Space dungeons ahoy!
Greed:Black Border is a recently released dungeon crawler available on Steam. The setting tends toward sci-fi, though from the start it’s quick to throw in zombie horrors to match the security droids and giant alien insects/crustaceans. No surprise, it doesn’t really deviate from the roots, though it focuses on ranged combat for the three classes which equal out to long, medium, and short range guns. There’s very very little variety within those options. You’re packing a rifle, a minigun, or a flamer. That’s it. It will, eventually, do slightly different things (like a bi-directional spray for flamers), but players pick a role and stick with it.
As a result, the pyro class tends to show off the game’s deficiencies with a lack of long range weapons and abilities. Most of the time enemies come to the player, but ranged ones keep some distance. Pyro players are stuck chasing them into corners and using the dodge ability constantly. They’re also likely to get stuck on an enemy. The game is too sensitive in deciding what a player is trying to do, and even when it seems like there’s a wide range, they’ll get locked onto a target when they were trying to run away. Since pyros are up close and personal they have a bigger problem with it, especially in crowded fights or boss fights.
Somewhat a genre weakness, boss fights really tend to drag out, and a lack of checkpoints means a big timesink and loads of frustration; to make matters worse, the game has a tendency to have a framerate drop in the midst of those fights, usually when the boss is entering bullet hell mode. Losing because you messed up is one thing, losing because the game doesn’t work right is another. Even in normal exploration with lowered settings the game likes to slow down with crowds, and when combined with the overly-eager targeting, it’s a recipe for disaster.
Somewhat an issue of the genre’s isometric nature, Greed tends to hide enemies behind walls. When the cursor is over them and they’re in the player’s line of sight, they’re highlighted. But that’s only when the cursor is over them, meaning unless you have ESP, you have to get guessing, only aware of the problem at all when you start taking damage.
There’s also quite a few “gotcha!” moments as a result, frustrating deaths that should never have happened, really. Often they’re just BEFORE a checkpoint, and after an already significant fight players were intended to have just scraped through. Being jumped by an overpowered enemy around the corner just isn’t fun in this kind of game.
A critical oversight is the lack of pausing for menus and windows. Inventory, skills, or the computer menu leave things running. Normally it’s not a big problem, but plot critical items pop up a new window, and that two seconds can be exactly the amount of time it takes a swarm of enemies to overwhelm you.
Unsurprisingly there’s occasional pathfinding issues when going to open containers, but for the most part characters find their way around without too much difficulty, a common genre issue. There’s a lack of inventory space, but toward the end of the first level players can start selling items, and they can be converted into raw ore at any point, which converts large items into a single square stackable material. Instantly being converted into actual cash would have been better, but it’s a reasonable solution, if tedious since every item has to be done individually.
Outside of all those complaints, there is some fun to be found really. The environments are nicely done, and while they tend toward meandering they’re well built and believable. The artistic style is a semi-realistic design with a bright palette. Enemies are large and the most dangerous enemy types have distinctive silhouettes. Enemies that tend toward support roles or have particularly high damage usually get a particle effect or a glow to help them stand out as key targets, a nice touch for the all-important prioritizing that has to take place rapidly.
The game’s voice acting is cheesy in just the right way, helping to lend to the overall feel of 1980s sci-fi that it runs with. The weapons, the audio, the visual styles all have a level of camp that’s hard to not enjoy. The enemies too, giant crabs, zombies, and powerloaders, all feel like they belong in mid-80ssci-fi/horror movies, being mowed down by Jessie Ventura.
And when the game is in its groove, it’s fun. Searching new areas, figuring out new enemies, mowing down hordes. It’s just a shame it falls out of it so often, into the conventions and failings of the genre.
Greed:Black Border gets 2.5 out of 5. Really fun moments marred tedious bossfights and some big oversights. There’s a tendency toward tedium, inherent in the genre, but it does try to throw in some surprises that can end up being quite entertaining.
