Recently, I got really addicted to the game Arcanum by Sierra. I’ve always been a big fan of Diablo style titles … but what really made it stand out was the whole “magic vs. technology” thing. It’s a neat concept … and with as many science fiction and fantasy fans as there are out there, it’s not only a good way to see who wins out over who but also can appeal to a broader audience. Well, Freeform Interactive has hopped into that “sci-fi vs. D&D” style arena now with a game called Purge that also blends magic vs. technology … but also adds in some additional genre fusing to make it a really different title.

Purge tells a story of a world divided by two different groups. The Order … who consists of technology based cyborgs, androids, and weaponry, and the Chosen … a group that relies on the ancient art of magic and warriors. The two sides clash in this newest PC FPS / RPG multiplayer only hybrid … and while the graphics and sound definitely aren’t anywhere near today’s standards … it turns out to be a heck of a lot of fun due to its unique makeup.

First off, each side consists of four basic models each to choose from, like fighters, mages, assassins, and so on, and what you can select from depends on which team you declare to be a part of. Each class also has four subclasses to play around with as well, or you can go in and do whatever customization you feel you want to do with the individual stats like intelligence, dexterity and strength. It’s pretty open as to character creation, so goof around a little and see what you like best. The game also records all experience points that you’ve collected regardless of who you are playing with and who you might change to. For example, if you go up to level 3 as a Monk, but then switch to an Android … the android will begin at level 3.  

Any similarity to other FPS titles comes mostly in the initial gameplay and presentation of the game. The view, controls, and whole concept of running around and blowing (Purging) any opposing team member away falls right in line with Unreal, Quake, and any of the other online deathmatch game titles that are out. The in game RPG element however quickly becomes apparent and provides a neat twist to the “I’ve played this one before”, since Purging enemies and providing assists (I’ll explain that one here in a second) give you experience points which build and strengthen your character just like an RPG.

When you first play Purge, you might be tempted to just rapidly start running and firing your weapon like a normal FPS game, but that probably won’t get you a ton of kills (especially at level 1) nor help your team declare victory. Instead, Freeform has placed heavy emphasis on trying to coordinate team strategies to defend your portal and destroy your opponent’s portal, and therefore made it just as rewarding to play an assist role sometimes rather than an aggressor, which most games which can be grouped as “similar” don’t do these days. Anyone who has played Battlefield 1942 for example knows that support and defense is just as crucial to winning as advancing and being aggressive … but the scoreboard at the end of a match can also show a support person or defender looking like they didn’t do much of anything since points are not rewarded for healing comrades or fixing damaged vehicles. Purge addresses and encourages you to not always charge into combat by offering experience points and “assist” scoreboard points for doing things like creating health packs, repairing portals, or creating energy recharge stations. Therefore, you can still go up X amount of levels per map since the scoreboard may show you having only 2 kills but 250 assists which can even be more valuable in some cases, especially to your team in helping them all emerge victorious.

Another interesting feature which helps to further play on the importance of teamwork is the level variation overall. Some levels are indoors, some outdoors, some more “closed in”, and some more open. Each side can have a distinct advantage over the other depending on where you happen to be playing at the time, which can be frustrating if you aren’t playing with a group of people who want to organize a team strategy. For example, The Order seems to blow away the Chosen in more narrow or closed in areas on a “run and gun” level, so the more logical option for the Chosen might be to play with more support members to build shields and supply health to a couple of front line defenders. Again, it’s up to you and your team to work out what works best … but everyone gets rewarded in the end if you play patiently and don’t get too heroic all of the time.

There are some things with Purge that aren’t going to appeal to everyone … first and foremost being the graphics and sound. Purge was made and released in 2003, yet it looks and sounds like a mid to late 90’s title to some degree. The characters all have an older, blocky Quake look to them (There was a Future vs. Fantasy mod for Quake back in the day that I had a flashback to) and the environments look like old programming as well. There is some really neat design and ideas to a lot of them though; it’s just that the overall presentation isn’t anywhere near today’s standards. Many of the levels are also really dark, and there is no way to adjust the gamma detail or make it any brighter. Granted, you can use night vision regardless of which class you are playing as … but it just doesn’t seem too fun after a long period of looking at two or three colors the whole time. The sounds of the weapons are pretty outdated as well, and the voices are somewhat grainy and almost sound like walkie – talkies.

Another issue with Purge is a learning curve. It takes a few attempts to really get in and just get the hang of what’s going on or where to go, and it can get pretty frustrating at times when you add in the dark graphics. For example, running into and enemy shield kills you automatically. Well, after this happens once or twice, you realize this fact and know not to touch enemy shields. The problem is that the radius of the shield can be seen using plain sight, but night vision will cloak them causing a dilemma. As I stated before, you may be on a stage where you can’t see much of anything or any opponents, but if you switch to night vision you risk getting killed … so what’s the lesser of the two evils? Well, it all depends on the player I guess. These kinds of things can easily cause someone to just stop playing and not see the overall fun value.

Lastly, Purge is an online only game, so you have no choice but to play online. That’s not a bad thing necessarily … but there’s really only one online play option to be found. Defend your portal and blow up your opponent’s portal. Basically, you get a lot of fancy “team deathmatch” here, so if you want to play capture the flag or something different … it’s not going to happen so be prepared for that.

Overall, I have to say that Freeform did a great job giving me a unique mixture of two styles that I personally enjoy a lot, so playing them in one game and really understanding what they were trying to accomplish was a blast. Unfortunately, it takes a few attempts to really get the hang of how you can effectively customize and what to do, and there are just too many other titles out which have more hype and are “where it’s at” at the moment that will probably cause this one to get overlooked. If you’ve got $30.00 (online play is free by the way) and can handle some old school graphics and sound and deal with some learning pains and aggravation … you’ll probably have fun. If you’ve got to have more of a twitch style title and don’t feel like going through some learning issues, team play, and dealing with some graphics stuff, download and try out the demo first. 

Gameplay: 7.5
The initial reaction that you will probably have here is “Great … another run and gun online shooter”. This is not the case, however, and Purge does a good job in combing aspects of a FPS and an RPG to allow for not only aggressive play and character customization, but it also emphasizes the importance of being a support person as well and utilizing teamwork. Unfortunately, there are some frustrating issues with the dark and outdated graphics, only one way to play, and a learning curve that may just get annoying and cause people to put it down rather than put the time into it to learn.

Graphics: 6.4
There’s a good variety in the overall level design and character models, but everything is just “circa mid to late 90’s” and doesn’t look like a 2003 title. There are a lot of levels which also are very dark, and will cause you to view the world in only a couple of colors due to constant use of night vision.

Sound: 6.0
The weapons and magic sound kind of outdated too, but they’re not terrible. The biggest issue here is that the voices sound like two-way radios or a CB and are grainy and not nice on the ears.

Difficulty: Hard
As I’ve stated a couple of times, there is a learning curve and it will take a few tries to really even understand where you need to go. The usage of skills for the various classes was neat, but figuring out when and how to use them and the benefits to them was also tough at first.

Concept: 8.0
While the presentation visually and in some gameplay areas could have been a lot better, it’s hard to argue that the whole concept behind Purge is not great. It takes two different styles of gameplay and blends them together very well providing fun and rewards for not only killers … but team support players as well. I’d love to see a sequel that fixes and addresses the issues listed above.

Multiplayer: 6.7

Multiplayer is the only way to play Purge, so this will also reflect my overall score as well.

Overall: 6.7
Overall, this game would have scored really high with me due to the attempt that Freeform made in doing something totally unique and a lot of fun once you got into it and overlooked the problems. Unfortunately, a lot of gamers out there may not give Purge the time nor attention to see through the initial shortcomings and see what was really trying to be done here. I would recommend downloading the demo prior to buying the game just to check it out first.