Games that use religion as a selling point are doomed from the start. Game designers that are so unoriginal that they have to steal ideas and prophecies from the Christian religion shouldn?t be viewed seriously. Don?t get me wrong here, I?m not a religious person, but I don?t think anyone?s religion should be portrayed in a video game. Regardless of a positive or negative portrayal, other peoples? beliefs shouldn?t be put into a game. Requiem uses a highly controversial topic to sell its game, but does it really deliver? Not really, Requiem mainly consists of the same tired first person shooter formula; find keys, find switches, and shoot the bad people.

Assuming the role of Malichi, a loyal angel, you must destroy all of hell?s minions, who obviously plan to take over the world in some sinister plot. Initially you begin your battle in the depths of hell, however, after a few minutes of game play you are blasted into the futuristic world of earth. Requiem sets its self apart from other first person shooters in two aspects, powers and NPC interaction. Powers consist of; flight, blood boil, salt, Pentecost, brimstone, Lightning, Exorcist, Apocalypse, Plague, Heal, Deflect, Holy Light, Shockwave, Warp Time, Enhanced speed, Resurrect, Possess, and heal other. Each power is classified as defensive, offensive, maneuver, and interactive. The number of times you can use a power directly relates to the amount of essence you have. Each time a power is used it consumes a certain amount of essence. This is basically a mana-based system. The only other feature that sets Requiem apart from other FPS is the NPC interaction. In some places its best not to have a weapon in hand as the people around you will view you as a threat and cower down. Talking to people consists of hitting the tab button over and over again, until they stop talking or give you some kind of objective. This feature isn?t implemented very well since all you need to do is press tab a bunch of times to "interact" with people. One annoying quirk I found was that if you killed an "innocent", dots of greenish mist would suddenly rain down and you are killed instantly.

In Direct3D mode Requiem is a step down from any of the popular first person shooters on the market. Requiem also supports glide rendering, but I was unable to view the glide version since I have a TNT. The world of Requiem can either be a dull sterile place or a discombobulating trip through hell. When you start off in hell the first thing that comes to mind is a trip through the funhouse at an amusement park. The designers figured that in hell everything is wobbly and dizzying. Personally I don?t think hell would be a dizzying experience, but hey I didn?t make the game. Hell is depicted as a brutal place and is done so by the placement of screaming bodies and little chest buster type creatures (Aliens). The motif is pure blood, the walls are blood and the ground is blood, and with the occasional stained glass window of some poor soul suffering. Thankfully this idiotic experience only lasts a few minutes and Malichi is transported to the future. At first glance this new land looks very nice, however, once you begin moving around, you find that nothing is interactive. For example, rockets don?t leave explosion marks, blood doesn?t splatter on to walls, and objects like books and potted plants aren?t breakable. This left me with the impression of being in a cold and uninteractive environment. To add to this feeling of cheapness, explosion effects were pitiful, consisting of one large blast with three or four circles of fire radiating from either side. The much toted powers aren?t much to look at either. Been there done that basically. Most of the powers effects are reminiscent of Quake 2 or even Quake 1 at times. You want to see the most uninspired boring weapons you have ever seen in a first person shooter? Well Requiem is your answer. Weapons consist of: pistol, machine gun, shotgun, grenade launcher, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, and a gun that shoots green balls. Wow some thought sure went into designing these weapons! The only positive aspect of Requiems graphical engine is in the character modeling. When a solider is hit with a shotgun blast to the chest he will grab it and limp a bit. However, there is no direct damage shown on the body, like blood or gunpowder residue. The only thing that can happen to the enemy is he will fall down, lose his head, or simply explode.

When you enter hell the first thing you hear are babies crying and women screaming, which really does create a hellish environment. But, after this the sound effects are your average run of the mill, first person shooter effects. Explosions aren?t earth shattering, gunshots aren?t believable, and the powers sound horrible. The only plus Requiem had going for it was the voice acting. It is well done and deserves some attention.

Every first person shooter on the market has an easy setup to remap your controls, however, the one in Requiem left me clenching my fists in anger. Not only is the menu text blurred and hard to read, but just remapping your keys can be a chore in its self. The biggest fault in Requiem?s controls lies in the game design itself. To use some of the powers you must have a hotkey bound to it. However, with so many powers, remembering what key you bound to what becomes confusing. Thankfully there is a button that lets you cycle through them. In Deathmatch however, speed is vital so you want to have instant access to each power. Another annoyance is getting up and down ladders, an easy task in most first person shooters. Instead of effortlessly climbing it, you must hold down jump or crouch depending which way you are going, and for some reason it seems impossible to get off the ladder.

For a first person shooter, solid multiplayer is vital. However, you won?t find any of that in Requiem. With a cable host I suffered unplayable lag, in the form of bouncing to one location to another. All connection types are supported, IPX, modem, TCP/IP, and serial. If you can?t play Requiem over the Internet on a modem it really has no value to the general public. However, if you are blessed with a fast connection you might have a decent time.

I didn't much like Requiem. I?ve played so many better games, so why should I bother with Requiem? Everything about this game is tired; it has all been done before. I?m still looking for a first person shooter that deviates from the standard design of searching for keys or buttons. Maybe in the future there will be a multiplayer patch that will add some flare to Requiem, but until that happens, play something with a little more purity.