Take No Prisoners : A refreshing 3D shooter!

Think Gauntlet on Crack

Take No Prisoners, a a brilliant top-down action game that tries to fill a gap in the 3D action game genre so heavily populated by the first person shooter. It looks like a modern update to the arcade classic Gauntlet or Guantlet 2, and it plays quite similarly. The developers have succeed fairly well with the game, offering super 3D accelerated graphics that are well cool as well as plenty of violence, gore, blood, weapons, and enemies. 

The game features over 20 different weapons, including assault rifles, pulse cannons, laser rifles, molotov cocktails, grenades, flame throwers, and many more.

Take No Prisoners is a refreshing 3D shooter that takes an interesting perspective on the genre - both literally and figuratively. True to their reputation as one of the most innovative action game companies today, Raven Software produces in Take No Prisoners a great mix of action, adventure, and even a little bit of strategy, all served up inside a cool post-apocalyptic plot. As the game begins, you learn that nuclear warheads and radioactive fallout have transformed San Antonio, Texas, into an irradiated hellhole, full of mutants not unlike the denizens of Wasteland. You play Slade, veteran mercenary who has been recruited by The Man to infiltrate a mysterious, center-city dome. Once inside, the goal is to retrieve a special crystal and come back alive.

The most striking feature that sets the game apart is the playing perspective: all of the action in Take No Prisoners is viewed from an overhead floating camera, which follows your movement. While at first glance the game may appear to be little more than a bird's eye view version of Quake, there's a good deal of depth below the surface. Similar to Looking Glass' classic System Shock, the storyline progresses when you read personal logfiles stored on computers and solve a few physical puzzles that are more intelligent than the idiotic "find yellow key to open yellow door" variety. As you progress through the game, you will travel between areas (totalling over 20) via various vehicles you uncover during your investigation. As opposed to the very limited "move to the next level" design in most games, here you can travel between areas in a real-world fashion, similar to Strife.

Graphics are appropriately dark and moody, and the control is very responsive. A 3D accelerator will jack up game's the frame rate while adding (obviously) much more graphical detail, although it looks great even without one. Internet play has been implemented via the RedOrb Zone interface (which, as of this writing, has been discontinued). The game features over 20 different weapons, including assault rifles, pulse cannons, laser rifles, molotov cocktails, grenades, flame throwers, and many more. Controls are customizable, fighting is simple enough to master, but managing your other devices takes a little getting used to. Your character comes equipped with a PDD, a Personal Data Device that contains mission data, and anything else you can download into it. It's a great way to collect maps, security codes, notes, and any other useful information you run across. The top down perspective is a very neat way to control the game: it works very well, and makes it easy to plan attack and defense strategies.

Take No Prisoners is different enough -- and fun enough-- to warrant a look by all action fans. It may not be the end-all of blast fests, but it's a welcome departure from scores of Quake clones, and offers a good and solid ride while it lasts. Two thumbs up!

 

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP
Pentium 166MHz
32Mb for Windows

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