Scourge: Outbreak (XBLA)

These days it seems that creative innovation has been replaced by inspiration, and influence. Often times game developers stick with tried, and true gaming formulas that have proven successful for others in the industry. Sadly enough the developer of Scourge: Outbreak (Tragnarion Studios) has fallen victim to this process of game design, and thinking. In essence the game that they have created comes off as being more of a GoW (Gears of War) clone. It borrows basic ideas from said franchise creating only a semi-unique experience in the process. At the heart of the story there is a corrupt corporation called the "Nogari" who is dealing in biological warfare, and a counter-terrorist group called "Tran" that are at odds with one another. Tran, and it's ECHO squad are ultimately trying to unearth the secret goings on of the Nogari, so that they can expose their intentions to the world. In the process of doing so they meet opposition from within, and outside of their own operations. The three man, and one woman ECHO squad ultimately finds themselves in the midst of a conspiracy that will have them fighting for their lives, and questioning their source of intel as well.

Scourge: Outbreak in simple terms is a singleplayer, and multiplayer co-op experience that plays heavily on the GoW (Gears of War) style of controls, and visuals. The game's campaign allows the player to choose one of four different ECHO squad members who must in turn lead & command the rest of the group through various story oriented combat scenarios. The squad members you can choose from consist of three men (Shade, Stonewall, Mass), and a female squad member named "Amp". Each squad member comes complete with their own unique agenda, and bio that better explains their involvement in the plot. Later on you'll also find that there's some in-game cutscenes as well that further flesh out their roles within the game. As you can probably guess the chemically enhanced squad members have their own special attacks that can be used during the game's many shoot-out encounters. These special moves in turn require a chemical source known in the game as "Ambrosia" to enable the telekinetic abilities (shields, energy bursts ...). Ambrosia, as mysterious as it sounds is a part of the Nogari experiments that come from scientific research involving a meteorite. By utilizing the weapons at hand, melee combat, and your chosen character's special "Ambrosia" fueled abilities you will have to travel form location to location amongst the various locales that encompass the Nogari's research facility while taking on your opposition at the same time.

Traversing the various labs, and facility grounds that are found within the game is done in a similar fashion as what the GoW games provide. Your characters are all shown in a third person POV (Point of View), and act/react as they would in such a game. For example, you can sprint by holding down the "A" button, or even duck behind obstacles for cover using the "A" button. Things like cover fire, and hipfire act in a similar way to the control mechanics offered in a GoW experience. You'll also find that you can revive your squad mates by holding down "B" when they are down (once again a GoW feature). While Tragnarion Studios did obviously attempt to mimic the GoW controls, and features they fell short in even coming close to the quality that the GoW experience provided. Aiming in the game is very difficult to get a handle on, and certain button presses do not provide the desired effects most of the time. It is truly a flawed experience that would turn away most gamers early on.

Each stage of the main campaign which can be played in three different difficulty settings (Difficulties: Easy, Normal, Nightmare) consists of a collection of cutscenes, onscreen dialogue, and cover based shoot-outs. After choosing your squad member you will have to take your team carefully along as you hack the facility's terminals, and meet other objective requirements (in order). While most of the cutscenes are universal in nature you will find that there are specific cutscenes which cater to each characters' individual involvement within the plot. These cutscenes can ultimately be unlocked, and watched via a main menu option. Another thing to note is that your character/s level up as the would in a COD (Call of Duty) game. You heard me right. You will be earning XP for killing off all the onscreen enemies as well as doing other feats such as reviving a teammate. As with any military based XP ranking system you'll find that your chosen character gains military ranks based on the XP that is earned. Certain perks can also be obtained through XP leveling. Whether you play online, or offline the XP, ranks, and perks that you earn will follow your chosen character throughout your mode of choice.

The "Multiplayer" portion of "Scourge: Outbreak" on the other hand is surprisingly more competitive in nature than the main campaign. Sure you still have the campaign experience via an online CO-OP option, but you also have the opportunity to play three different versus modes. Instead of joining players for a co-op based story playthrough you can choose to go head-to-head in either "Deathmatch", "Team Deathmatch", or "Capture the Flag". You can also use your earned perks, and abilities to your advantage as you engage in online ranked/unranked matches. Unfortunately you'll likely also find that this game mode is just as flawed as it's story mode counterpart. For now I cannot be certain about that though, due to my inability to find anyone playing the game online.

Graphically "Scourge: Outbreak" is often times outdated in appearance. The cutscenes in particular look as if they were mostly taken from an Xbox era game. Very rarely does this game shine visually, but when it does it's not all that bad. I do understand that the game offered a lot of visually different locations/details, and that this in itself probably caused the lowering in resolution. Honestly though it was still a bit of a letdown seeing the game as it was shown. I will say that the characters looked pretty darn cool for an XBLA game, especially with their suits' lighting effects. Every time I gazed upon them though I couldn't help, but think "Gears of War" though.

Now onto the verdict ...

I cannot stress enough the importance of being original in whatever it is that you do. Originality, however hard it may be to achieve is truly the key to great success. With that being said I get the logic behind thinking that the GoW experience is not easily rivaled, and that it caught the undivided attention of many gamers in it's time. I also understand the logic in thinking that using GoW gameplay as a base model for a game would seem like a positive thing to do from a developers' standpoint. The fact is though that cloning a game's experience is not the way to go, and taking the easy way out will most definitely not benefit a developer in the long run. On Tragnarion Studios' behalf I think that they did an excellent job in delivering their own story even though it was a tiny bit familiar feature-wise. Things like the underlying "Resident Evil (evil corporation hellbent on destroying the world through biological means)" based plot, and GoW style combat scenarios that accompanied the game will probably not provide that new experience that most gamers will be looking for though. Had the graphics been thoroughly better, or the actual gameplay been more efficient the overall playthrough experience probably wouldn't have been all that bad. As it currently stands though "Scourge: Outbreak" is too flawed to enjoy.

Things that could greatly improve the game's offline, and multiplayer modes would be adjusted/better control responses, better aiming methods, and better AI responses in offline singleplayer. The control scheme is definitely not user friendly in this game, and the AI assistants will usually act ignorant as you patiently await revival. As the game stands I honestly cannot recommend getting this game. It's way too flawed of an experience to spend high amounts of Microsoft Points on. If by some chance Tragnarion Studios is able to fix the overwhelming issues then perhaps it might be worth getting. Until that time I'm gonna have to say pass.