Kreed Preview

Making a bold debut on the competitive scene of first-person shooters, the Russian development team Burut Software gave us a peek at their title Kreed, which is scheduled to arrive mid-March 2003. After checking out some of the in-game action, it's safe to say that these Russian dudes have created a solid in-house engine to power Kreed's demanding visual effects and physics. In fact, we think this is one of those rare shooters that has the potential to go from an underdog to a well-respected franchise. Additionally, Burut Software has really done a good job creating the characters and the universe of Kreed - fair enough they may have borrowed a few ideas here and there, but then again who hasn't? The game is set in the future and you'll get to explore some of the farthest regions of the universe, where you'll encounter many huge and complex worlds, while running into various alien races, most of which are hostile and after your blood.

What's this?! I specifically asked for a room with a view!

Oil rigs in outer space?!

The story begins in the year 2944, of the Terra-Earth calendar. The known universe is now divided and it is controlled by an intergalactic union of intelligent races called the Confederation. There are many dangers out there, but the most terrifying threat to all life is the so-called anomaly, which has begun to spread through the galaxy like a plague, devouring everything in its path - ships, planets, starts... Your character is Daniel Grok. He's a Legionnaire; a special agent hired by the Great Masters of the Legion to perform a risky, but extremely important task. Daniel has to go to Kreed (the zone where the anomaly is located) and eliminate a high ranking official, who's hidden somewhere within the anomaly. Of course, one of the most frightening aspects of this mission is that nobody has ever managed to get inside the anomaly and live to tell the tale...

Your very first mission starts when your Trade Corporation Conglomerate ship, the "Aspero," encounters the Confederate Battleship "Tokugava." You soon discover that the entire ship was infested by a deadly epidemic, which turned the whole crew into mindless mutations (how surprisingly convenient - grab a shotgun, some shells, and get ready).

The best part about Kreed is that it gives players a choice to complete their mission assignments in various ways. Thankfully, this means that the linearity of gameplay has been somewhat toned down, so players won't feel like they're being kept "on a leash" throughout the entire game. Also, the nature of each mission is different, so there's no way you'll get bored during gameplay; sometimes you'll go on rescue missions, other times your goal will be to destroy a certain object or escape from a certain location within a limited amount of time, etc. At present, we're not certain if encountering NPC's will be a crucial element to your progress in the game, but we do know that there will be some NPC interaction along the way.

While you journey through the worlds of Kreed, don't expect a warm welcome. During the game you'll be coming across numerous hideous foes, most of which are bad-ass alien species that have only one thing in their mind - your demise. According to the development team, the in-game AI was designed to ensure realistic behavior patterns so that players will actually get a sense of dread when they're pursued by the enemy. The aliens were given an intelligence to perform well-timed and well-organized attacks - they will calculate the situation and use the quickest and most efficient way to get their nasty mitts on you (actually, some of them are just gross mutations, so I think they might not have real mitts). From what we've seen of the game first-hand, the enemy is deadly and smart, and the fast pace of the gameplay will ensure that you have your hands full once all hell breaks loose. However, the AI does show a few minor glitches at this stage, but we believe the team at Burut has the time and the potential to iron out these issues. By the way, the surroundings of Kreed are swarming with all kinds of weird-looking infected mutants, merciless Legionnaires, and creatures such as the Shpiggs (monsters with cannibalistic tendencies of course), insect-like beings called the Tiglaary, the cult Jikride, the phantom race of Y'kuur, and many others. Occasionally, you'll also have to face huge boss-creatures - the dev team won't reaveal any of them at this stage of development.

Where's that damn light switch?

Hi, I'll be your tour guide during your stay at Kreed.

Since we're weapon-loonies here at AT (this statement to be taken lightly - Ed), we were quite pleased to hear that Kreed will include ten different weapons and of course three types of grenades (hear that Dex, you grenade-lovin' freak?). Next to the standard military arsenal such as the knife, heavy and light machine-guns, rifles equipped with laser-sight, Kreed will also have a selection of futuristic weaponry like the Dolphin energy rifle, Archangel rocket rifle (launches small, but very precise rockets), Grendel plasma devastator, Vard energy concentrator, and (can we ever imagine a FPS without a) Red Harvest - FD-8000 flamethrower! Even with this dandy supply of military marvel, your character will be lucky enough to operate a couple of vehicles throughout the levels. Players are going to get the opportunity to drive transporters, operate combat droids, and so on. A nice moment and it'll surely add a special flavor to the gameplay.

Burut Software should particularly be proud of the X-Tend engine, which was exclusively created for their virgin FPS, Kreed. The primary capabilities of this engine include the usual support for pixel and vertex shaders, dynamic lighting and shadows, etc. However, the most important thing for Kreed is that this engine can withstand an amazing amount of details on the screen, both in the background and on the 3D character models (which were beefed-up with 4,000 polys per model). Another interesting feature of the X-Tend engine is the advanced skeletal animation, which allows realistic character movement - each model has 120 bones (only 95 to go and that'll be it baby :)). And let me tell you, the skeletal system looks and works great in game!

Burut's proprietary engine also created great possibilities for the level designing team. The levels will vary from huge and bright outdoor surroundings to creepy and dark spaceship interiors. The most impressive piece of eye-candy we've seen was the cool and true-to-life water surfaces. Naturally, the game will not be able to bask in its full visual glory if you happen to have a weak PC. For optimal performance Kreed may require a PIII-1000 MHz rig with 512 Mb RAM and graphic cards like the ATI Radeon 8500 and GeForce 3... In addition, we were also informed that the minimum requirements for Kreed will denote a PIII-600 MHz with 256 Mb RAM, and a 5th generation video card. So there, we must all be prepared for a real GPU-grinder.

Well, that doesn't sound too bad I think. Kreed looks very promising indeed. What's even better is that Kreed will have a multiplayer mode such as the Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Last Man Standing, Tournament, Assault, and Capture the Flag. And, if all goes well, the game will have a co-op multiplayer mode. Anyways, until the game hits the shelves next spring, Burut Software has also announced they're going to unleash a demo for the game during the first quarter of 2003. So, keep your sexy pinkish knickers on.