As side-scrolling shooter
games go, there hasn't been much innovation since, say, the old coin-op
game Elevator Action. Sure, there've been a few crazy characters with
quirky attributes like Mario, Sonic, and Earthworm Jim. And maybe
there've been some minor additions: upgradeable weapons, hidden
one-ups, incredibly mean bosses, and bonus levels. Then there's the
technological advances such as parallax scrolling (if I had a dime for
every time I've heard the phrase, "Our game has more layers of
scrolling backgrounds than …" I'd be a very rich man). But in terms of
actual play, not much has changed in the side-scrolling, jumping and
bumping, shooting and ducking, horizontal platform-game genre. Until
now.
In one swift stroke, Crack dot Com's debut game, Abuse, has changed
side-scrolling platform shooters forever, and all because of this
game's superior control. The genre's main shortcoming has always been
that your character must fire in the direction that you are traveling.
Abuse solves this problem by allowing your character to shoot
independently of the direction you happen to be pointing or traveling.
Instead of using the keyboard for directional shooting, the game uses
the mouse's smooth moving action to position a set of cross-hairs
anywhere on the screen, saving the arrow keys for movement alone. This
innovation lets your character run and jump wildly about the screen,
while staying calmly focused on a target. The game's level design
re-creates Doom's anticipation, astonishment, and challenge, without
ever seeming derivative. Everywhere you explore you'll encounter the
eerie animal noises of frightening, mutated beasts who are waiting to
leap out at you from dark corridors. You'll also hear sophisticated
explosion sounds, including a hauntingly detailed rattle as your
exploded target's pieces scatter across the floor. Often you'll find
yourself in desperate situations that seem too tough to conquer, but a
little regrouping, strategic planning, and mucho bravado will get you
through—just in time for the next, equally difficult barrier. Without
its unique control, Abuse would still be a solidly-built shooter, with
smooth animation, excellent sound design, and some interesting weapons.
But, with its unique mouse and keyboard interface, Abuse stands alone
as an amazingly innovative game, and one not to be missed.
