Instinct: Review

In recent years, the domestic gaming industry has brought down an endless stream of muddy slag on our heads. And the further we go, the clearer it becomes that in the end it will not be the players who will choke on this dirty slurry, but the developers themselves. Since no one in the West is going to publish low-quality crafts, Russian would-be developers have to rely only on the local consumer and the miracles that a skillfully organized advertising campaign works. However, it is far from a secret that the largest segment of the market is still controlled by the “Jolly Roger”, so it is also pointless to hope for any serious profits in Russia. To develop somewhere, you need good financial soil for growth. We don’t have it, with rare exceptions, and don’t expect it in the near future.

Trash is our way!

"Instinct" – this is not just a very bad action. For every game there is a certain critical mass of shortcomings, upon reaching which all impressions are expressed exclusively in obscene words, and hands are drawn to break the disk into pieces. Here this critical mass occurs in the first 15 minutes. Let’s start with the fact that even while loading the starting level, it is possible to fly out the “window”. Such falls occur in the future with a probability close to 30%. The most interesting thing is that the cause of this error is… a firewall(?!). Those wishing to find out more details are invited to the New Disk forum. But these are still just flowers. Berries begin when, due to broken scripts, it becomes impossible to complete a level. The author of these lines ran around three rooms for half an hour, gritting his teeth and sincerely wondering where to go next. In the end, when all the walls were “probed” several times for hidden switches, I had to turn to the help of autosave. And then it turned out that the culprit was a malfunctioning grenade, which, as planned, was supposed to blow the door into pieces.

Appearance "Instinct“is best described by the phrase “we wanted the best, but it turned out…” – no, not as always, but even worse. In some places the picture is reminiscent of the most successful moments Half Life – the first part, of course. This is especially true for the models of the main characters. Their faces, as if flattened with a shovel, were not far from the cute face of the bespectacled Freeman. What’s most interesting is that the enemies look a little nicer and even have sane rag-doll animation. But tell me, who can be surprised by this now?? Other attempts to appear no worse than others lead to dismal results. You won’t find such a terrible picture blurring effect anywhere else. This is exactly how a person suffering from myopia sees the world around them. But this is a shooter where you have to aim and shoot! It’s so annoying that the corresponding checkbox is removed from the settings instantly. Although dynamic shadows are on the menu, they turn out to be a complete fiction. Other special effects are no better: cheap explosions, there is often no flash when shooting, and the interactivity of the environment consists only in the fact that you can shoot at a barrel and it will roll. There are the rudiments of physics – but what’s the point?? There is no point in talking about ubiquitous brakes at all – you prepare yourself mentally for them even before you install a piece of software code “made in Russia” on your hard drive.

But it’s okay if https://hunky-bingo-casino.co.uk/bonus/ there are only bugs and terrible graphics. These things, although unforgivable, are not in themselves a reason to send the game to the trash heap ahead of time. But not in "Instinct» such a thing as “fun”. It feels like heavy weights have been chained to the feet of our alter ego, which is why instead of running or walking normally we have to hobble, at the same time trying to dodge the enemy’s bullets. In addition, the sight periodically begins to shake, and not smoothly, as is customary in “realistic” action games, but with some jerks. It turns out to be a kind of simulator of a disabled person: not only does he see poorly and can barely move his legs, but his hands are also shaking. Possibly severe damage to the nervous system due to abuse of window cleaning liquid. And what kind of dynamics can we talk about after this??

But I haven’t yet told you about all the delights of local game design. Most of the 5-7 hours during which our monster is completed will involve shooting living creatures in the corridors. Yes, you can walk on the surface several times and even have the opportunity to ride in the Urals, controlling a heavy machine gun. That’s where the variety ends. The rest of the time it is necessary to inject lead into stupid zombies and the same brainless North Korean special forces who have infested the secret base. Walking corpses have a habit of crawling out at the behest of the script directly from ventilation pipes that end in a dead end. The question arises – how did they get there?? When you see four ventilation grilles in a narrow corridor, there is nothing left to do but take out a shotgun in anticipation of a meat grinder and go for a breakthrough. In other situations, the undead do not have the slightest chance, although they are distinguished by an agility unusual for their species. It’s even easier with special forces. The soldiers hardly know how to hide and do not like to hide, although sometimes they strafe for appearances, firing indiscriminately. Since you can’t really jump with weights on your legs either, you have to resort to the classic “my life bar is longer” scheme. Fortunately, first aid kits and armor are scattered in abundance. At the first levels, evil spirits await at almost every corner, but towards the end, when the developers have clearly run out of money, you will have to run from point A to point B through the absolutely empty and lifeless premises of the base. The only decorations are piles of boxes and explosive barrels, which are not found except in the shower. I already knew that the people of North Korea, faithful to the Juche precepts, are very ascetic, but even these inflexible people could not live and work in concrete boxes, sleep on iron beds without any hint of a mattress and eat kerosene.

National Security Agent Conquers Abroad

Dear readers, you must be sincerely perplexed how the fates of zombies and North Korean special forces turned out to be so closely intertwined on the territory of another secret laboratory. Screenwriters Roman Bekkulov and Sergei Bystritsky tried this, writing science-fiction nonsense in the worst traditions of Hollywood. Also “based on real events”. So, an FSB special forces detachment consisting of 6 people is sent to a secret facility in North Korea with the task of evacuating one very valuable scientist (they got something mixed up with a potential enemy, why not send a capture group to the homeland of the Maidan, for example?). Of course, everything does not go according to plan, and the helicopter with the brave warriors repeats the fate of the Black Hawk. After several skirmishes with the base’s guards, three remain alive: bosom friends Chernov and Bely, as well as the sexy, if you don’t pay attention to the lack of training grounds, Ira, nicknamed Strela. She also happens to be Bely’s ex-girlfriend. Why an FSB officer goes on a combat mission in a short military top with a bare navel, only God knows. And this fearless trio will have to seize a well-protected military laboratory with a cavalry raid.

"Instinct"- this, you see, is an action game with pretensions, so the plot was planned to be presented in a non-linear sequence. In fact, this idea is expressed in the fact that we first run in the form of Chernov, then Arrow, and in the last third we take control of White. Playing for each of the heroes in the same period of time, you gradually reveal the secret of the government Conspiracy (always with a capital letter and an ominous voice), learn the history of the creation of the “Instinct” virus (the word Umbrella just begs to be spoken) and find a traitor. Here are two telling names: Chernov and Bely – guess three times who is dishonest?

Since the developers did not have money for a normal video, and they did not dare to scare the player with videos on the engine (and rightly so!), then instead of the usual screensavers we see comics a la Max Payne. They wouldn’t be anything special if it weren’t for one BUT. The voice acting of these comics, as well as the lines in the game itself, was done by famous figures of Russian cinema, among whom is the popularly beloved Mikhail Porechenkov. It was his charisma that was planned to be used to pull off a frankly mediocre project. Moreover, I have no doubt that the cost of the star’s fee will be recouped – thanks to the PR people. Actors, by the way, work off their salaries to the last penny; The characters’ dialogue is the only bright spot in "Instinct». As for the music… no, enough of the negativity.

Final comments

“They came somewhere, then I turn into the most terrible vampire or something like that. I fight evil, and then I become the worst,” – from an interview on the game with Mikhail Porechenkov.

Gameplay: the dumbest shooting gallery pretending to be a first-person action game.
Graphics: Ranges from simply “bad” to “nightmarish”.
Sound: the work of professional Russian cinema actors – unfortunately, does not change the overall picture.
For how long?: press!