The Creed is one of the first "game noir" titles to hit the
shelves so far, with titles like Slave Zero and Kingpin set to follow.
For those of you who are unfamiliar as to what "game noir"
actually means, here is a recap. During the early forties to the late
fifties, a film style was used called film noir. Film noir basically
had dark lighting, wretched city locations, and of course violence.
Game designers are creating new games based on this style, and
The Creed definitely has aspects of film noir.
3D Acceleration support
The story begins with either Guy or Gene crash landing
on the planet Outpost IV. Unfortunately, you end up in the most
violent city in the galaxy, Cerberus. Guy Wolfe is a bounty hunter
after Gene?s head, and Gene is a smart ass criminal trying to
evade Guy. The two have a confrontation together and the local
cops break it up. After beating up the police, you head to the
nearest hologram machine in order to work on a mission. Missions
are a form of reward and payment, idealistically Guy and Gene
wish to get enough kreds to leave this forsaken planet. For the
most part the characters Guy and Gene are the same, as well as
the missions, it just depends on your personal preference as to
which character you play. Once you find the hologram machines
and probably witness a few shootings, you are introduced to the
three local powers; The Government, The Brotherhood, and The
Order. The government is the future?s form of Nazis, they wish to
control everyone and are a sinister force. The Brotherhood on the
other hand are religious, righteous crusaders. Last but not least,
The Order, the nastiest guys on the planet, murder and robbery are
an every day activity for this group. Missions vary from simple
assassination missions to locating a pimp and his "bitch" to be a
part of a psychic mind controlling experiment.
In The Creed you are placed in a city without any set
path to take, simply what you feel like doing. If you feel like
picking a fight with a cop, by all means go ahead. If you want to
talk to a hooker on the street, feel free too. Yet be prepared for
harassment and death threats by police for simply doing nothing.
Wandering street gangs also will try to stick you up, but if you have
a shotgun they won?t be much of a nuisance. The environment is
setup much like syndicate wars, cars drive past you on the city
streets and citizens stroll about. Interactivity is limited however,
you can?t permanently damage buildings, but you can blow up
cars. Weaponry will help you make your point in this world, so you
need lots of it. Weapons include pistols, knifes, shotgun, minigun,
flame-thrower, uzi, rocket launcher, laser blaster, and more.
Initially I became very disappointed with the graphics
engine. However, once I moved on to more decorative
environments, I appreciated the pre-rendered backgrounds. The
game is meant dark and bleak, and for the most part this creepy
atmosphere is pulled off very well. Many of the pre-rendered
backgrounds have bits of animation in them. For example, barrels
with fire in them glow wildly in the night as smoke rises from
them, which is a piece of eye-candy. Other scenes include steps
leading to buildings are illuminated by lights, streets are lit by
eerie street lamps, etc. If you have ever played Syndicate Wars,
you will be right at home with the viewpoint. The viewpoint is
done via overhead camera located in preset locations, one might
suggest this isn?t to creative, however, it works perfectly with the
game. My only complaint is character rendering, most of the
characters have the rough jagged edges on them that plague so
many 3d accelerated games. Weapon effects also seem to have
some problems with them. For example, explosion effects would
stay on the screen to long and overlap current explosions, creating
psychedelic experience. Please keep in mind this could be driver
related and not all gamers will experience this. For the most part,
The Creed creates a great apocalyptic city environment and sets
the grim mood flawlessly.
Control could possibly be The Creeds only fault, due to
its inconsistencies and failure to access the remaking of all
actions. Gamers are given the option to use either a game pad or
a mouse and keyboard combo. I opted to use the keyboard,
because you would need a huge amount of buttons on your game
pad to accurately control Guy or Gene. Control consists of walking
around and talking to people or killing them. Aiming is horribly
done, I could never hit a target on my first try and was forced to
shoot in a sweeping motion. If you can overcome the obstacles of
control, the game becomes rather enjoyable. After a few hours of
gameplay I began to adapt, but be prepared for some frustration
and adapting time.
Blood curdling screams, the blast of a shotgun and the
scurry of rats devouring flesh are just some of the sounds you
come across in The Creed. The voice acting in The Creed is very
enjoyable, but if your easily offended, don?t bother playing the
game. Guy and Gene frequently use words like fuck and shit,
however, if you picked up the censored version, you won?t be
hearing any of this sweet language. Its been quite some time since
I have played a game that actually had some real bad words in it.
Some of you might be saying this is a bit mindless and stupid,
however, it only adds to the atmosphere. The musical score is
average, and suits the game well. Generally, I was impressed with
the sound effects and the voice acting.
Multiplayer is another one of The Creed?s few faults, it
supports up to 8 players via every connection out there. With a T3
host the lag made the game unplayable on my 56k modem. If
you?re blessed to have a fast connection, I imagine multiplayer
won?t be lagged for you. One fault I did find was the ability to
cheat in mulitplayer with a trainer.
Game noir is cool, I want more of it. Wandering around
in a massive city with a huge mini gun can be rather enjoyable.
Anyone who enjoys a good romp through a futuristic city should
defiantly check The Creed out. The only faults I find with the game
are the lagged multiplayer and harsh control adaptation. But be
warned, those of you who are sensitive to violence should look
elsewhere.
-Goods: Great atmosphere, freedom to do what you want, good
graphics engine, interesting dialogue, and cool weapons
-Negatives: Lagged Multiplayer and stiff adaptation period
18/20
14/15
26/30
18/20
1/5
9/10
By: 
