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Kill.Switch review by: Nick and Nate

My first opinion of Kill.Switch was that at first glance it was just a standard military shooter. But as I got more in depth in the game I could clearly see what was trying to be evolved here. As I played more and more I kept thinking this looks and feels a lot like Splinter Cell but only with a more lethal approach. I like Namco’s idea of the blind fire, which is interesting, they tried to simulate what you would experience in a really gun fight. Just that alone sets it aside from that normal/average shooter. Something that I might have liked better to see at the start of the game is who you really are; your not give much on who you are or why you are doing some of the missions. That’s nearly one of very few things that could have been cleared up. Gameplay
At first you’re given a simple straightforward mission, then expected to do your job. You’re just a one-man team, a single commando with one plan in mind: kill every enemy standing and finish your objective in that particular mission. Every mission varies, some are short some are long, and some are harder then others, whether its to plant some C4 in a enemy compound or just to gun down your enemies and destroy in Oil rig. In every mission you are clear on what you have to do. You rarely get lost like in some shooters, which keeps the pace of the game smooth.

What separates Kill.Switch from the average you say? Hiding behind walls, trucks, cars, sand bags anything you can. Let me make it clear, it is imperative that you take cover, if you don’t you will die very easily. Kill.Switch isn’t a game where you can just run down the corridor and start shooting people aimlessly. Another thing that keeps it interesting is the aforementioned blind fire, to do this crouch behind a small obstacle and squeeze the trigger. Now it may not be the most accurate thing but it does get the job done. Allow it shields you from your attackers. Also if you get trigger-happy and take a couple of hits don’t worry there are med packs around the levels. So can be hard to find but overall they shouldn’t be.

Weapons and health

The med-packs are given to you when the designers of the game thought you would need them. Like, for example if you pass this real hard gunfight and your power is at it’s lowest then you will need one. When you are first playing the game you will find this to be not true, this is because you need to be more experienced with the game. The more experienced with the game and its environments the less health packs you will need. They are located strategically about the game and will allow you to up the anty on you health.

Now what would Kill Switch be without the guns, or any another weaponry. The first gun you will come in contact with is the M4 5.56mm, this gun can fire at a whopping 30 rounds per sec…not your type no need to worry. How about the M203 40mm HE grenade, this has 8 loads. This gun has a very effective kill radius, up to 5 meters. Okay your probably saying how about a sniper rifle? No problemo, how about MCRT 300 (.300 Magnum) that can deliver excellent long-range shots. One well-places shot will take out a threat, quickly and silently.

Of course you can’t forget the well-known AK47 gun, this gun is 7.62mm and each clip can hold around 30 rounds of ammunition. The AK47 is most well known for it’s ruggedness, simplicity of maintenance and operation, and for its reliability even in the worst weather conditions. If enemies are really giving you a problem, try using your AKUG. It is 5.45mm, and can hold 30 rounds in each clip at a one single time. The AKUG is an AKU assault rifle with a special under barrel grenade launcher that fires 30mm HE-DP grenades. This is nice because you can switch to launching grenades; it’s a two-in one weapon.

There are verities of grenades as well in this game. First the most common is of course the grenade. It is a highly explosive fragmentation device that is useful in taking out large number of enemies. There are also mini grenades, these grenades are less powerful, and the name should tell you that right away. Due to the size of the mini grenade you can carry more in your inventory. There are also sticky grenades, similar to the frag grenade, but sticky grenades stick to the surface before it explodes. There are also flash grenades, they are non lethal, they stun and blind the enemy so you can get a relatively easy kill.

Graphics
One thing that's sure to please 16:9 television owners is that kill.switch supports the format for the Xbox crowd. I have to admit this game would look nice on a wide screen TV. The lighting effects are not bad at all, the shadows lay in the right path from light to object. The environments have great lighting, especially when it rains you can see lighting, that fits really well with the environment and everything comes together. Pretty realistic character models, and objects I think. Overall the graphics are well above the average category. Not to bad indeed.

HUD Elements
There are several things that appear on your screen such as: Health Indicator, current Mission Objective, Targeting reticle, Threat indicator, Pickup message, Timer, Scope if using a sniper rifle. Most of those are pretty self-explanatory. The most important thing there may be the threat indicator, it may pop up if a threat to the operative happens “off-screen” in relation to the HUD viewing area. Threat indicators are mostly for your reference, to aid the operative to assessing the determining the location of the threats such as hostile fire. The pick up message tells you what guns etc you pick up off the ground from the dead guys you kill or just extra ammo lying around. The timer just appears when you have a certain amount of time to complete an objective in the mission. Those are just a few of the things on your HUD display.

The sound
The sound is perfect, every movement is precise and is in sync with your movement. The gunfire sounds realistic and not as if it has just been added in over other sounds, its crisp and clear. Although the turrets could use some work. When you are fire a turret it seems the sound doesn’t blend in very well with the environmental sounds, although that’s seems to be very minor to even be talking about that. The footsteps are heard clearly, whether you’re in sand, gravel or pavement etc. The music isn’t bad but not exactly the best either. It does what it is intended to do though. Overall the sound is great.

Overall
Overall Kill.Switch is a little above an average third person shooter. It is very unique, because you can hide behind different objects and blind fire. That is one thing that many TPS do not have. The game has overall good graphics, could improve on some of the envoirments, but they are not too shabby. The sound is pretty up to par; the music fits in with the game very well. This game is a little above average, if you have played Splinter Cell, or Rainbow Six Three, this game still needs a little work. But I would suggest getting it to anyone who owns an Xbox.