Severed Steel Review

You kick open the door in front of you, so hard it flies off it's hinges and straight into the face of an armed man across the other side of the room. You only have mere seconds to ascertain how many men there are, where they are and what they're packing? 2 to your left 4 in front and 5 to your right, all with guns of some denoscription and... You hold that thought, as 2 take off with jetpack, before diving into action. Quite literally diving, to your left, kicking one of the men and propelling yourself into the air and taking his side arm in the process, as time slows down. You empty the magazine into him and his buddy on that side, as you backflip, landing on the floor into a slide and ditching the empty pistol, for a more powerful assault rifle and begin firing at the men in front of you, as you slide under a table. A hail of bullets fills the room, like a sandstorm as you emerge, from beneath the table, pumping bullets into 2 guys in front of you still in full slide. Immediately you dive towards the back wall, grabbing the next available fire arm, a combat shotgun and break into a sprint, launching yourself at the next wall and running along that to gain some height, before springboarding off that and opening fire at the 2 flying jet pack guys, grabbing a machine gun from the second, as you turn upside down and take out the remaining few guys, before using your arm mounted grenade launcher, to punch a hole in the floor and drop through it.
This is just a typical engagement in Severed Steel.

Admittedly, this is a typical engagement in Severed Steel, when you get good and only when it begins to click. Before you get good, a typical engagement will have you resembling a daddy long legs, crossed with a geriatric hippo with a limp and with all the balance and poise of a cow trying to climb stairs. You mistime jumps and dives, misjudging your placement and position and instead of hitting a wall for a wall run say, you'll jump out of a window. Or as you're aiming to slide gracefully under a table, you completely mistime it, instead flying face first into it. All the while, the enemies in the room, after scratching their heads in bemusement and resisting the urge to laugh, begin to pump you full of bullets.
This is how it will be for you the vast majority of the game initially, as you can see what the developer is trying to do, has been trying to get you to do?
Yet for some reason you begin to feel like it's just not clicking and perhaps never will?
Suddenly it feels as hard as, not making any matrix references, in this review!
Things just seem so alien to you, the controls feel just far too loose and you think that may be the problem with it?
It's not though, it's you. It's most definitely you!

Then you decide to give the campaign a break and try firefight mode instead?
It's here that you notice that, most levels that you've already done, are still locked. That the weapon selection is limited and that there are different versions of your arm cannon. All of which are locked. They're locked and only opened getting a certain total score, experience level and by doing a certain amount of challenges.

"Challenges?", you say to yourself, as you press start.

"Yes challenges...", the game says to you, "They're quite simple and there's only 3 per level, so don't worry!"

The thing is Severed Steel isn't being entirely truthful with you. You see these challenges start off simple, yet throws in more and more complicated maneuvers at you with each level you unlock.
I have to say the level progression on this mode is excellent. It is so well balanced and suited to what the designers perceived would be your skill level, by the point you're returning to them to get those extra challenges / higher score / experience level, necessary to open up another level / gun / cannon variation. It's amazing how addictive and how satisfying these firefight levels, that consist of kill everyone in the level and that's it, actually are?

You see, the simplicity of the main objective is this games strength, leaving you the task of honing your skills and killing in style. The more stylised and varied your kills, the higher your scores will be and this is where the challenges, throughout the 30, or so levels, come into play, as each one is actually teaching you a new mechanic, or nuance to the controls that opens up some brutal and matrix-like (Dammit, I wanted to avoid that comparison!! Well that's a quid in the jar!) kills and aerial balletics, once the aforementioned clicking takes effect.
These newly acquired skills from later levels, open up more chance of achieving the much needed higher scores, from the earlier levels, to open up more levels, more options and most importantly, more variation in your acrobatics and skill set. It's actually a sneaky and subtle training mode and perhaps, the most enjoyable part of the game. From this mode, you learn the finer aspects of the game, things begin to make sense and those loose controls you were blaming, all of a sudden you realise they aren't too loose at all, but incredibly precise and thank god they are?
I can't imagine the amount of hours of playtesting, that went into honing these controls, but I'm glad they did. They're set absolutely perfectly and are just the right balance of speed and precision, that you're able to do the moves in the first place.

You have your 4 face buttons on your controller, that are your jump, dive, slide and grab weapon. You have your triggers (L2 and R2) as shoot and slow time. And your bumpers (L1 and R1) as your arm cannon. Then there's clicking your right stick in, to kick which, when done on a person also handily steals their side arm. To wall run you just jump at a wall, side on and you'll begin running and as long as you keep your momentum going, you can effectively circle a room, jumping from wall to wall.
It's how you keep this momentum going that's the key here however and is the difficult part to master. For it's your momentum and how much of it you have that will determine how easy you can pull off certain moves? Back flips, for instance though they can be done from a standing position, are far easier to pull off and more effective if done after a wall kick, that it self was started by jumping at the wall after sliding at it.

All this is helped a tonne, by one of the best soundtracks of any game I've heard. With Techno, Trance, Dubstep and Drum N Bass tracks thumping a rhythmic bass, in the background, that really helps keep your rhythm and your momentum going.

There are a few criticisms however, as the game isn't perfect and these are aimed at largely at it's graphics.
Don't get me wrong, they aren't bad, per se, they just aren't that mind blowing. With textures that seem a little flat, despite them being drenched in neon and being also quite similar looking too. Then again, the layouts of them are sublime, with opportunities and options a plenty, to use the entirety of your skill set, within every room. They just don't look like it's other obvious comparisons, those being Ghost Runner and Mirrors Edge. Not that you'll notice the graphics too much, as you'll be too busy concentrating on making yourself look like a cross between Trinity / Neo from the Matrix and Blade from... Er... Blade?
Apparently there's a story to this game and it has cutscenes, but in all honesty, it's so forgettable, I forgot it by the time of writing this review.

Pros:
Tight controls and fast and varied gameplay, make this an absolute must. Whilst the soundtrack, not only adds to helping you keep your rhythm, but is some of the best electronic dance music out there and wouldn't feel amiss in a club.

Cons:
Not graphically the best and the story may aswell not be there, its that forgettable. The time it takes to click, may put some people off.

Graphics: 70/100

Functional and that's about it

Sound: 98/100

From the boom of the weapons and explosions to, the absolute banging soundtrack. This is a real treat for the ears

Gameplay: 90/100

Controls so tight that they make it easy to do what you're intending and shooting whilst doing stunts even easier, but only when it clicks. It's the time that takes, that may put many off?

Longevity: 95/100

The length of time it's taken me to do this review, should be an indication of it's longevity and incidentally, I'm still playing it now.

Value: 95/100

Tonnes of replay value, with it's one more go factor. With a campaign that lasts around 5 hours, the firefight mode, challenges and new game+ with the campaign and all for around £15 (around US $20 - 25)

Nostalgia: 90/100

If you've played the original Mirrors Edge, not the poorly done sequal and remember how innovative that felt back then, then you'll feel right at home playing this.

Wokeness: 7/100
The main protagonist is a woman and... That's about it. The story may hold woke elements, though I didn't notice and can't remember the story. So not intrusive at all.

Total

90%

(Monotomic Gold Standard)

Midnight Fight Express

This is some preview footage of the focus of the next review:
Midnight Fight Express.
A frenetic fighting game, in the vein of such classics, as the excellent Sleeping Dogs!
Here's some footage to keep you going until the review drops
😁👍

Atomic Heart Combat Trailer 2022

This game looks astonishing

https://youtu.be/E3E7x0VVrD8

Your Goose is cooked!

A nice bit of Hybrid TechHouse, to get you in the mood for a Saturday night!
Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/tOW5YhvcPRs

Midnight Fight Express (Anti-Woke: Walking Video Review)

Video review of this fighting / action / beat em up, thingy game!
Is it any good?
Take a look and find out?

https://youtu.be/LqEyhoH0iX4