There’s not much better in the world of FPS games than a twitch shooter. Don’t get me wrong, I really like what Call of Duty and Battlefield are doing these days. But I love Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament.
That’s where Nexuiz comes in. Originally an open source game developed by Alientrap Software in the DarkPlaces engine (a heavily modified version of the original Quake‘s source code), Nexuiz is now running on the top of the line CryEngine 3 with IllFonic handeling development duties.
The game focuses on the twitchy, fast paced action of those late-90s shooters, but spices things up a bit with power ups called mutators. While Quake always had Quad Damage, Nexuiz boasts more than 100 mutators ranging from the standard damage boosts and invulnerability to the bizarre like replacing all the sound effects with farts, or spawning a giant, flying whale that grants a bonus to whichever team kills it.
IllFonic also claims to have added a “Victorian influenced art style” in its upgrade to a retail product. Now, my knowledge of architecture and art history are a bit lacking, but I don’t remember hexagon patterned metal columns, Dead Space masks or Tron style neon wardrobe piping on any of the Victorian paintings of sketches I’ve seen. But I digress.
Nexuiz will launch on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and Steam for $9.99/800 MS points… sometime. It doesn’t have a store listing on Steam, Sony’s website is terrible so I can’t be bothered, and the XBLA release will happen as part of the House Party promotion starting February 15, so late winter to early spring is a safe bet.