Loadout – Custom Made Mayhem!
By Jordan Hall (ApocaRUFF), OnRPG Journalist
Loadout is a Third-Person Shooter (TPS) brought to us by Edge of Reality. With OnRPG running a CB key giveaway this week I decided now was as good as any to take a look. They have truly out-done themselves with this masterpiece of customization. Design and forge your weapon of death and reign destruction down on your foes. You can create a rocket launcher that will home in on your enemies, or a gun that will inject your friends with healing drugs. You have full control over your weapon.
Customization
Customization might as well be the name of the game when it comes to Loadout. I have no doubt that Loadout will go down in gaming history with its intricate weapon development system, where you can choose exactly how your weapon works. There are many, many combinations currently possible in the game, and who knows how many will be available later down the line. Rockets, bullets, lasers and more are at your disposal when building your weapons. And that’s just the surface; you can choose the butt of your rifle, the trigger, the sights, what types of damage your weapon will inflict, and much more.
I’ve never come across a game that let me have so much control over my weapon. There have been some options available in other games, but in the vein of realism these options were not many in number. Thankfully, Edge of Reality threw realism out the window with Loadout and we are able to have fun creating the most insane, outlandish guns we can possibly dream up. It’s hard to explain just how awesome this feature of the game is. The crazy weapons fit perfectly with the art style chosen for the game, too.
And it’s not just gun customization, either. You are given a bunch of options to customize the looks of your character too. You can choose a hair style, accessories, and even taunts which range from Gangnam Style dances to tea bagging. The taunts especially got my interest, as there were a lot to choose from and they all seemed to be very well done. I can’t wait to see what new ones come out in the future.
There is a cost to get extra parts to customize your gun, though there are ways to get parts without having to pay. You can buy the currency using real money, so if you have a bit of extra money you can dump it into the game to have more parts available to you for more combinations. Thankfully, the costs for customizing a weapon aren’t too expensive, at least not at first. If you want to customize the looks of your character, you will either have to break out your wallet or play a lot of games, as it can get quite expensive with each piece of customization costing thousands of currency. I’m not too worried about this though, as I understand the game needs a source of income and it definitely deserves to have money spent on it.
Graphics
Loadout is filled with explosions and gore, kind of like our favorite over-the-top action movies from the 70’s and 80’s. If you land a missile on someone’s leg, their character will begin running around with their leg missing and blood spewing from the wound before they eventually fall to the ground and die. If your weapon does electric damage, you will see your enemy jump in the air where his skeleton will show through his skin, just like in the old cartoons. The art style chosen is cartoony with unrealistic body proportions. The explosions, gore and weapons effects, and textures are done extremely well.
Just chilling with my head blown off
I can’t really say I have a gripe to mention about the graphics. It won’t get full score, as I feel that there could be more done to make it more exciting and interesting to look at, while still retaining the cartoony look. It will, however, get the next best thing because everything I saw was superb. Edge of Reality has an amazing art team they should really be proud of. Thanks for the mind blowing visual experience, guys.
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Controls
Another thing that Loadout does well is the controls. Most games in this genre have one or two issues with the controls that take a while to get used to. I didn’t find any of that here and I was able to jump into the game and immediately start doling out destruction. The game offers a familiar control scheme, that you will know if you’ve ever played a TPS before, and controlling your character is as smooth as can be. I am glad that developers are beginning to put more effort in making sure their controls are as good as they can be, it makes the experience so much better.
Community
I probably shouldn’t even include this part of reviews anymore when it comes to shooters. Maybe just place a single bold sentence at the top of the review that states, “Typical shooter community, filled with hate, insults and accusations.” But, like a majority of games, Loadout has some gold stars that stick out and make the community bearable. Thankfully, most people do not chat while in the game. To busy blowing someone’s head off to insult someone’s mother or sexual preference, I expect.
He seems angry for some reason
One thing I liked when I visited the Loadout website was a very nice forum. It was nice and functional and filled with discussion. The general discussion forum has, at the time of writing, well over five-thousand posts. I really liked when I saw just how many posts were in the suggestions forum; I like a community that is filled with ideas. A cursory glance at a few threads tells me that the community on the forums is quite mature and it’s nice to see that devs have posted in a lot of the threads. Kudos to Edge of Reality for cultivating such a nice forum community.
Gameplay
Loadout is all about fast-action and being over the top. Big explosions will be a frequent sight, and you will most likely die a lot. But, that’s OK as you have near instant respawn and will be back in the fray in no time. In other games, something like that may have made the experience less enjoyable, but in Loadout it’s all about having fun and no one has fun while they wait for a respawn timer. Also, be prepared to laugh a lot as you or someone else die in some absurd way.
The weapons are as devastating as they come. With everyone having custom-made their weapon, you probably won’t find many people using the same weapon in a match. Sure, there will always be people that use Flavor of the Month builds that might give them a bit of an edge, but a majority of people just build whatever they think would be cool. Lasers, pulse, rockets, and bullets are currently available to choose from. On top of choosing the projectile type, you can also choose what type of damage it does – such as healing or explosion, special effects, trigger types, or even weapon butts that effect things like recoil.
For game modes, there is Blitz – which is a form of King of the Hill, Death Snatch – where you try to capture the enemies ‘Blutonium’ while protecting your own, Extraction – Blutonium is once again the goal of this mode as each team gets a designated ‘extractor’ who collects and stores the Blutonium until he dies and the baton is passed on to the next poor sap, and finally there is Jack Hammer – which is like capture the flag, where the flag is a powerful melee weapon. A lot of the time, you will find people just trying to kill each other rather than actually going after objectives.
Getting into a match is quick and easy, from what I’ve experienced. It’s usually just a matter of seconds before you’re thrown into a game. If the match hasn’t already started, you will get to vote on a map and talk with the other players. Once it actually starts, everyone is spawned right next to each other, friend or foe, and the first few seconds are a chaotic slaughter. At the end, you are given experience and get a chance at some extra rewards with the bonus prize wheel, which can be more experience or maybe some space currency.
As with all things, there are a few negatives. As I mentioned, people will sometimes use Flavor of the Month Builds, which can make you frustrated. This game will probably never have a competitive scene, but who knows – I’ve seen competitive play for less serious games. If you are looking for a hard-core game to get into, you may not like Loadout as it seems to be designed for casual play. At the most you will play this game and instantly fall in love with it, at the least you will play it and admit that it will be a good game to play on those rare blue moons when you need some gore-induced laughs.
Conclusion
Loadout has set the bar high with its weapon customization, amazing casual AND hardcore experience, and just the overall near-perfect blend of its features. I can’t wait to see what the other developers do to try and top it. Sometimes I get lucky and I get to review a game that I have almost nothing but good things to say about, and this is one of those times. I would like to thank all those that worked on Loadout for a great gaming experience. Needless to say at this point, but play this game if you want a great Third-Person Shooter.
Features: 4/5 – Almost everything you could want.
Customization: 5/5 – It’s got a ton of options for not just your weapons, but your character as well.
Graphics: 4/5 – They were superb but I felt more could be done.
Controls: 5/5 – Perfect for the game.
Community: 3/5 – A healthy forum community saves the day.
Overall: 4/5 – Get it and play it, nothing else to say.
Get into the Loadout beta now! Grab a CB key at OnRPG’s Event Section!
