Mobile Forces Demo Impressions

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This weekend, Rage Software will be releasing a demo of their latest game, Mobile Forces. I got the opportunity to play a preview build from a few weeks ago.

Mobile Forces is a multiplayer action game, powered by a new version of the Unreal engine. The demo will offer a single level from the full game, Western. You can play in single player skirmish mode with bots, or in multiplayer mode. One gamemode is available, Holdout. In this mode, team red and blue try to control the Holdout point which is at a specific location in the level, in between the two team bases. Once either of these teams have controlled the point for four minutes, they win. The timer is a cumulative one, and your HUD will indicate how much time your team and how much time the opposite team has collected.
The game itself is very fast paced. You run around quickly, and if you don't watch out you die pretty quickly as well. You won't have any problems knowing where the action is at, as there is a map in the top left corner of the screen showing your team mates and the Holdout point.

Various weapons are available in the demo, such as a shotgun, rocket launcher, sniper rifle and other familiar guns. You can also get grenades and armor. You pick your weapons when you spawn, though you can't get them all. Bigger guns also make you slower. The weapon models and skins are mostly simple, and especially the rocket launcher is just one big block on your screen. It still makes people blow up real nice though.
Most of the weapons have an alternate firing mode, which helps you shoot more accurately or zoom in.

Vehicles are an integral part of the game, and the demo offers two of them. A humvee, and a dune buggy. Once you get into a vehicle, the game switches to third person perspective allowing you to easily drive around. Usually one of your team mates will get in the vehicle as well, allowing him to shoot while you drive, though the other way works as well where you do the shooting instead. The vehicle physics are pretty nice, though they don't really enhance the game much. Doesn't mean it isn't fun to blow up the buggy or shoot a tire when a vehicle approaches though. Because it is.

Though based on newer Unreal technology than the tech used in Unreal Tournament, this game's graphics aren't extraordinary. As I said, the weapon models aren't that great, and the player models could use some work as well. The level itself is acceptable, it's probably a good idea not to push an insane amount of polys in a multiplayer game. Still, a bit more eye-candy would've been nice.
Bots are pretty much like the ones in Unreal Tournament, though obviously they now have the ability to drive vehicles.

Unlike a lot of recent demos, the Mobile Forces demo is sized at a pretty modest 45mb so most people should be able to check it out.
We should have a preview of the full game in a few weeks.


[ more Mobile Forces shots ]

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