Excuse Me, I Have a
Building to Blow Up

Hands-On with
NetDevil’s Entry-FPS, Warmonger
– Operation: Downtown Destruction

By Cody
“Micajah” Bye

Have you ever had a building’s wall collapse on top
of your head? Tons of brick and mortar collapsing around you as you
struggle to find a way out? What about using a moving bus to cover your
movements as you advance past enemy infantry, bullets ringing off the
metallic frame of the overly large vehicle? Perhaps you’ve
destroyed the stairs you just ran up, covering your point of entry from
any hostile interlopers?

width="200">
href="http://tth.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album323&id=Chris_Sherman_discussing_Warmonger&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/tth/gallery/albums/album323/Chris_Sherman_discussing_Warmonger.thumb.jpg"
alt="Chris Sherland discussing Warmonger"
title="Chris Sherland discussing Warmonger" name="photo_j"
border="0" height="150" width="103">
Chris Sherland, Producer of NetDevil's Warmonger

Thankfully, most of us have never been in these sorts of
situations and barring a stint in the military, probably never will.
But in a few months, you might be able to experience the sensation of a
wall falling on you, taking cover behind a moving bus, or blasting the
stairs you just ascended to cover your backside. style="font-style: italic;">Warmonger – Operation:
Downtown Destruction, represents the entry of NetDevil
into the genre of first person shooters (FPS) and the team is setting
their sites high for their initial product.

Working closely with AGEIA and PhysX Technology, NetDevil has
constructed Warmonger
to represent the epitome of destructible environments. By taking
advantage of the AGEAI PhysX cards – which are required to
run the game – the action in Warmonger is entirely centered
around defeating an opponents strategy through the destruction of his
environment. Almost everything in the game can be demolished, from
building walls to car doors to floors and ceilings. If you shoot it,
some sort of deformity should occur. See that car over there? Blow the
doors off! A wall is separating you from your enemy? Carve through it
with your chaingun and mow down your enemy on the other side!

Those of you who are wondering where you need to go to
preorder the game needn’t worry; thanks to the partnership
between NetDevil and AGEIA to create style="font-style: italic;">Warmonger, the game
will be entirely free of charge. While NetDevil has hinted at expanding
the game down the road and making weapon or map packs cost a few
dollars, the initial game will be absolutely free. However, you will
need that PhysX card to run the game, or else you’re stuck
with a free game you can’t play.

Over the last few months, there’s been a great deal
of interest generated about Warmonger and how the game has been
progressing, yet there have been very few – if any
– demonstrations or hands-on play sessions with the press and
public…until now. At NetDevil’s Open House event,
the team behind the super-destructible FPS had gone out of their way to
make a build that was relatively stable, fast, and responsive. While
the game was still under development – there was a suggestion
that the game is still a few months from release – the build
was very solid, and I’ll relay the gameplay experience of style="font-style: italic;">Warmonger to the
best of my ability.

width="200">
href="http://tth.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album328&id=Boom&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/tth/gallery/albums/album328/Boom.thumb.jpg"
alt="Boom!" title="Boom!" name="photo_j"
border="0" height="94" width="150">
That's a scary scene when it happens right in your face.

Eight computers separated the two teams of four players into
either an “Attacker” or a
“Defender” status. In these one-sided capture the
flag matches, attackers tried to advance a flag to the defenders base
while the defenders tried to hold off the attack for as long as
possible. In the build that we played, players had three weapon
configurations to choose from, an assault rifle, a chaingun, and a
rocket launcher. Each configuration sports a hammer (which increases
your run speed by 30%) and a pistol as standard equipment if you run
out of ammo. The assault rifle is your standard machine gun-type
weapon, with a sticky grenade launcher as an alternate weapon. Your
chaingun can tear through most obstacles as quickly as a rocket
launcher, but is very inaccurate if used for long bursts. The rocket
launcher seemed to be the weapon of choice during the event, even with
the limited amount of ammo it carries, as players were constantly
firing the missiles at each other through the building.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Warmonger Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

Comments