{tag [Review]}

When they say the truth is out there, they mean really out there! I recently hooked up with the guys from Rake in Grass (http://www.rakeingrass.com), a local Prague-based game developer, to take a look at their latest, Larva Mortus. Think of it as a top down Diablo-like shooter.

 Simply put this game is fun. At times really difficult and there's a little strategy involved, but for the most part you run about and blow the living crap out of crap that is living and a bunch of undead crap as well. Pistols, shotguns, swords, crossbows and even a minigun and what amounts to a bazooka (really a portable handcannon) give the weapons in this game some oomph and variety.

This game is not for the faint of heart because on several occasions even I was startled to the point where my skipped a beat. But that was just the first few times it happened. I won't tell you what because that would ruin the surprise.

Graphics: 100%
When I said this game was Diablo-like I meant it. But it's still cool and the graphics are superior. The art style on the intro in sort of unique and cool and I actually watched the whole thing where I would normally reach for the ESC key. Once you get into the game the graphics become a cohesive experience making you forget the outside for at least for just a little while. It's not full on 3D as it's a top-down game, but it's more than interesting enough visually to keep you engrossed. The variety of monsters, locations and textures isn't innumerable but there's a fair amount of variation in them. This game isn't about burning out the cooling fans on your GFx cards it's about having a good time and being visually interesting and it is indeed both of those things. It even has a fun subtitle "Ultimate Anihilation of Bizzare Undead Armada" now I didn't write that and they're Czech so cut them some spelling slack. The game even gives you a choice of cursors and if you want gore with blood, without blood or off (green blood). You can also change between full screen and windowed mode, something many game makers forget about it seems.

Sound: 100%
From the *thoomp* of the handcannon to the rush of the napalm leaving the flamethrower this game is a pleasure to hear. Every weapon and creature have a unique sound which makes for an utter lack of boring repetition. Well I mean there's repetition but it's utterly lacking in boredom I guess. The music is extremely appropriate all the way through the game and I just really can't find a fault with the sounds so...I'll have to give it 100%. Stick that in your headphones and listen to it!

Gameplay: 85%
There is an awful lot of redundancy in the game in the way of play. However even with that said I still found myself taking on as many side missions as I could to power up my guy so when I proceeded through the story missions I was beefy enough to take some blows and survive as well as deal out a goodly amount of eternal rest for those undead bastards and their friends. I cut the percentage down on this because of the one-track mindedness of the game and the lack of other things to do. But this in no way means the game is not fun and that 85% is all fun with the entertainment value and replayability fairly high on the scale overall.

As you go your character gains experience that you can dump into specific skills, want to be faster? That can be arranged. Want to heal faster, be luckier or recover from monster effects quicker? All of that and more can be done as you customize your character every time you level up. With a simple skill points system that takes but a moment's respite from the monster splatting fun.

Cut Scenes: 90%
Good old animated comic style cut scenes are interspersed throughout the story mode missions to keep you apprised of your progress. They are all done in the same cool style as the opening intro and are fun to watch. Hell even the voice acting is pretty damned good. Why'd they only score a 90%? There simply weren't enough of them in my opinion.

Controls/Interface: 85%
The controls are WASD for movement and mouse for aiming. You can quickly flip through your weapons with the mouse wheel and toss a stick of dynamite with the space bar...and that's about all there is. There's no customization which is why the controls aren't scoring perfectly and there's no zoom in/out with the camera. I think those two simple additions would boost this to near 100%. The heads-up display in unintrusive in the game and quickly lets you see your health, weapons and the ammo you have for each. It also shows you how many rounds are loaded into the weapon at present and how many sticks of TNT you have handy. really it's a nearly flawless implementation of a HUD that tells you all you need and does not get in the way of the game.

Summary: 92%
It might sound like a Larva Mortus lovefest in this review but I don't care. From the moment I started playing the game until just now I never once said "dammit I hate this game" or "what the hell is that crap!?" Those are trademark phrases for me when I dislike a game so I obviously do not dislike this game. There's simply none of that happening with this title. From the bottom to the top this game is a winner. Everyone with XP, Vista and yes Mac OSX should drop $19.95 on this title and have a good old heapin' helpin' of monster blastin' fun. So go here (http://larvamortus.rakeingrass.com/ ), buy fast and get your hands on the fancy dynamo gun to zap multiple enemies at once. It's ultra-cool.