Original, Dynamic, Intelligent - This Is The Ship!

By Thomas Machuca

What do Cluedo, The Sims, and Quake all have in common? Nothing really. But somehow game developer Outerlight Ltd. has managed to combine these popular classic games into their new title, The Ship. 

Intrigued? You should be - this is original stuff, and heaps of fun too. Created using Valve’s Source engine, The Ship is a great escape from the standard first person shooter, tasking players with more decisions than your usual 'twitch' shoot-em-up.

Although this title can be bought in stores (which includes tutorial, multiplayer, and single player modes) with cold hard currency, the game can also be downloaded from Steam as either just the single player or multiplayer modes. I reviewed the boxed version and as such this review will contain details not included in the downloadable product.

For instance, the boxed version comes with a tutorial mode, which will show you the basic principles of the game, guide you through all the keys, get you familiar with your heads up display and pretty much tell you everything else that you will need to know about the game so that you are ready from the get go to kill Mr Green with the wrench in the library.

In single player mode, the game's story is the driving point of the game. The Ship is owned by the mysterious Mr X and as one of many "lucky" recipients of a free ticket, you arrive on board The Ship to find there’s a catch to your luxury cruise.

You are coerced into a brutal Hunt to indulge Mr. X’s fantasies, under threat of death for not only yourself, but also your family. Your only chance to save yourself and your family is to play the Hunt and win.

The rules of the Hunt are simple. Each player is given the name of one of the other contestants on board -- your quarry -- and you must hunt them down and kill them with any weapon you can find on board. Depending on the game mode, either the last hunter left alive is the winner or the one with the most money in their bank account wins.

As well as having someone to hunt, you have another player hunting you, so you have to constantly keep looking over your shoulder if you want to stay alive. It definitely makes the game more nerve wrenching as you explore your surroundings, asthere is a chance that any character you pass on board the ship may also be attempting to get a few quick jabs in yours stomach with an ice pick, or being impaled by an umbrella.

There are security guards and cameras to protect you though, and also to obstruct you. If either of these two sentry devices see you pulling out a weapon, you'll be penalised, and this forces you to be operate as a far more intelligent killer as the game requires you to be stealthy and sometimes quite patient in order to get your kill. And this makes the The Ship all the more enjoyable to play, because when you finally get the frag you'll have a real sense of reward that you thought it through. Each kill is a real event, whereas in some shooters it's like cutting grass - monotonous and noisy.

And if you were wondering, you can’t simply kill everyone like a deathmatch in Quake... Mr. X takes a dim view of such behaviour, and will fine you for random acts of murder, called ‘innocent kills’. You can kill your hunter without suffering any fine however, which is kinda cool.

I mentioned three games before; Cluedo, The Sims, and Quake. It is comparable to Cluedo in that it has the fun old mystery-murder feel to it with a large array of weapons to use, like pistols, hammers, artificial arms, syringes full of poison, baseball bats, pool cues and purse bombs, just to mention a few. I liked the diverse range of weapons, and you can also murder your foes with a touch of cunning if you're clever about it. Some ships (each different level is a different ship) have saunas on board, and if you trap your quarry there and turn up the heat, it's Texan barbecue time! You can use freezers too, and if you're timing is precise you're foes may even come undone when a lifeboat crushes them to death.

Which reminds me of the MFK (Money For Kills) Table. I don't why it does, it just does. Mr X doesn’t like to see the same boring old murders over and over again so taking a look at the ‘Money for Kills’ table is a good idea. This table shows the amount of money Mr X is offering for a kill with a specific weapon. The more popular a weapon has been in recent murders, the more bored Mr X becomes and you’ll get less money. The most valuable weapon for your next murder is at the top of the table. All you need to do is find it…

The game is similar to The Sims in that you have to take care of your bodily needs while playing. Your character needs to sleep and take naps, eat food, have drinks, chatter away with people, take a 'slash' and have a 'shazz' (translation: go to the toilet and have a shower). You also need to keep your character culturally entertained with stuff like reading or dancing. Fail to do so, and you will suffer some horrible fate, such as dropping dead due to starvation, soiling yourself, going nuts because of a lack of human interaction, or turning into a pile of dust due to dehydration.

And as for the similarities with Quake… I’m sure you can figure out how a first-person shooter is similar to Quake.

In addition to single player Story Mode, there is also single player Arcade Mode, where you play offline, which allows players to play a similar style of game to the online game modes, but against computer controlled opponents, and it's a good place to hone your skills for the multiplayer arena.

But online is where The Ship really sets sail. The game is gaining a considerable online fan base, so you should be able to find a server loaded with players any time of the day or night, with up to 32 players at once on the larger maps. There are four modes – Hunt, Elimination, Duel, and Deathmatch.

In Hunt mode the game is divided into rounds: once anyone kills their quarry the other hunters have a limited time to kill their quarries before everyone is assigned a new quarry and the next round begins. The winner is the one with the most in their bank account at the end of the game, and I reckon that Hunt mode is a good introduction for new players.

In Elimination mode you are knocked out of the kill loop and become a regular passenger if you are killed by your hunter. If you kill your quarry you get a new quarry. The winner is the last one left alive.

In Duel mode you can challenge another hunter to a duel, without the interference of other players. And, finally, Deathmatch mode offers traditional Deathmatch play, but using the weapons found the Ship and with the additions of the ‘Money For Kills’ table, personal needs, and security.

In my opinion the Hunt and Elimination modes defeat the purpose of what the game is trying to create with its unique gameplay and hence, Duel and Deathmatch are the way to play online, because they bring all the fun from the single player Story mode, but without the slightly stupid AI in the single player modes, and with all the excitement of playing actual people from all around the world.

The graphics suit the game well, and because The Ship uses Valve's Source engine, everything looks very clear cut and neat. The graphics won't blow your mind with their complexity or anything, and there's not a lot of special effects or eye candy to speak of, but the restrained texturing suits the game, and the characters have a light-hearted cartoonish look to them that adds some life to the game. Yeah, the Source engine is a spectacular looking graphics engine and you can see why by looking at the water… I can’t look away, it’s sooo nice.

The sound of the game is there… sometimes. It’s actually quite dull at points, and the weapon effects aren’t entirely spectacular. But a nice atmosphere is created thanks to the old-time music parodies that play over the radios throughout each of the different ships and in certain areas. Though it's not the best in the business, it suits the game well and adds to its charm.

Well, we're almost at the end of the review, and I've come to a conclusion after stabbing multiple people with an umbrella. The Ship is a game I recommend you at least have a look at. I found it very refreshing to play such a different type of FPS, where there's much more to the gameplay than the wholesale slaughter of your foes. Having one target to search out, while keeping your character well fed and alert gives the game an original edge, and will appeal to gamers who are looking for something innovative to prop up their games library. 

And those who have Steam can download the game straight to their computer if they wish, which is splendid for those who do not wish to part with too much cash as it’s a slightly cheaper method. 

Outerlight is currently developing a sequel, called The Ship 2, as this game has been a huge success for the company. It's a wholly unique experience with its context sensitive interface, one that will keep you playing for hours on end - especially if you play online - and while the FPS purists may be turned off by the sometimes slower pace, it's originality will draw in a wider range of gamers than would a pure shooter.

Game: The Ship
System: PC
Players: 1-32
Online: Yes
Developer: Outerlight Ltd.
Distributor: Mindscape

Rating: 80%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)