Mortyr

It’s 1944 and there is a terrible darkness spreading across Europe. The darkness is deep, penetrating, and threatening to envelope every man, woman, and child on the planet. This wave of darkness brings nothing but pain and death to those that it touches. Physical death for those opposed to it, and spiritual death to those who support it. Only one man has the power to thwart this darkness, and the fate of two worlds rests on this brave man's shoulders. One man controls the destiny of billions of people, both in the past and in the future. But can one man stand alone against the darkness?

Mortyr is another in the ever-popular line of first person shooters that have been flooding the market. Like Quake III and Unreal Tournament (the most notable of late), Mortyr combines a shiny new engine with an old cult classic. You guessed it, WOLFENSTEiN is back and you better be ready to take on an armada of Nazis bent on world domination, because they are playing for keeps.

The game is set in Germany during two time periods--1944 and 2093. Your character has been sent back in time to try to eliminate the Nazis before they succeed in their plans to dominate the world. The game actually takes place in both time periods--some levels are set in 1944 and others in 2093. Each time period is totally different. Enemies, weapons, environments and goals all vary according to the period.

Overall, Mortyr's a pretty average game. The control is good, but it’s nothing to write home about. The graphics are acceptable, but comparatively they are pretty middle of the road. By far the weakest and most aggravating aspect of the game is the sound effects. What I don’t understand is how a game like Mortyr could come out and be lacking in some key areas. Were they thinking that we wouldn’t notice? But to be fair, let's go over what works well for the game, then I’ll tell you what to watch out for.

By now you all know how to configure your controls. Like all of the other first person shooters out there on the market this game works best with a keyboard/mouse control set up. The computer AI is decent. The Nazis actually appear to attempt some kind of strategy when engaging you, especially if they are off in the distance. It is not uncommon to be walking along in the shadows and then be dodging sniper shots as bullets rain down from an undisclosed area. The Nazi troops are not always eager to rush up to you and try to gun you down. They'll actually try to hide behind pillars and objects for cover while trying to blow you away.

The levels are well thought out and extremely large in some cases. (This is not a quick finisher). There are 21 levels and each is very well detailed. They are usually dark, in a Gothic sort of way. Lots of stained glass and castle style environments lie between you and your goal. The scenery is actually quite impressive, which is a good thing because it might take your attention away from the poor renderings of the Nazi soldiers. They are very polygonal. Another gripe is that they all seem to die the same. You can shoot them in the leg, burn them with a flame-thrower, or take them out with a rocket launcher and all of the corpses look the same. They lay on the floor with a little bit of blood on their cloths, and that’s it. What’s up with that?

Weapons were well developed. They look good and there are some pretty cool weapons that you can add to your inventory. The weapons look and sound pretty realistic and there is nothing like running around setting people on fire! The only bad thing is that some of the weapons seem to be a mystery. You know the kind of weapon I am referring to. The kind where you shoot it at someone and it does something. What it does though is anyone’s guess. Some of the futuristic weapons were like that. You shoot Nazis with it and then wonder what the hell that did as they continue to take pot shots at you while you ponder this issue. Then, of course, there is the small sighting/targeting issue. For some reason, the default setting for the target recticle is off. Instead of hitting things inside the target you automatically shoot to the right of it. Why would anyone want this type of setting? Why bother to have a target icon if it’s not right? Anyway, if you check your settings you can get around this bizarre default.

From here on out things start to slide downhill. The audio affects are sometimes OK, but can be horrible and awkward. For example, the weapon sound effects are great. Very realistic and refined, as are the voices of the enemy soldiers as they roam about in the gaming world. The problem is that for some unknown reason out of no where you'll be deluged by horrible storm/static sounds. At first I thought it was supposed to be a thunderstorm sound or something, but I ruled that out when it happened 4 or 5 times a level at random locations, both indoors and out. I never could figure out what it was supposed to be and by the end it just got on my nerves so I had to play with the sound way down low. Then you have the trouble of not being able to hear the enemy, but with the static you can’t hear them anyway, so I decided it was worth the handicap.

Mortyr does support multi-player, but it appears to be an afterthought. Multi-player support is only 16 players with the typical death match, co-op, and capture the flag. Again, this is totally blown away by Quake and Unreal that have become the most prominent of multi-player shooters. The one thing that should be pointed out though is that while Mortyr’s multi-player set up is not all that great, the single player game is a lot more entertaining then that of Quake III.

While Mortyr has its fair share of hang-ups, it is still worth checking out. The theme of the game alone makes it worth a once over at the very least. I mean, what better way to work out that pent up aggression then to wade into a sea of Nazi soldiers and lay waste to their dreams of world domination. The scenery is beautifully detailed and well laid out. The sound and character renderings leave something to be desired, but they are not really “BAD” they just don’t break any new ground. If you can find Mortyr on sale or even used I would recommend that you check it out for yourself. It can sure take you back to the good old days of Wolfenstien when a pistol and some bad 2D graphics could provide days of entertainment.

--Ben Moore