Out today on PS4, Xbox One and PC, Disintegration is the debut title from V1 Interactive, and it’s an ambitious one.
Fast forward to the future, a time in which human brains can be integrated into robotic bodies. It technically means that people can live forever – or at least way beyond their natural years. But who’d want to live in world ruled by oppression?
Disintegration‘s story centres around Romer Shoal, a former Gravcycle pilot who’s somewhat of a celebrity. He, along with others, has found himself held captive by Black Shuck, a robot overlord with nefarious plans. When presented with the chance to escape he doesn’t hesitate, and ends up back on Earth with a group of fellow escapees. But they’re not done. Rallied into action, they decide to fight for a better future. Together.
While Disintegration‘s story is pretty generic, its gameplay is not. As Romer, you play from a first-person perspective, but not on foot. Instead, you pilot a Gravcycle. Other members from your team of outlaws also join you in battle, and while they’ll act upon their own instincts if you leave them be, you can issue them commands if you want to get something specific done.
Disintegration, then, is somewhat of a first-person shooter crossed with real-time strategy. You can get into the thick of the action, firing weapons equipped to your Gravcycle from above, but it’s also important to make use of your team’s unique skills. With the push of a button you can command your ground troops to focus fire on a certain enemy, or open a container to see if there’s any loot inside. And with the d-pad you can ready up one of their special skills, from creating a field that slows enemies down to unleashing a barrage of missiles.
Depending on the difficulty you play on, utilising Disintegration‘s RTS elements becomes more or less vital to your success. Play on Story difficulty and you can tackle the majority of combat encounters without issuing a single command. Crank it up some, however, and you won’t get very far at all without making effective use of your team. It also pays to scour every mission for upgrade chips; without them, Romer and his friends may quickly find themselves outclassed by the forces they face.
Disintegration‘s single-player missions are a varied bunch, but they share common elements; take down power stations maintaining shields, defend locations from enemy forces, rescue fellow outlaws. On the whole they’re enjoyable, but sometimes they perhaps feel a little repetitive and drawn out. Still, you’re given a wide variety of weapons to use as Romer, and of course, you have the skills of those under your command to make use of too. It’s just a shame you can’t decide which members of your squad you want to accompany you on any specific mission.
It’s Disintegration‘s multiplayer aspects that are bound to keep players interested in the long-term, however, which unfortunately we haven’t been able to try out until launch. There are three multiplayer modes revolving around team-based 5v5 combat, and more variety is afforded by six crews, each with their own personality and playstyles. We’ll no doubt review Disintegration as soon as we’ve sunk some considerable time into it.
Disintegration is available now on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
