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When
you can find a server, online play is generally pretty
enjoyable, even if some of the deathmatches get a
little boring at times. The interesting game of Territories
is by far the best multiplayer feature in Devastation.
This mode of play offers a break from the conventional
kill, respawn, kill game we're all used to. That said,
it's a shame there aren't more multiplayer servers
available. There seem to be no more than twenty servers
(for all modes of play) running at a time. For example,
Territories usually doesn't offer more than five server
options at a time. This is a shame considering the
good times offered by this original mode of play.
Another
downside to Devastation's multiplay is the small number
of multiplayer maps available to you at the outset.
You are only given 7 deathmatch, 2 CTF, and 5 Territories
maps. Overall, however, multiplay is decently entertaining,
depsite the scant amount of servers available at a
given time.
Minimum
System Requirements:
Pentium
III 700 MHz (1.0 MHz recommended)
256 MB RAM
3D Accelerated video card with T&L + 32 MB VRAM
(64 MB recommended)
As
is typical of the official System Requirements we
see on game boxes, game manufacturers tend to be a
bit optimistic and decieving. I played the game on
a 1.33 GHz AMD with 512 DDRAM and a GeForce 3 ti200
(64 MB RAM) and encountered some choppiness, especially
during crowded firefights in outdoor locales. Devastation's
rich and detailed environments, while nice eye-candy,
can take their toll on a video card. If you're card's
not sporting more than 64 MB RAM, you might want to
lower the resolution and some graphic settings to
get some smoother gameplay.
Conclusion:
Even
with its bugs, lapses in A.I. and mediocre voice-acting,
Devastation is still a fun and above average first
person shooter. The fact that the A.I. still runs
into so many problems despite a 66MB patch is a little
disheartening, however.
Devastation
does, however, offer an incredibly rich and detailed
gaming environment that does a wonderful job of conveying
the post-apocalyptic mood of the story and. The grim
underbelly of a dystopian San Francisco nightmare
is an excellent venue for an FPS. If only the voice-acting
and A.I. could have been as well-developed as the
environments, Devastation might have been more fully
realized.
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