Interstellar Marines - Early Access Impressions

"Interstellar Marines resurrects the old school tactical FPS, offering a unique blend of co-op, role-playing and nonlinear gameplay"

The game certainly has potential, and I really like the concept and end goal the developers want. A fresh tactical FPS, that blends good co-op gameplay with a hint of XCOM.

Sadly the current version disappoints horribly, and cannot be recommended.

The game currently barely features anything it's supposed to have. In single player you simply walk about alone, aimlessly on maps with nothing really to do. Multiplayer is simply some team deathmatch with a bit of capture points thrown about, and there are currently only two weapons to use.

The RPG aspects are non-existent, as is the so called non-linear gameplay.

Graphically the game is rather lacking overall, and uses the Unity Engine. The engine is not an issue, and if you run at low resolutions you'll be fine for quality. Although at full screen on my 3440x1440 display the game showed horrible banding, and crushed blacks. So bad in fact I had to show other screenshots to see if something might have gone wrong with my hardware calibrated IPS display.

The environmental and lighting is rather nice, and I do like the rain and dust effects on the visor to help try and draw you into the game.

Walking is terribly slow, although it's most certainly a gameplay mechanic; as a tactical squad is hardly supposed to sprint all over the place.

Gunplay is rather good, I do enjoy it and the weapons have decent recoil and feedback when used.

It's rather disappointing, although given the development team's size I hope improvements continue.

If they can pull it off, this is going to be one hell of a good game. It's just not worth it at the moment.