, it is somewhat frustrating. Also, when enemies close in while I'm struggling to switch guns or are too busy zoomed in on another, the natural instinct is to make a quick swipe with my knife by the ease of tapping shift. This would be a great thing, an awesome control addition that brings with it new levels of sophistication in quick and stealth attacks. However, the shift key seems to only sporadically be tied to the quick attack. Over half the time I attempted to slash someone in close range I stood there looking like an idiot and they unloaded into my face.

Visually this game has some strong merit. The people are very detailed in uniform and have very good texturing. However, it is somewhat disappointing to see that the Nazis all look nearly identical, and the zombies (yes, there are zombies) in fact are all of the exact same model. Fire looks very cool upon explosion, and was shockingly violent and perfectly blazing upon conception, but after that first spark of glory things fade into a very monotonous block of flames that magically dissipates after a few moments. Lighting is nothing special, but adequate all around. The sound is a huge problem with the game, currently. When shooting things that make certain sounds, either the sounds do not exist or trying to play that sound causes the game to error and lose all sound. I had to exit the game entirely three different occasions during one level to regain the ability to hear.

By far the biggest problem is the AI. Enemies are all either super-aware, and would have a barrel aimed between my eyes before I ever opened the door between us, or they would be practically asleep, standing completely still and not responding until I was either three feet from their face or started shooting them. This is extremely frustrating and will be very hard to correct this far into development, but I sincerely hope Burut Creative Team can pull this together.

I spent a couple hours with Ubersoldier, and sadly I spent more than half of it griping about the complete lack of plot, the redundant enemies, and the mechanical problems with sound and controls. It is truly sad that the game feels so very rushed, and this is one of those cases where a delay would be the best news. I hope that the actual design is done and CDV and Burut can use the next month to pull together the technical aspects. This could be a great entry into the "carefree" FPS category, but sadly things are shaping up to leave the game trapped in a maze of mediocre technical problems. There's still time, however, and there's always hope.