Nuclear Dawn Review
This FPS/RTS hybrid has a good foundation, but feels more like a beta than a full release
But even if the matches themselves can be fun, the real problem with this game is the number of barriers to entry. Tutorials are limited to only four short videos, which give the briefest of explanations to each class and to basic Commander elements. I had to play through several frustrating matches just to figure out which buildings would heal me and which buildings would kill me (and trust me, this is not a fun way to play). This is bad enough for the beginning FPS footman, but absolutely disastrous for the role of commander. With no hands-on tutorial for commanders, the only way to pick up on how to play the position is by throwing yourself untrained into a few matches and reading through the tips step by step while your team gets slaughtered for half an hour. I had to watch a few Youtube videos from good samaritans to get my bearings, and even then I was desperately in need of direction as I played. If friendly strangers on the internet can spend one evening and make a better tutorial than what comes with the game, a red flag should be waving somewhere in the development line. As with most other missing aspects of the game, instructions for commander play can be found online, but this doesn’t really address the problem: the only way for beginners to learn how to play commander is to ruin the day for the rest of their team.
Aside from these more serious flaws, there are some aesthetic touches that are sorely missed in the game, like a sense of world building. It may seem shallow to fault a multiplayer game for lacking story or setting, but there are too many good examples on the market now to justify this omission. As far as I can tell, the only source of story for ‘Nuclear Dawn’ is two written pages on the game’s website. The game itself has ample opportunities to build a flavorful world (maps include billboards, marquees, graffiti, etc), but it doesn’t take much advantage of them. I wouldn’t make a point of this problem, if it weren’t for the fact that the game’s website proudly splashes the question across its opening page “Which side will you join?”, seeming to emphasize the difference between the two in-game factions... a difference which isn’t played up at all in the aesthetic details of the actual game.
Rumor has it that Nuclear Dawn is in a quasi-beta stage, released in hopes that subsequent patching and modding, with a good ‘Free-to-play’ weekend or two, will encourage the fledgling community to grow. I’m all for this, as the hybrid FPS scene is far from saturated right now, and Interwave studios seems to be a very community-minded, gamer-centric startup. However, as it is right now the game is so rough around the edges it could be digital sandpaper, and being overpriced and difficult to learn isn’t helping. Give it a try if you’re interested in the hybrid gameplay. Otherwise, my advice is to wait it out for a few months and see if this tree bears any fruit.
Our ratings for Nuclear Dawn on PC out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
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