The ideas behind The Ship while refreshingly original are quite simple.
You, a man or woman have been invited by Mr. X to an all expense paid
cruise on one of his fine 1920’s era cruise liners. There just one
small catch to this seemingly wonderful trip. To earn your free cruise
you have been given the name of one other passenger on the cruise ship
whom you must find and secretly murder. Sound simple? Not quite because
someone else on the boat has your name as well. The Ship in simple
terms is a game of cat and mouse between sixteen players.
Though the concept behind the game seems very simple the learning curve
turns out to be quite steep if you are not familiar with the original
mod that was created using Half Life. As there is no in game tutorial
to speak of, the average player might be easily put off after being
murdered three times in a row with a baseball bat. Once you get past
this hard (albeit short) learning experience the game turns into a
highly rewarding experience. An interesting feature that appears in The
Ship is the addition of needs. Quite like The Sims you will find your
self needing to groom, feed, and entertain your character while in the
midst of the game. While this may sound bad in concept it actually
prevents the occurrence of camping and can lead to some interesting
kills because of the inability to cancel an action while in the middle
of performing one.
The Ship turns out to be more methodical in nature then your average
first person shooter. You must take into consideration your next action
and the possible chance of you being killed or killing your target
because of it. In turn the winner of a round is not based on the amount
of the kills, but of the originality of them. For instance while
running down a hallway after your quarry shooting a Tommy Gun may sound
like a good idea, you will earn less money then if you had taken a
swing with a tennis racket. To track down your target in some of the massive ships you are given a
brief location of them every 30 seconds. This adds the need to keep
moving around the ship at a constant pace when possible to avoid your
hunter. You are also provided with a floor plan of the entire ship,
which in your early days of playing you will find yourself constantly
opening to check your location in relation to your Quarry’s.
You will find as you search through certain drawers and cabinets new
attire that you can use to change your appearance. Veteran players will
find if they have failed killing their quarry numerous times changing
the clothing of your character can stop your quarry from recognizing
you the next time you walk past. Though the speed of the game is overall a well made decision it also
brings a few small problems with it. Currently there are only two game
modes that are worth playing if you are interested in experiencing The
Ship as it was meant to be played. Hunt and Elimination, Elimination is
the slower paced mode of the two. When you are killed by your hunter
you respawn but no longer as a participating player, but as a passenger
in which you still need to fulfill your needs but no longer play until
only one last player stands and a new round begins. The way this mode
is set up can create a dull experience to players who are killed out
early in the game and must wait for the game to conclude which may take
a significant amount of time in many cases.
The second game mode Hunt is quite the opposite of Elimination. When
the first kill occurs a timer starts warning other players that they
only have ninety seconds to kill their quarry before a new round
starts. This causes mass panic in which you find yourself running
through corridors to find your quarry before the time has run out and
you are left without a kill. While this eliminates the cause of boredom
between rounds, it also takes out the idea that dieing really pulls you
from the experience and only makes you want to try harder and make
better decisions to live. To each their own as you will most certainly
choose which game you prefer and stick with it. The Ship also comes with a single player experience where you may play
against the computer instead of human players. The mode might has well
been left out because of the terrible A.I. In September when the game
is released to retail stores Outerlight promises a full single player
experience. Due to legal obligations they will have to charge a small
fee to those who have already purchased the game on Steam.
The variety of ships that you will traverse while completing your evil
deed is quite large. While there are only six ships to choose from when
joining a game each one is distinctly different in both appearance and
size. Each ship also holds a vast amount of secrets which you will find
as you play the game more often. They provide special weapons you may
not normally be able to find on a regular basis.
The Ship was created with the Source Engine the same that was used to
create games such as Half Life 2 and Counter Strike Source. With this
in mind The Ship is not a graphical powerhouse you may come to expect
from any source engine game. This may sound like a letdown though it
does not have the slightest effect on game play. Instead of
ultra-realistic graphics, Outerlight chose to give the game an original
art style that has an almost cartoon flair to it. Ragdoll Physics do
make an appearance though you end up not noticing the effects as much
as you might while playing a faster paced shooter.
While sound does not make a large appearance in The Ship it is still
noticeable while walking through the ship you may pass by a number of
radios or even live musical bands. Many of the songs are parodies of
music from the 1920s era. The music was a nice touch but otherwise the
sounds of the game are fairly standard to what you might expect.
The Ship is a refreshing experience after being plagued with mediocre
shooters and the like. Though some flaws are present most can be easily
fixed with a patch. At the price point of 20 dollars there truly is no
reason not to give this game a go.
