UberSoldier Review

Before playing the preview release of Übersoldier, I had heard almost nothing about the game. I knew it was a first-person shooter, and I knew it was being made by CDV. That’s about it. As the preview started, it became apparent that the story of the game is based around (fictional) human testing by the Nazis in World War II. Essentially, they are genetically enhancing human detainees to make them into Übersoldiers, meaning they are stronger, faster, and have more firepower.

There are no voiceovers in the preview build, but they kept some of the cut-scenes in, which means you have to watch a bunch of people you don’t know “talking� to each other. You are Karl Stolz, and you are dead…but not for long. Nazi scientists bring you back to life as Maria, someone who apparently knows you, comes to your aid. You then escape from the Nazi hospital, guns blazing. You start with no weapons and soon find a knife. In Übersoldier, knives are separate from guns. While having a gun out, you can use shift to take a slash with the knife. Later, you get into guns, which are your standard WWII shooter fare: pistols, rifles, machine guns. Left click to shoot, right click looks down the sights, nothing unusual there. Grenades are handled as any other weapon, and therefore must be switched to, rather than just pressing a key to throw one.

As you progress through the beginning of the game, there are small, optional tutorials for things like controls, ladders, etc. Again, normal fare. Then I saw “Press F1 for emotion tutorial�. Huh? Here’s what makes Übersoldier fun. You can gain anger by getting 3 headshots in a row within about 10 seconds or you can gain rage by stabbing 3 people to death within the same amount of time. Unlike similar systems in other games, this is always active and you can take advantage of it at any time.

There are light puzzle elements in the game, finding keys and such, but the real mass of the game is based around the wild, bloody shooting sprees. And it’s well done. It feels great every time I mow down some zombies, get headshots on Nazis or stab some police to death. Possibly the best thing I noticed about the game though was its fluidity. Even with all graphics settings on the highest they could go, I noticed no frame rate drop at all, which means Übersoldier will run great even on older systems, which is good news for people who can’t afford to upgrade their computer weekly.

But don’t think I mean the game looks bad; it looks great. All of the modern amenities are there, from independent rag doll physics to dynamic blood on textures and pooling on the ground. Visual effects like warping and blurring are included as well, and shading is top-notch. As far as I can see by the preview build, Übersoldier looks to be a great new twist on the WWII shooter genre, incorporating a new sci-fi twist and modern visuals. Not to mention how fun it is. I’m really looking forward to Übersoldier, coming next month to Windows PCs.