Shadowgrounds: Survivor review (PC)

When I started playing Shadowgrounds: Survivor, I experienced a strong flash of déjà vu, like that bit in First Blood where Rambo is hauled into prison by David Caruso and Brian Dennehy.

You see, I was instantly struck with a memory of my teenage years (yes, I'm getting on a bit) and a game called Take No Prisoners.

Now, I can appreciate that all you whippersnappers out there in home land are raising one eyebrow, a la The Rock, at the mention of this game.

Indeed, it wasn't and isn't well known. Released in 1997 by the enigmatic and oft-brilliant Raven Software, it was a top-down, sprite-based blaster.

While Shadowgrounds: Survivor (hereby referred to as just Survivor) is its own game, the similarities are clear.

Both are played from a top-down (or nearly top-down) perspective, both involve the slaughter of millions of enemies and they both involve foraging your way through a shattered and desolate wasteland.

At least Survivor isn't as buttock-slappingly difficult as Take No Prisoners was. It evokes, as my previous waffling indicates, a bygone age of gaming, where fun was to be had in ruthlessly mowing down waves of enemies.

However, in a nod to modern convention, there are 'upgradeable' weapons and so on.

Survivor also reminds me of Alien Breed, an even older top-down shooter. This is because you shoot streams of alien creatures and are quite often running around a futuristic base. Simple, really.

It has its roots in classic gaming territory then, but with that comes the problems of yesteryear. These types of games benefit from short term thrills, the excitement of non-stop blasting, explosions and flying limbs.

Of course, there comes a point where we, as sophisticated modern gamers weaned on the delights of Deus Ex, System Shock 2 and the like, say "Hang on, don't I ever do more than this?"

Essentially, no, you don't. There are short intervals of non-blasting, but these are few and far between.

This is a bad thing if you want more from Survivor than it is offering, if you anticipated a tour de force of storytelling and interaction.

If you did expect this, well, you need to look elsewhere for that sort of thing. Try the aforementioned games, if you haven't already.

For those who enjoy a bit of blasting and mindless action from the old school of gaming, Survivor is a decent purchase. It won't bust up your computer and you can get a few hours of gameplay out of it before the repetition drives you round the bend.

6.5/10

David Brown