While they’re a small percentage of the total content available, there are nonetheless several first-person shooters (FPSs) on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel. I have largely avoided them, but “End Of Days: Infected vs Mercs” has convinced me it’s worth a purchase. It’s from the developer of “Nuclear Wasteland 2030”, and is a huge improvement over that.
The game launched at 240 Microsoft Points, but has now dropped to the impulse buy-friendly price of 80 MSP. For that you get a surprisingly well-rounded FPS. Don’t expect a long singleplayer campaign here though, there’s a solo training mode but the rest of the content is unquestionably multiplayer in nature. The game is designed around the motif of zombies vs. soldiers, though here the zombies carry guns.
While a lot of FPSs struggle to come up with anything innovative in their multiplayer modes, EoD tries hard with a creative mode where only headshots count (and everyone has enlarged heats, a neat twist on “big head” modes that were popular back in the 16-bit era), as well as several other popular modes you’ve seen in other games.
The game awards kills with points that you can use to upgrade character stats over time (improving everything from how long it takes your character to reload to how much health it has). It also has improved versions of weapons to earn, also via a kills-based scale. Weapon skins are available too (if you want a camo gun, for example). Online leaderboards are present, and online multiplayer for up to 16 players. An impressive effort and easily worth 80 Microsoft Points.
Here’s what the developer (Sick Kreation) has to say about the game:
“A plague has devestated the world! Be a Mercenary and hunt down and kill the Infected to stop the plague, or make a last stand as the Infected in online team deathmatch. Free for all matches include a ‘Head Fest’ option, only head shots count and your head is twice its size!”
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