Shellshock 2: Blood Trails

We all know that war is hell. Shellshock 2: Blood Trails sees that, and then raises you a vast army of zombies. Software house Rebellion, responsible for the much loved Alien Vs Predator on the PC, have taken their first foray into the next-gen market with the second installment of their FPS / survival horror franchise. Think of it as Platoon via 28 Days Later and you’ll get a good idea what Rebellion are trying to achieve with this one. Question is, will it be a rotting-good rumble in the jungle or merely an ugly scuffle in a hedge?

Set in the middle of the Vietnam conflict, Blood Trails offers an alternative to the well established canon of WWII shooters that have saturated the market in recent years. You are thrown into the size-10s of Nate Walker, a GI who has been airlifted into the combat zone to locate his brother, Cal, the lone survivor of a special-ops mission gone awry. When you first clap eyes on him it becomes clear that old Cal has more than a touch of the walking-dead about him, and it is soon apparent that he is not the only one. The viral weapon responsible has been christened ‘Whiteknight’, and after an explosive introduction it’s up to you to recapture Cal, sort out this Whiteknight malarkey and violently dispatch a few hundred zombies along the way. You in? I thought so.

From the get-go there is no doubt that this game intends to push you headlong into the dark. There is an aura of evil that traditionally goes hand in hand with both the war-sim and horror genres, and Rebellion have gone some way to hammer this feeling home. Be it the dirty, tumbledown shacks that populate the local villages or the grimy and oppressive jungle paths you are forced to traverse, this is definitely a place you wouldn’t want to take the in-laws for a picnic. The soundtrack is designed to support this assertion: bushes rustle ominously on all side, babies wail in the distance, gunshots pepper the mist and, of course, zombies howl and moan like grounded children who have had their pocket money confiscated. In addition to the spacious jungle areas there are trench and tunnel sections that hem you in, making you an easy snack for any brain-munchers lurking in the shadows.

The enemy roster is balanced between armed Vietnamese militia and blood-vomiting deadites, though it is the latter you will spend most of your time and ammo trying to eliminate. Some shuffle clumsily towards you Romero-style, others bear down on you at high speed (as is the current vogue among the earthbound-damned), but all are eager to separate you from the flesh that’s been weighing you down all your life. The ability to pull off consistent headshots is paramount; ammunition is limited and whilst you can neutralize your mouldy foes with torso damage it will eat up much needed time and bullets. Aim for the brain-box and you’ll soon be standing atop a mountain of headless corpses, waving your weapon in the air and screaming “This is my BOOMSTICK!” at passers-by.

There is, however, a problem which I’ve been avoiding up until now. I’m not in the business of launching into vitriolic, hate-filled rants purely for entertainment value, so I’ll say it plain and simple: Shellshock 2 doesn’t really work. Controls are twitchy and unreliable, textures are bland and uninspired, animation is clumsy, enemy AI is dire, character models are limited in both quality and quantity and the plot is poorly developed and unsatisfying. All of which is a real shame, because there is genuine potential in the concept. I (and many other gamers like me) would be happy blowing zombies into grey, dusty bits ‘til the universe eventually succumbs to the unyielding will of gravity and implodes in on itself. Trouble is that there are both zombie shooters and war sims already in existence which succeed in delivering the thrills that Shellshock 2 doesn’t. We all know the names of these franchises, a testament to their ludicrous high quality and popularity, so developers looking to muscle in on the action have a truly daunting task before them. Yet it is important to know that there are those willing to clash sabres with the might of Infinity Ward, Capcom and Valve. One day they shall surely be bested. But not today.