Agents and military refuges attacking Cult forces
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If nothing else, Hothouse deserves credit for having the chutzpa for choosing "Abomination" as a game title. Like a proverbial duck shoot, reviewers everywhere have the perfect opportunity for taking potshots at the game's expense. The shame for us is that the game is actually pretty good, which doesn't leave a lot opportunities for creative jabs.
If the game has one serious issue, it's probably the method of advertising. Nearly all of the previews and advertisements for the game have hyped the similarities between Abomination and X-COM. The association isn't totally unjustified though—after all, Abomination is a game of squad-level tactical combat. Also, one of its creators, Steve Goss, is a veteran of the X-COM series (he worked on both Terror from the Deep and Apocalypse). However, these comparisons can be misleading, and are really an injustice to both fans of the X-COM series and Abomination. While certain elements of the game are reminiscent of X-COM, Abomination definitely marches to the beat of its own drummer.
Scavenging for equipment on the battlefield
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Apocalypse—what a bummer
Set in a cataclysmic future where a plague has decimated humankind, once bustling cities have been reduced to graveyards as entire populations have mutated into bubbling mounds of puss. As the remnants of mankind struggle to survive this biological apocalypse, a sole group of fanatics remains seemingly unaffected. A cult called The Faithful has embraced the deadly plague as humanity's fate, and offers those willing to join salvation from the death the plague brings. These Faithful ultimately usher in the true menace, the Brood. These creatures merge diseased flesh and unearthly technology into hideous abominations with a decidedly Lovecraftian bent.
Admittedly, on the surface the game sports a fair number of similarities to X-COM, such as a strategic overlay where you manage a variety of assets. Ode to X-COM: Apocalypse, the strategic overlay's scale is limited to an overview of the infected city you battle for control of. From here you monitor the spread of the Brood, choose missions, and manage resource allocation of personnel and equipment. However, this aspect is a lot more streamlined than X-COM fans are probably accustomed to.
More bloody, chunky messes
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For example, the research aspect of the game is pre-set and triggered in a linear fashion. Specifically, if a research request requires you to capture a particular Brood species, you have up to three missions to complete this task. To accomplish a task like this you are given a limited supply of four stun grenades for the mission. Failure to meet objectives simply results in a quick end to the game. Feeling adventurous? Sorry, frugal players that conserve stun grenades cannot fast track research by capturing other brood species before they're requested. This means that the story unfolds in chapters and events and the pace of the game can't directly be influenced by your actions (although you can indirectly reduce the Brood incursions by assaulting their strongholds early).
On the other hand, you mange equipment and weapons supplies, and with over 150 different weapons and items filling limited storage areas (which are scattered around the city), this aspect can get quite involved in the later stages of the game. You also manage personnel by keeping up to 16 agents on active duty. Agents lost in battle can be replaced from the reserve pool. This reserve pool is filled with cops and military personnel rescued during missions over the course of the campaign. Personnel management can get pretty involved as each agent has his or her own specialty (ranging from handguns to superhuman abilities like cloaking) and four other base stats (these can gradually improve overtime with combat experience).
Mangled creatures, mangled interfaces
The results of Brood research
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These facets of the strategic overlay management are slightly mangled by an oddly implemented design. The most blatant example if this mangling shows up in an initially incomprehensible graphic interface. It feels like a mess at first, but it really isn't all that bad once you adjust to its idiosyncrasies. Why Hothouse didn't just adapt the fundamentals from a generation of refined predecessors is anybody's guess!
Another oddity is the peculiar play balance of the game. For instance, the types of weapons scavenged off dead bodies and containers during missions gradually become more powerful as the campaign continues—a site that only has pistols and Uzis will miraculously have claymores and miniguns later. Or the fact that while you can replace lost personnel from reserves, there is no way to dump an active agent short of kamikazing him or her in battle. It almost seems that streamlining the strategic play was more important at times than maintaining a feel of congruity.
Vehicles make great makeshift bombs—just don't stand to close to them
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Of course, the real fun of this game is taking your squad into the field of battle and managing up to four agents of your choosing in tactical combat. Fans of Syndicate and Syndicate Wars are likely to be hit with a feeling of nostalgia. From the limit of a small four-man team to the design and feel of the tactical battlefields, if you've played Syndicate you should feel right at home.
Combat is played in the same isometric three-quarters perspective that is found in games like Jagged Alliance 2 and X-COM. The battlefields are seed-generated maps consisting of a variety of locales, from apartment tenements and business districts to secret research labs and the bowels of Brood labyrinths. The missions are often fast-paced (timed missions are not uncommon), and despite the ability to pause and issue orders, the game sometimes borders on the frantic. A significant part of this is due to the game's design. Unlike the suspenseful bug hunts of X-COM, Abomination often engulfs you in wave after wave of swarming Brood attackers.
The strategic portion of the game consists of prioritizing missions, monitoring enemy strongholds, reviewing research, and managing equipment and personnel
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Locales often include tactical considerations like panicked civilians caught in the crossfire, and police and military personnel that can be rescued and added to your reserve forces. Additionally, many of the terrain features have significance in play. For instance, vehicles (which can be blown up) and bodies and containers (such as mailboxes and crates, which can be searched for caches of equipment) all have an impact on tactical engagements.
Like Syndicate, the urban warfare aspect is somewhat abstracted. There are no room-to-room firefights (except a few missions that are entirely indoors); instead, buildings are used as cover or as a perch for resourceful snipers. This may seem a bit disconcerting for a game centered around the concept of urban firefights, but it can really draw you in with some surprisingly challenging tactical situations.
Bug hunt—more ways than one
For all its merits, the game is shackled with a reoccurring problem. Bold strides in design and fun are often tempered with trivial flaws that chip away at the game. This includes such oddities as the inability to access a character's inventory if they're in the middle of a move animation. This is a problem compounded because anytime you select new targets, move or change stances, characters tend to go through odd gyrations of kneeling and standing. While only minor problems, these types of flaws can get annoying when leading a squad through a series of specific orders.
As the game progresses you will face more and more dangerous Brood species
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The unsettling feeling of a slightly rushed product raises its ugly head again late in the game. During the War campaign gamers have been plagued by desktop crashes (solved by resetting the desktop to 640x480), and by characters getting stuck in doors or walls (though only rarely). That's not all: the feel of the game changes mid-stride too. While the majority of the campaign can be resolved by resourceful implementation of tactical strategies, by the time you reach the War and Hive chapters puzzles and brainteasers start seeping in. You feel frustration on the horizon when events like captured Brood and salvaged equipment are ignored during the beginning of two-part missions! Or when you have to activate inconspicuous switches and baby-sit characters as they jump nearly invisible obstacles to reach the mission's primary objective.
Despite these bumps, Abomination does a very good job of creating an addictive, challenging, and fun game. Character management is certainly rewarding, and the eight superhuman agents in the game really add a lot of personality (and may even offer a little salvation for Agents of Justice mourners). The opportunity to nurse agents that couldn't hit the broadside of the barn with a bulldozer into lethal killing machines really helps weather those moments when the game's tarnished shortcomings border on frustration.
Abomination has eight genetically engineered agents with abilities that border on superpowers
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Abomination excels into two other areas as well. Up to eight players can go head-to-head in multiplayer. The truly remarkable feature here is that the game allows you to play-by--mail co-operatively (how many real-time games offer that). The game's AI is also quite good. The friendly AI responds well to threats and you even have a range of AI variables that you can set to your own preference. The enemy AI does a great job of recognizing the level of a threat, and even mobs your agents if they unwisely bunch up. Of course, a caveat to this praise is that the AI doesn't make any pretense at tactical finesse. Instead, it makes a beeline for your units and then slugs it out in a standoff shootout, OK Coral-style.
Abomination is a unique game that blends thoughtful tactical strategy with a fast-paced, frantic feel. The result is somewhat mixed, but that's largely due to a series of minor issues that prevent that polished feel. Still, there is a great game in here. Abomination has the right mix of ingredients to appeal to both armchair strategist and action addicts. A great title for your library if you don't scrutinize the failings to closely.
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