Shattered Horizon

Shattered Horizon Beta Impressions

Shattered Horizon Beta Impressions

Futuremark Games Studio has been cooking up their first game, Shattered Horizon, for over two years. A closed beta over the last couple of months has polished up the game with each build and the launch is getting closer. With the NDA lifted, it is time to take a look at the game based on the beta test. Get ready for EVA!

First up, a disclaimer; Both YouGamers and Futuremark Games Studio are part of Futuremark Corporation. This preview is based on my experiences during the closed beta test of Shattered Horizon. YouGamers is not going to post a review or otherwise score Shattered Horizon due to the obvious conflict-of-interest issues, but I'm still going to give my own impressions on the game while sticking to journalistic principles - FGS guys didn't write this, I did. So, a preview, with some opinions based on close-to-final beta version of the game.

Astronaut vs. Astronaut

Moon Mining Cooperative troops.

Shattered Horizon puts the players into space - you fight for survival either as a member of International Space Agency (ISA) or Moon Mining Cooperative (MMC). There is quite a bit of backstory for the setting but for gameplay purposes, they are the blue team and the yellow team with enough story to explain why Earth suddenly has a ring of rocks orbiting the planet and why some astronauts are shooting each other. Being a multiplayer-only game, there really is very little room for storytelling.

Both sides have identical equipment - a highly advanced rocket pack for zero-G manouvering, a multi-purpose assault rifle with a sniper scope and a grenade launcher. The unique bit is obviously the full six-degrees-of-freedom movement system which has been developed around the basic WSAD+mouse control standard. Shift pushes you down, Space moves you up and by holding the right mouse button you can roll. It feels instantly natural, yet there is a definite learning curve before you can fully wrap your brain around the concept of being able to go anywhere and adjust your orientation freely. Newbies that keep "thinking two-dimensionally" are usually easy to spot and those who have hard time adjusting would probably flunk at the NASA astronaut selection tests as well...

Realism is a key point in design, but playability has trumped over hardcore realism in that your rocket pack is a "fly by wire" system. It caps out your speed and keeps you stable, yet it doesn't require you to keep thrusting to move - inertia will carry you on and it is actually somewhat hard to stay put unless you actually land on a surface. For those quick getaways, there is a limited temporary boost that recharges over time.

The maps that were available during beta actually help you adjust to the idea gradually. Moondust is closest to a conventional FPS map with some enclosed areas inside a large asteroid - a map where you can easily start without really using all the freedoms given, but with places where unconventional approach leads to juicy kills. Flipside develops the idea further - it is a large boulder with two distinctive sides. It is possible to fight by just deciding that the side you are on is the "ground" but once you figure out the possibilities given by the map, the unique style of fighting in Shattered Horizon becomes much clearer.

The other two maps, ISS and The Arc then go all out, expecting you to be comfortable with full six degrees of freedom, ready to fight no matter which way you are pointing. flying along the "spine" of the ISS feels a bit like fighting along the sides of a tall building, yet if you cling to the "this way is ground" thinking, as soon as some real spacemen come along, you are up for a surprise or two. The Arc goes one step further and as you fight in the middle of numerous smaller rocks, there really is no "up" or "down" to speak of and it is not uncommon to get somewhat disoriented.

Up to 32 players is the currently supported and while ISS and The Arc are probably best with something like 16 or 24, both Moondust and Flipside have plenty of room for full 32 player fights.

"Moondust"	"Flipside"
"ISS"	"The Arc"

Overall the fact that you can encounter hostiles from any angle breeds teamplay - you really can't cover every direction, so the only way to avoid nasty surprises is to work together. This also means that random teams without comms tend to work even worse than they do in most average shooters. In fact, it may end up being a huge hurdle for new players - if you just go in guns blazing, it is easy to get discouraged as you are ripped to shreds - you have both the unique zero-G environment to adjust to and you are playing with a far larger "blind area" around you than in more conventional games and you can never cover it alone - plenty of opportunities for veterans to exploit.

Limited Toolset

Each astronaut is sporting identical assault rifles. No lasers, railguns or other futuristic Sci-Fi stuff - just good old "target opponent, apply liberal dose of bullets" tech. And yes, gunpowder-based arms work just fine in a vacuum - the oxygen needed is in the gunpowder and as there is no air resistance to slow down a bullet, if anything, they'll work better than inside the atmosphere. Recoil is modeled with a slight inaccuracy over long bursts but the same rocket pack computer that keeps you from spinning out of control will counter-thrust against the recoil. As is common, "short, controlled bursts!" is a good idea. You can also zoom in with the scope for some juicy headshots but in practice sniping is feasible only when you put your feet down and anchor yourself to a surface.

The rifle also includes a bayonet for those up close & personal encounters and a multi-mode grenade launcher for some much-needed tricks. No, these grenades are not for spamming multi-kills as all three different grenade modes are non-lethal. You can control the fuse length before launching and in zero-G there is no arcing - grenades go in a straight line and bounce off any objects, allowing you to pull off some nice trick shots.

ICE grenade in action.

MPR grenades create a shockwave that is useful for flushing out hostiles from behind cover or (more often) bouncing them far into space which results in a death by hail of micrometeoroids.

ICE grenades spread out water that instantly freezes into a white cloud of ice particles - in practice it is the space version of a smoke grenade and can be used for cover. Handy, but the cloud is somewhat limited in size - works okay in close quarters and on smaller maps, but feels weak when fighting in more open areas.

EMP grenade is probably the most powerful offensive tool - anyone caught in the blast radius, friend or foe, finds himself "dead in space" with all suit electronics shut down. That means your thrusters are almost dead and there is no audio simulation or HUD. Pop one of these and then commence operation turkey shoot as your opponent is severely hampered until his suit systems boot up again.

And... that's it. The equipment list is decisively spartan and while this is somewhat unconventional, it is not necessarily a bad thing. First, as both sides use identical equipment, things are naturally balanced. Limited set of equipment also means that tactics and pure twitch skill play a bigger part. You cannot rely on creating uneven engagements with equipment.

Zero-G Combat

Moondust fighting.

At launch, three game modes will be present. Skirmish is a bog standard team deathmatch mode - kill the other team, don't get killed. Battle adds multiple control points to each map and whoever gets them all wins the round. Assault modifies the Battle mode by putting one side on the attack while the other side tries to defend each control point in turn. Pretty standard stuff really, and the game could have definitely used something more in this department. On the other hand, this is tried and true - all these modes are known to work from numerous earlier team-based shooters.

Some persistence is added with web-based rankings that track your performance from game to game. You gain military ranks as you go and just about every little bit is recorded to your stats. It would appear that everything is there for related achievements, but we didn't see any during the beta so at this point it is unknown if Steam achievements are going to be included.

All game types are easy to grasp and the challenge comes from adjusting to the full freedom and the way how movement works. While it would appear that staying on the move is beneficial, it is not quite that simple. When floating around, the accuracy at range is limited and if you do land and stay put for improved accuracy, you are also sitting duck - especially for enemy snipers. In general, fighting feels more like "maneuver to a superior position, get a kill, get out, reposition" rather than "circle strafe guns blazing". Shattered Horizon does feel a bit slower than most shooters, but the extra rocket pack boost ability does allow quick escapes and fast dashes into close quarters when it is needed.

There is also a noticeable learning curve to tackle - nothing too harsh, mind you, but there is a new skillset to learn. It was funny to see how during the first day of beta, new testers were mostly fodder for those who had already played the game during in-house testing sessions. It was laughably easy to ambush people from unexpected angles as the gut reaction was to "think two-dimensionally". However, as the hardcore FPS gamers got a few hours of play under their belt and figured it all out, the tables were turned and the devs were often getting completely owned in their own game.

Space, The Final Frontier

Harsh sunlight and realistic space look really makes Shattered Horizon visually distinct.

Visually Shattered Horizon is quite distinctive - it really goes for that real space look with bright and harsh lighting and many shades of gray dominating the scene. At highest settings there is a ton of detail everywhere and at all times you are playing against the backdrop of Earth - which really looks massive and detailed, like it should. I guess nobody expected anything other than great visuals from the guys who have worked on 3DMark benchmarks, but personally I'm impressed how true to the real space photos and videos Shattered Horizon looks. It really is a lot like what human built structures in space could look like in a few decades.

Same goes with the audio. Shattered Horizon is one of the very few games that actually acknowledges that no, there is no sound in space. Okay, practical considerations mean that there has to be audio cues for fighting but they actually come from your suit that is running a simulation software. Should you get hit by an EMP and lose all your suit electronics, you get to hear what it would probably sound like in space - you hear only muffled bass from your thrusters and your gun transmitted through your suit and the sound of your breathing.

FGS also added a stealthy "Silent Running" mode to the game during beta for added super-cool factor, allowing you to shut down your suit on purpose for the same effect. Your maneuverability is reduced as thrusters are working only at minimum power, but importantly your thrusters no longer light up the area as you move and you won't show up on the HUDs of other players (friend or foe), making it much easier to pull off ambushes. Very very cool.

A Bit Thin...

While Shattered Horizon succeeds in many ways, it is not perfect. Personally my biggest worry about Shattered Horizon is that no matter how you count it, it is a bit thin in content. Mind you, it is supposed to be priced accordingly and the gameplay is fairly strong even with the amount of content that is included, but the obvious question is - what are the plans post-launch to support the game and the community? All the really important parts are there with some truly unique aspects that make things entertaining, but as usual, gamers always want more stuff.

So I poked the FGS guys with this very question and got this back from the Marketing Director;

Our community is very important to us. For example, there are several features in Shattered Horizon, and even a whole level, which were designed and added to the game as direct result of feedback from our beta testers. After Shattered Horizon launches we will continue to listen to our community and support the game. We'll be making an announcement about our post-launch plans for Shattered Horizon soon.

And yes, it is true - a lot of good things were done during the beta and as far as levels go, "The Arc" was pretty much developed based on beta feedback, so if that is any indication...

Tech Bits

Fighting inside the "spine" of ISS, there is a ton of detail at the highest settings.

Shattered Horizon may not be the first DirectX 10-only game (I think Stormrise grabbed that title), but it is one of the first ones developed from ground up around DX10. That means it will require Windows Vista or Windows 7 to run simply because DX10 is not available for XP. Minimum requirements ask for Core 2 Duo E6600 / Athlon 64 X2 5600+ paired with GeForce 8800 GT / Radeon HD 3870. Not really that much by today's standards, but obviously a step above your average DX9 title.

Personally I played mostly using two systems - one with a GeForce 9800GTX 512MB and one with a GeForce GTX 285 1GB. Both with Intel Core 2 Quad (Q6600 and Q9650). On both systems the game ran without issues when suitably configured - Q9650/GTX 285 combo allowed me to max out all settings at 1920x1200 while the slower Q6600/9800GTX setup didn't quite manage that and "medium" setting worked out better. I think the highest texture settings actually eats up more than 512MB of video card memory when AA/AF is enabled, so cards with more than 512MB may fare better at maximum settings. Also, in my experience the video card is the bit that matters the most. Naturally this is all based on the performance of the last two beta builds - it is quite possible that the performance is still getting tweaks before the release.

It should also be noted that the game used to run a lot worse during the early days of the beta, so if someone tells you that you need a monster rig to even play the game, take it with a grain of salt. It may have been true two months ago, it is not true any more. A fast dual core and a good "midrange" DX10 card (9800GTX/GTS 250, HD 4830) will do just fine at acceptable settings, even if it may have trouble with maxed out visuals. Some have actually played on something as low end as GeForce 8600 GTS, even if such a card does struggle quite a bit.

At this time (at the end of beta) SLI was supported while Crossfire was still "being worked on".

Hey, This Is Different

The Moon - slightly worse off after a little accident, but it really gives a cool setting for Shattered Horizon.

Anyway, while Shattered Horizon is fundamentally "just another team-based MP shooter", it manages to stand out from the crowd with some genuine innovations. Zero-G is not just a gimmick - it really changes the gameplay, requiring a whole new learning curve. Luckily the controls are well thought out and help you adjust.

The other really impressive bit is the visual style. I can't recall any other recent game that has managed to capture the look of space - harsh lighting and dark shadows - so well. The only unrealistic bit I can think of is that the starry backgrounds are too visible compared to the NASA imagery - in reality reflected sunlight from Earth and from any nearby objects would drown out the stars from the view - but I guess a pitch black background wouldn't work in practice. In every other way Shattered Horizon is visually probably the closest thing to "being there".

So, not perfect but a very impressive and decisively unique multiplayer shooter. Can't really comment on the value side as final price has not yet been announced, but if priced right, even the "lack of content" (as far as we got to see during beta) is not really a huge deal - I'll take innovative gameplay over dozens of useless toys any day. In summary, not bad for a small development team working on their first game, not bad at all.