Blade Hands-On

Though the copy of Blade that Activision brought around was, indeed, an early version, I feel I was able to gain a decent impression of HammerHead's goal.

Much of the action takes place in tight corridors, inhabited by a plethora of unsightly horrors. The settings are considerably expansive and well detailed, and they feature large, complex rooms replete with throwable switches, and other interactive elements. Comparisons to Shadow Man's impressive environments are not too far-fetched.

Blade is a fairly deadly character, armed with an array of weapons and attacks. There are different buttons for kicks and punches, which can be unleashed in combination attacks. Also present are a handful of firearms, from shotguns to chainguns and almost everything in between.

The action occurs in a third-person perspective, and, for the most part, the pacing is rather deliberate. The reported 34-plus enemies generally lumber in your direction, acting as decent shell-fodder. The game's detailed textures probably account for its rather slow pace. This leads me to believe that Blade's gameplay would greatly benefit from simpler imagery. It is still relatively early in the game's development cycle, though, so there is a chance that the pace will get faster.

Graphically, Blade looks pretty good. The enemies look rather frightening and the color palette is sufficiently cold and dreary. The whole game is pretty dark, and everything looks almost washed in a sepia-tone Again, the game seems like Shadow Man's aesthetic kin. My feeling is that if Blade were sped up considerably, it would definitely be something to watch out for. The character is simply dynamic with his flurries of kicks, punches, sword swipes, and lead barrages. A quicker gameplay experience would only do him more justice.