Of course, no FPS game is complete without an arsenal to choose from, and Exodus provides a standard stock of weapons. The available tools of destruction include your basic pistol, shotgun, scoped assault rifle, and rocket launcher, with a few other novelties (like akimbo SMGs, and a couple of grenade variations) also making a showing. All of these weapons include an alt-fire function for expanded functionality; the rocket launcher has a “lock-on” feature, for example, and the shotgun can fire a simultaneous burst of three shells instead of one.

The weapon designs look pretty nice and are complete with on-screen ammo counters (always a nice novelty), but if the game does plan to pack in some more exotic weaponry, these weren’t shown in the demo I played. I should mention however that drivable vehicles are a factor in the campaign, and the demo even made a kick-ass assault buggy available (complete with a top-mounted minigun) that was quite a lot of fun to drive thanks to the game’s physics engine. I’m not sure if the driving segments will be on the same level as say, Halo, but they definitely look like they’ll add quite a bit to the experience.

With all that said, the game still has a little ways to go. My understanding is that it’s is being translated from a previous Russian release, which would explain the awkward lines of text and voice acting I witnessed throughout the demo. The only reason I point this out is because the capacity to get properly immersed in a game depends heavily on dialogue that’s easy to understand and doesn’t trip on itself, and because I’ve seen far too many games go from alpha-to-final without simple issues like this being addressed – especially those that have been translated. I’m also hoping that the developers are keeping some of the cooler moments from campaign mode in their back pocket, as the demo levels only focused on a fairly basic series of run-and-gun battles, with only a couple of interesting cutscenes and dialogue fragments to work with for piecing together what was going on. Plot-wise, this game does have some immense potential as a “Cyberpunk FPS”, but it’s still ambiguous on how well this will be fleshed out for the final release.

To be honest though, after what I’ve seen, I definitely want this game to succeed. The final campaign is supposed to outline the struggle against the A.X. Corporation on Earth, followed by the eventual escape into space (and ultimately, another planet) and looks like it should provide quite a bit of playtime. The graphics engine kicks out some gorgeous levels of detail while keeping a high framerate, and the game overall is looking very solid. If the developers manage to straighten out the translation hiccups and balance out the AI a bit, this game could be a pretty significant underground release.

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