Your peaceful survey-ship has been shot down and you crash-landed on a planet called Notrium. At the moment you step out of your escape pod you realize you have to get outta here ASAP. Ferocious weather, vicious aliens and more dangers awaits you as you struggle for survival and your chances to get off of this planet fades day-by-day. Can you leave Notrium in one piece?
If you ever played Robinson's Requiem or saw any survival documentaries or games, you already know, that surviving in hostile condidtions in a place you don't even know is the worst thing you can imagine. Robinsons Requiem was one of the mediocre conversions of this idea. Notrium is the best of this genre so far, but the most difficult too.
Races
You start the game by choosing your race. This is more important than choosing difficulty because the race you choose determines the way of the gameplay.
The Human race is weak and more vulnerable to bad weather and other injuries.Humans mostly rely on technical advancements and their weapon mastery is a valuable asset. However, they must fight against the cold, bad weather and they must eat too. Human is hardest race in the game because you have so many things to watch out for.
The Alien is a sturdy race. They can't use any weapons but their claws are exellent weapons when it comes to fighting. They consume food faster than Humans and they have little to none battery. The agility and speed is their most invaluable attribute.
The Android is the easiest race in the game. They don't fear cold, they don't eat and weather is more easy on them. They have the biggest battery but they use energy constantly. If their energy is depleted, they lose health. Energy is not that abundant, but you don't have to worry about getting food and a warm place. The worst thing is the Android can only heal himself with a reapir kit.
The Psionic race is a new addition in the 1.3 version. I don't know this race that good, but they are seem a bit hard to play. They can't carry anything and can't use any technology. They have the most fragile body among the races. Apart from all the negative things, this race can be the most powerful too. Psionics can get very powerful spells (tokens) that can help him survive.
Gameplay
As soon as you step out of the escape pod, you find yourself in a hostile planet. No matter witch race you chose, your first priority is to get supplies, be it food or energy. After that, you should find a place to use as a shelter to evade the weather and light a fire to avoid getting cold. Just then should you go exploring.
There are tons of items scattered around the planet, and you can combine most of them to make certain machines or weapons. Some combinations are given but most of them are for you to explore. You can make powerful weapons, clothing, shields, and many useful things provided the right materials.
There are different kinds of enemies on the planet. Aliens, robots and mercenaries that will end your little adventure if you don't pay attention. Some of them can be killed easily, you can even hunt for food, but some of them are tougher and only can be killed with a certain weapon.
The game has many endings. Some ways are obvious, like repair your pod and take off or make a long range radio and call for help. Some of the endings are not this easy, these are for you to explore.
Graphics, Sound and Controls
The graphics are absolutely great. You control the game from a top-down view. The foliage and the land is very detailed and colorful. All the items and things on screen is greatly designed and easily recognisable. Thumbs up!
The sounds and the ambient music suits the game's feeling and creates a great athmosphere. The growling in the dark and the strange noise of the sneaking aliens will give you the creeps.
The controls are easy: WASD and mouse for aiming. Sometimes you character and
some enemies get stuck, but not too often.
Replayability and Impressions
The many races, the different endings, many item combinations and the randomly generated playfield guarantees you will replay the game thousands of times. Very addictive atmosphere and twirling gameplay will glue you in front of the game for a long time. Don't believe me? Try it!
A HUGE addition to Notrium, that the game can be modded. You can download a barebone template from the game's website and make a brand new game. You can also download user-created mods and try them out. Creativity, go go go!
Technical Issues and Compatibility
Notrium will most likely run fine on any system, however you'll need a better video-card for higher resolutions. I found that Notrioum runs smoothly without any bugs or crashes.
Final Words
All in all, Notrium outguns all it's predecessors. Cool graphics, sounds, addictive gameplay and so many options and strategies to stick you to the screen for quite a long time. Definetly a must for everybody who likes this kind of games! It can be hard sometimes, but don't be discouraged by the first few unsuccesful tries. Keep going, you survival is at stake!
Download and enjoy!
Tips for beginners (read it if you keep dying all the time):
At the very beginning of the game, try to assemble a forcefield generator. That will replenish your life and defend you from enemies and the weather, just keep in mind, that once you deploy it you cannot move it anymore. You can use the Hermite's house as a HQ, you can lock the door so no enemies can enter, and you can store your stuff there. Try to assemble or salvage a turret of some kind early in the game. You can take it with you and when things get hot you can deploy it to defend you without wasting precious ammo. You can get moe help in the forums. Good luck!
Game Download :
http://www.monkkonen.net/notrium/
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Topic: Notrium (Read 28955 times)