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Damnation (video game)
Encyclopedia
Damnation is a steampunk
shooter
, developed by Blue Omega Entertainment and published by Codemasters
. It was released on May 22, 2009 on Microsoft Windows
, PlayStation 3
and Xbox 360
.
has spanned over several decades, where steam engines replace combustion engines. The game sees the protagonists fighting off a rich industrialist who wants to do away with both the Union and Confederate armies in one swift movement and turn the United States of America into a country called the "American Empire" with a totalitarian dictatorship.
During Rourke's adventures, he works with or against a number of characters, including Yakecan, an ally and Indian healer, and Jack, a scientist for the enemy. He also works with a shaman named Akahando against the forces of the evil Prescott, an arms dealer bent on the domination of America.
The Resistance army is fighting PSI, led by Commander Selina, on a bridge in a deserted city. Hamilton and his group fight their way through the city to the bridge and destroy it only for PSI to repair it and continue fighting. As they make their escape Jack is captured and the rest retreat on to their Air ship. They Yakecan's brother who tells them that Prescott is raping the earth of its resources to make "Serum", which makes his soldiers fight harder. The Group leaves to rescue Jack with the help of their new powers that allow them to see enemies before they see them. The group lands in Boom Town where the citizens are crazy on serum, They were miners before Prescott infected their water supply a made them blood thirsty. They fight their way through and meet up with the injured enemy Jack, who happens to be the daughter of Doc, they take her and Doc repairs her arm. But she escapes on a plane and the group goes after her but are shot down by Selina's troops. Prescott captures Akahando and forces him to revel his powers to see the future. Hamilton fights his way through the rest of the city and finds Selina who attempts to kill them with a turret but Jack comes and helps them fight. They defeat Selina and escape and Jack finds out Prescott's true intentions on domination. Selina survived and rides away with Hamilton going after so he can find his missing wife Daydon. He and Jack make it to an ancient ruined site and find Selina and the Hooded stranger who revels himself to be a transformed and tortured Daydon who begs Hamilton to end her life. They fight and Daydon is defeated but Selina escapes. The PSI army attack Terra Verda and took it over. Hamilton makes it to the city where he and his group battles to liberate the city. They battle Selina again which ended with Jack drowning her in a fountain. They activate the citys water system which opens the water gates and drowns the invading forces in sea water. The group infiltrates Prescott's HQ and the final battle begins. Prescott reveals his powerful weapon, a mech, and fights Hamilton. He destroys the mech but Precott lifts the machine up and throws it after taking a large dose of his own serum to finally kill Hamilton. But he defeats Prescott as his corpse turns to ash. The group saves Akahando and leave in their Airship finally ending Prescott's reign of terror and bringing peace to America.
mod, and was entered into Epic Games
first Make Something Unreal contest. It came in second place for best Total Conversion game modification. The retail version retains much of its mod's gameplay, including third person gameplay, acrobatic moves and spirit vision.
A demo was scheduled to be released on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace
in early January 2009 but that was never released.
The game was delayed numerous times from its original fall 2008 release window, with numerous release dates thereafter being given and then missed before finally being released on May 22, 2009.
. The PC version has a 42 rating on Metacritic. IGN
reviewer Greg Miller gave Damnation a 2.5 saying that the graphics, voice acting, and gunplay is terrible: "avoid this game at all costs". Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer
rated the game a 3/10. Andy Hartup wrote in Xbox World 360
that the game was "[o]ne of the worst shooters of this generation. The clue really is in the name..."
Junglist and Bajo, from the Australian gaming show Good Game, said that they enjoyed the environment and exploring but felt the A.I. was overpowered and unintelligent, each rating the game 5.5 out of 10.
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
shooter
Shooter game
Shooter games are a sub-genre of action game, which often test the player's speed and reaction time. It includes many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing "on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon. Usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon". A common...
, developed by Blue Omega Entertainment and published by Codemasters
Codemasters
The Codemasters Software Company Limited, or Codemasters is a British video game developer founded by Richard and David Darling in 1986...
. It was released on May 22, 2009 on Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
.
Gameplay
Damnation features large, open environments where a variety of acrobatics and Hollywood-action stunts are possible. Damnation features verticality which differentiates it from many other games in the genre. Damnation has steam-powered vehicles which are also able to execute various feats of mobility, such as climbing up walls.Setting
Set on an alternate planet Earth and in the early part of the twentieth century after the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
has spanned over several decades, where steam engines replace combustion engines. The game sees the protagonists fighting off a rich industrialist who wants to do away with both the Union and Confederate armies in one swift movement and turn the United States of America into a country called the "American Empire" with a totalitarian dictatorship.
Synopsis
Damnation centers around a group of freedom fighters led by Hamilton Rourke in a desperate attempt to protect a war torn, heavily industrialized America from a dictator.During Rourke's adventures, he works with or against a number of characters, including Yakecan, an ally and Indian healer, and Jack, a scientist for the enemy. He also works with a shaman named Akahando against the forces of the evil Prescott, an arms dealer bent on the domination of America.
The Resistance army is fighting PSI, led by Commander Selina, on a bridge in a deserted city. Hamilton and his group fight their way through the city to the bridge and destroy it only for PSI to repair it and continue fighting. As they make their escape Jack is captured and the rest retreat on to their Air ship. They Yakecan's brother who tells them that Prescott is raping the earth of its resources to make "Serum", which makes his soldiers fight harder. The Group leaves to rescue Jack with the help of their new powers that allow them to see enemies before they see them. The group lands in Boom Town where the citizens are crazy on serum, They were miners before Prescott infected their water supply a made them blood thirsty. They fight their way through and meet up with the injured enemy Jack, who happens to be the daughter of Doc, they take her and Doc repairs her arm. But she escapes on a plane and the group goes after her but are shot down by Selina's troops. Prescott captures Akahando and forces him to revel his powers to see the future. Hamilton fights his way through the rest of the city and finds Selina who attempts to kill them with a turret but Jack comes and helps them fight. They defeat Selina and escape and Jack finds out Prescott's true intentions on domination. Selina survived and rides away with Hamilton going after so he can find his missing wife Daydon. He and Jack make it to an ancient ruined site and find Selina and the Hooded stranger who revels himself to be a transformed and tortured Daydon who begs Hamilton to end her life. They fight and Daydon is defeated but Selina escapes. The PSI army attack Terra Verda and took it over. Hamilton makes it to the city where he and his group battles to liberate the city. They battle Selina again which ended with Jack drowning her in a fountain. They activate the citys water system which opens the water gates and drowns the invading forces in sea water. The group infiltrates Prescott's HQ and the final battle begins. Prescott reveals his powerful weapon, a mech, and fights Hamilton. He destroys the mech but Precott lifts the machine up and throws it after taking a large dose of his own serum to finally kill Hamilton. But he defeats Prescott as his corpse turns to ash. The group saves Akahando and leave in their Airship finally ending Prescott's reign of terror and bringing peace to America.
Development
The game originally started as an Unreal Tournament 2004Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 2004, also known as UT2K4 and UT2004, is a futuristic first-person shooter computer game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes...
mod, and was entered into Epic Games
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of...
first Make Something Unreal contest. It came in second place for best Total Conversion game modification. The retail version retains much of its mod's gameplay, including third person gameplay, acrobatic moves and spirit vision.
A demo was scheduled to be released on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace
Xbox Live Marketplace
The Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content...
in early January 2009 but that was never released.
The game was delayed numerous times from its original fall 2008 release window, with numerous release dates thereafter being given and then missed before finally being released on May 22, 2009.
Promotion
A console design contest has been made available for US residents. Contestants could submit their designs using any available design tool. The prize was a limited edition PlayStation 3 with steampunk design.Reception
Damnation was met with generally negative reviews. The Xbox 360 version has a 39 percent rating on GameRankings, and a 37 out of 100 rating on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. The PC version has a 42 rating on Metacritic. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
reviewer Greg Miller gave Damnation a 2.5 saying that the graphics, voice acting, and gunplay is terrible: "avoid this game at all costs". Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
rated the game a 3/10. Andy Hartup wrote in Xbox World 360
Xbox World 360
Xbox World 360 is a British Xbox and Xbox 360 magazine published by Future Publishing.- History :Xbox World 360 began life as Xbox World, with issue one released in early 2003, over a year after the Xbox's release...
that the game was "[o]ne of the worst shooters of this generation. The clue really is in the name..."
Junglist and Bajo, from the Australian gaming show Good Game, said that they enjoyed the environment and exploring but felt the A.I. was overpowered and unintelligent, each rating the game 5.5 out of 10.
External links
- Damnation official site
- Damnation modification site at moddb.com