Envision yourself spawning into a luscious (not sexually) arena, pitted against an enemy that’s determined to make your day really bad. Your goal is to instead make theirs a living hell by utilising the array of weapons, abilities and sheer tactics at your disposal: this is Nexuiz, and boy is it an upbeat thrill.

Developed by Illfonic and published by THQ, this redefined game (originally an open source freeware) doesn’t fail to impress. And the best thing is … the CryEngine3, providing this game with some serious power and stunning visuals. Speculation will arise whether or not this version of the game is a worthy contender to the – more Quake-esque – original.

Complementary Story:
Let’s be serious here, when it comes to first person arena shooters, the story is like plastic film over your favourite food or item; it’s there for the sake of being there and you’re only concerned about its contents. I mean, let’s look at Unreal Tournament 3 for example, great game and everything, but the story was (un)really sloppy. It doesn’t hurt to have a backstory of course, to give it some setting. The backstory of Nexuiz is: two ancient clans, the Kavussari (red) and the Forsellians (blue), have waged war for centuries. At last, a truce had been made and they now battle each other in what is known as the ‘Nexuiz Competition’. And there you have it, there’s no single player, just unending hours of online/offline action. In my opinion, the teams are essentially fire versus ice.

Remind you of anything?

Graphics to Cry For:
Evidently, as soon as you boot this game up, your screen is filled with extremely attractive visuals. In a non-artistic approach, the game looks great and has a solid atmosphere. This is all thanks to the CryEngine3! The attention to detail is extremely high; I caught no areas that weren’t occupied with plausible detail. When I began playing this game, the detail was so immense that I was thrown off on where to go; the paths were not exactly clear. Ultimately, that’s something you have to get used to when playing a fast-paced action game such as Nexuiz, since you’re mainly going to be paying attention to what you’re doing. Nexuiz allows you to see your legs, which amplifies the immersion and sense of movement in the game.

The bottom awaits me.

Nexuiz features nine (almost) distinct maps; they all have their unique feel, but some seem to recycle the same theme now and again. The same goes for weapons: picture yourself holding a saucer. Got it in your head? Good. Now put that saucer down and pick up a plate. Notice much of a difference? No? Me neither. My only visual quarrel is if you fancy being blinded, just take a relaxed look at the sky and that’ll solve your problem. Obviously, it’s not going to impair your vision, but you cannot see the texture of the sky thanks to the exaggerated lighting.

Accelerated Gameplay:
Nexuiz is a joy to play. Its smooth gameplay and deep atmosphere emphasises the perfectly executed fast-paced action; essentially, it’s what an arena FPS is sought out to be. On top of all that, the best feature this game has to offer gameplay wise is the table turning Dynamic Mutators. These wonderful things can either be acquired through picking one up in the environment, receiving a killing spree, or capturing a flag. What they do you ask? Well, they essentially mutate (hence the name) the game, tipping the favour onto your side or universally. Allow me to elaborate, once you acquire a mutator, you have three random options on what “power-up” you’d fancy … from overpowering your gun to colour blinding every player in the match (I accidently shot my teammate using it). Not to mention the jetpacks that can be acquired through mutators, they’re awesome (who doesn’t enjoy them?). The only downside to jetpacks is that you can exceed the map’s boundary limits (especially if you acquire two jetpacks in a row).

Killing the enemy (or your team mate) is surprisingly subtle, but not in a bad way. Typically, these days when you manage to frag someone in a modern game, your screen is ravaged with a hit-marked, “BOOM +50 XP HEADSHOT LEVEL UP!!!” Fortunately, this is not the case in Nexuiz, a small text and synthesised VWOOSH complements your satisfying kill. Dying, on the other hand, is like taking a nice bite out of a knuckle sandwich … or an air horn to the face. Being a classical arena FPS, the game features a health bar. If you’re a little on the slow side, the game will welcomingly remind you that you’re nearing death; with dampened sound and a hair-raising alarm that will keep you on your toes (fingers, rather) and scared shitless.

DING DING DING!

The maps themselves are great, since they offer unique layouts and utilise the concept of deadly hazards. I once backpedalled away from the line of fire into a train moving at who-knows-what speed, catapulting my poor corpse into a series of walls and poles, out into an endless pit of death, which was awesome!

All aboard.

The rather minor bad side to Nexuiz’s gameplay is that there’s only a mere two choices of game modes: Team Deathmatch or Capture the Flag (they’re map specific too, so there’s no freedom of choice there). I mean, what’s an FPS arena without Deathmatch/Free For All? Lastly, Nexuiz only supports up to eight players, and that’s a step down from what its predecessor had to offer. The mere scale of the maps and player amount has been compressed significantly.

Serendipitous Sound:
Like any other soundtrack, it’ll eventually become repetitive and turned down, if not muted. Although I must admit, the soundtrack is enjoyable and suitable, but doesn’t compare to Unreal Tournament 2004’s (sorry for comparing, but it’s true). Yes, to a certain degree it is badass, but it does shroud the magnificence of the environmental ambience, whether it’s the splutter of downpour or the moan of heavy machinery. As mentioned before, sound is utilised very nicely when you’re drawing towards your panicking end, creating a sense of urgency and desperation. Weapons are given a sense of kick thanks to the empowering sound that accompanies them, which is really nice when you fancy delivering your enemies a nice present (metaphorically).

What makes itself apparent to me is that the need of a badass announcer is essential in an arena FPS, and Nexuiz executes this nicely with a masculine, low-pitched Darth Vader.

In my eyes, it is now compulsory for me to compose a video for each of my reviews, so to showcase Nexuiz in its glory; I present a gameplay video of it in a nutshell:

In conclusion, Nexuiz is a beautiful, polished and well-defined game that justifies the FPS arena genre exceptionally well. Although in some aspects it is a step down from its origins (Nexuiz Classic), it definitely exceeds the expectations of a generic modern day shooter. Despite the minor flaws, it’s the Nexuiz nexus of ideas and aspects that emphasise Nexuiz’s gameplay and feel. I must warn you though, this game has a heavy lack of players and servers, so be prepared to play with bots or gather some friends. Essentially, if you just want to indulge yourself in competitive/mindless fun, or even settle a score with your mates, this game is your express ticket to fun town.

Currently, it’s only ten dollars on Steam, which is amazing and damn worth your while.