|
Eternal War is another micro-budget FPS from a group of just a few developers, more in line with Saints of Virtue than N'Lightning's "big-budget" productions. This is probably pretty obvious given the studio's name: Two Guys Software. The guys in question are brothers Mackenzie and Patrick Ponech. They began work on a "3D action game with RPG elements" called Revelation, using the Genesis3D engine favored by N'Lightning, but that project fell through. Instead of throwing in the towel, the brothers began afresh on a Christian FPS game, aiming for a "dark, ultra-violent" tone and a heavy emphasis on multiplayer. The plot is similar to Saints of Virtue in that it takes place inside a person's soul. You play as an angel named Mike (apparently a reference the Archangel Michael), and the soul in question is that of a tortured, suicidal teen named John Coronado. As in Saints of Virtue, the soul isn't a very friendly place, as various demonic breeds have set up strongholds all over the place. Your job is to dispense all Satanic forces with extreme prejudice and save John's eternal soul. The story is presented with simple Photoshopped BMP images at the start of the game and end - no cutscenes or interstitials of any kind, making the game feel something akin to a student project. Similarly barely disguised are the churning machinations of the id Tech 1 core powering the game. Eternal War uses the Telejano branch of the Quake engine and is actually considered by the Quake community to be a commercial mod of that famous shooter. It's hard to disagree, since Eternal War sports console commands, text notifications when you pick up ammo or weapons, powerup-triggered enemy closets, and post-level camera pans. On the plus side, this means the game supports full keybinding, a healthy array of options, and runs on modern systems without any noticeable issues. A forum conversation appears to indicate that Tomaz (of TomazQuake fame) did some uncredited work on the engine, and apparently some of the art assets in Eternal War are taken with permission from another Quake total conversion called Dawn of Darkness. As mentioned earlier, Two Guys Software was going for edgy atmosphere and solid multiplayer support, two firsts for the subgenre. As in Quake, the enemies are loud, fast, and relentless, spawning from all sides and crashing in on the player with various melee and projectile attacks. Some teleport, some vanish, and others just chase you around, but much circle-strafing and sidestepping is encouraged regardless. Heavy metal blasts from the get-go, and Mike quips and taunts when he gets the kills. With regards to weapons, you start out with a crossbow but gain access to various angelic powers such as "Smite" and "Trinity Blast" as you go. It's about what you'd expect. Ammo for better weapons is often hidden in secret areas, so keep shooting the walls. The multiplayer side isn't testable at this point but appears to have been well received by all accounts - as well it should be, considering the Quake pedigree. Eternal War only saw a physical release in only one or two local Christian bookstores and sold most of its copies through online retailers. In 2005, Two Guys Software became XRUCIFIX LLC and put out Eternal War: Shadows of Light as a free download, subsequently instructing retailers to destroy all remaining copies of Eternal War. As such, finding an actual copy of the game is essentially impossible, and it's unknown how many copies even survive. But there's always the free download, so trying the game out is just a matter of downloading the 65MB installer.
Since 2007, XRUCIFIX has apparently been working on a remake of Eternal War that drops the subtitle and is targeting a $15 downloadable PC and XBLA release. Eternal War Eternal War Eternal War Analysis
|
