One Must Fall: Battlegrounds Hands-On

Lately we've seen a solid range of fighting games crop up on the next-generation console scene, with Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance constantly dominating the console sales charts. Disappointingly, popular console brawlers like MK: Deadly Alliance and Dead or Alive 3 never made it to the PC, which was a real bummer - the PC gaming industry hasn't seen a good fighter in a long time. The crew at Diversions Entertainment decided to seize the opportunity and fill the gap with their third-person 3D multiplayer fighting game, One Must Fall: Battlegrounds.

Hey, nobody sneaks up on mighty Pyro!

VADAR wins! A spectacular scene!

For those of you who are unaware, OMF: Battlegrounds is actually sort of a follow-up to Epic Megagames' successful 2D fighting game One Must Fall: 2097, which I remember playing quite a lot back in the old days (which was in 1994 to be exact). Pushing the limits from the confined standards of 2D fighters, the developers have been working well over two years to bring this game to life. Until the final version of the game arrives, we were allowed to take a peek at the latest beta, which was sent to us by the kind people at Diversions Entertainment.

I'm sure you'd be happy to know that for players who prefer their fighting games in single-player mode, there will be a unique story and a different ending for each character in the game. By the way, for all of you who are interested in knowing more about the storyline itself, I would like to refer you to our previous preview where all is explained.

The old OMF game was known for numerous qualities which were refreshing at the time; the game offered a wide choice of characters and robots, and it had excellent animation and intriguing gameplay aspects, like an interactive background, and so on. Taking this well-designed game concept and turning it into a 3D fighting game is a step in the right direction. From what we've seen thus far, One Must Fall: Battlegrounds has potential and many exciting aspects, most of which are hidden to the player in the beginning. Once you've got a chance to learn and test the combos for each robot, the game unfolds like a flower in the morning sun (that you can then stomp mercilessly into the ground with a 3 story-tall robot!). Anyhow, all the moves and attacks are easy to grasp, which speak well of the straightforward character control system.

One of the first things the player discovers throughout the first stages of the game is that performing various special moves and unique combos doesn't force the arbitrary button combinations. The players only have to punch, kick, or block and combine it with directional keys to make an effective combo or a deadly special move. The combos can be repeated by using the same mishmash of action keys and directional keys. In other words, the controls and combat seem to work smoothly and intuitively. We didn't encounter any problems with guiding the robots through the dangers of the arenas. Also, it's important to mention that each robot has distinctive movement, speed, energy, and so on. The same thing goes for the characters (or pilots) you get to choose before you enter the arena.

All of the characters have their own biographies, (although we still haven't seen all of them in this build), and with a total of 50 characters for you to try out, each with an individual life story and a set of skills. Each pilot has different characteristics the player has to look after, which include power, agility, endurance, and focus. By combining these skills with the abilities and strengths of the robots, players can fashion their very own lethal fighting machine.

After playing numerous matches against the CPU, we were happy to encounter a rather challenging AI before us. Still, some minor AI glitches have occurred from time to time in the Power Plant arena - enemy robots start running away from you without a fight. We believe this small problem will be fixed before the game hits the shelves some time in the next few months.

Welcome to the Firepit! There are no mommies for here for you little girls!

You can finish off your foe from the air...

One Must Fall: Battlegrounds has a variety of arenas where players can bash each other into twisted hunks of metal (or fight against CPU-controlled opponents if they wish). There are 12 arenas altogether, each with diverse hazards, bonuses, and power-ups, all of which are interactive and can be fully utilized during combat. This interactivity gives an excellent balance to the whole gameplay and allows players to improvise a lot throughout the matches. The fun thing here is that you can choose all sorts of ways to inflict damage upon multiple opponents - for instance, if you're fighting against, say, three other robots, you can collect a power up which will summon an air-force to strike your foes (particularly useful if your adversaries are cornered and have nowhere to go). The air-strike option is only available in the Desert arena, but that doesn't mean that other arenas don't have their own traps and hazards. In the Iceberg arena you can push your opponent over into water, which usually spells the end of his miserable life and makes you the winner of the match. So, all things considered, by fighting skills, special abilities, power-ups, and arena hazards, OMF: Battlegrounds once again offers a refreshing twist to the fighting genre.

From a technical viewpoint, the beta looks to be nearing its finishing point. We were thrilled to find out that the graphics weren't outdated after such a long period of development. The game features a colorful display of special effects which are caused by power-ups and the characters' special abilities. Also, we've seen some excellent lighting effects, explosions, and particle effects. The arenas have enough room for some decent robot-bashing action, while the objects, walls, and robot models appear to have a solid amount of polys and reflections. The sound backdrop doesn't appear to be too far behind in terms of quality. Each move and combo produces a unique sound and our ol' buddy Saul Bottcher has done a good job on the music themes.

OMF: Battlegrounds is going to deliver a very addictive multiplayer mode featuring up to 16 players via Internet or LAN. Plus, the developers have revealed that they are looking forward to a thriving multiplayer and mod-making community. Yep, that's right, for players who wish to test their creativity by making their own arenas, the game will have a built-in level editor (you can find out more about the specifics in our interview with lead designer and programmer Rob Elam).

At this point OMF: Battlegrounds looks like a promising 3D fighting game, with an interesting concept that appears to work well for both single-player and multiplayer modes. There are tons of pilots and robots to choose from, and from what we've experienced it's sure to have an appeal to gamers who yearn for a decent and challenging 3D fighter. Oh yeah, and don't let the aforementioned flaws in the AI routine get to you. Diversions Entertainment have been in the gaming business for quite a while, and we have total confidence in their abilities to see this project through to the end.

Be on the look out for the game in Q2 2003.