So after about seventeen hours or so, I've given up on Atomic Heart. Like one of its inspirations Bioshock: Infinite, the incredible artistry on display is let down by boring, formulaic gameplay. The story progresses so quickly with so little context that I struggle to remember the names of the main characters. I think the player character is called P? P is a fixer for Sechenov, some commie bigwig who's chiefly responsible for all the fabulous technological achievements of this fictional Soviet utopia. So basically we have the same premise as Bioshock: a breakaway civilization following a specific political ideology creates a paradise that is ultimately unstable. A saboteur named Petrov somehow programs all the robots to murder everyone on one of the floating islands (I guess the USSR expanded into the sky for some reason, despite having the largest landmass of any country) and P is tasked with bringing him to justice. Cue a few impressive visual set pieces (the opening is on par with Bioshock: Infinite) and the introduction of neuropolymer-based powers (not plasmids!) and you've got a pretty good hook for what could've been an interesting game. Unfortunately, Atomic Heart makes some curious design decisions that prevent it from being a fun experience. There's an open world connecting a series of underground bunkers where most of the story takes place, but you can't really explore it without unleashing a mob of robots that'll tear you to pieces. You see, after you kill a robot in the open world, little flying drones appear and build it back. Also, once you trip the alarm and it gets up to the highest level (which is very easy to do), you're pretty much fucked. Atomic Heart features a crafting and upgrading system, but even after leveling up my shotgun, it still took too many hits to dispatch the beefier enemies. There's also only a handful of special powers, and gameplay will mostly involve using Cryoblast or Mass Telekinesis to crowd control while you either bash on your paralyzed enemies with a melee weapon or shoot them while they're up in the air. Enemies can also knock you on your ass, and there's no way to avoid this other than by dodging, which is frustrating. The boss fights, which occur against giant robots or mutants, are incredibly dull affairs, since a lot of these guys are resistant to any damage other than melee, resulting in fights becoming a war of attrition. The world looks so damn good, however, that I kept waiting for the game to improve. The puzzle sections, of which there were quite a few, aren't as frustrating as the combat, although most involved rotating various pieces of the environment until you can figure out how to proceed. I also liked the fact that you can have mundane conversations with the recently dispatched, and most are pretty grotesquely humorous, as these guys will complain about how they died or their poor luck. Oh, and there's also P himself, who is inexplicably a straight-up asshole that says things like "Choke on it and die, you fat turd" and "Crispy critters!" P has a lot of banter with his AI-power glove Charles, who is the source of his neuropolymer powers, and by a lot, I mean a lot. Honestly, after a while, P started to grow on me, since I haven't played a good asshole since Bulletstorm, and the bizarreness of some of the dialogue (Crispy critters!) becomes strangely enduring after a while. But not even crispy critters can save Atomic Heart from being a frustrating, boring experience. Perhaps developer Mudfish's next game will be an improvement, since there's a lot of talent in the world design, and Atomic Heart's influences, from Half-Life to Bioshock to Portal, are all good games. If you're interested in checking it out, it's currently on Game Pass. There's also the issue of Mudfish's connections to the Russian government, and although I really doubt any of the money you give them will aid Russia's unjust war in Ukraine, the moral implications of such a purchase should be considered. Anyways, here are some screenshots, since the graphics are the best part of Atomic Heart.
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