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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?

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. 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 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 Warmonger to the best of my ability.

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.