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ATOMIC HEART (PS5)
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Publisher: Focus Entertainment.
Developer: Mundfish. Released: February 2023. Genre: FPS. Other versions: PS4; XSX; XONE; PC. Posted 17th July 2024. By Shane Battams © 2024 |
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Atomic Heart feels like a patchwork game, one of those titles that join together a pool of disparate, familiar elements to try to birth a unique new experience. You can easily see the game’s influences from a quick inspection; whether it’s the power-infused gunplay of BioShock, open world exploration common to the recent generations, or taking a real-life government superpower and putting an alternative spin on them a la Wolfenstein. Mundfish’s debut certainly isn’t lacking ambition despite these familiarities, and when sticking to its key strengths, it offers some fun. Unfortunately, with a scattershot approach to level design, as well as some odd choices that chip at the overall quality, it’s an experience that will delight and frustrate in equal measure.
In Atomic Heart, a breakthrough scientific discovery known as Polymer has helped advance the Soviet Union faster technologically and proved powerful during WWII, despite a manmade virus killing millions. Global demand for robots led to a Kollektiv being installed to link them together. Unfortunately, a rogue scientist activates a protocol which turns peaceful machines murderous, and along with some biochemical experiments escaping, unleashes chaos upon this previously idyllic world. Now, Dr. Sechenov sends Agent P-3 in to try to clean up, along with an AI companion known as CHAR-les. The story proves something of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, the world-building is remarkable, presenting an alternative spin on everyday aspects such as robots taking over manual labour, and sky city travel requiring robots to airlift cars. Its take on how technological evolution would affect 1950s Russia is immensely detailed. It offers a solid thread, scrutinising and even parodying Communism. By contrast, P-3 is a remarkably out-of-place protagonist. Like a nineties hero with attitude shoehorned in, his forced cursing aplenty, along with some of the worst zingers you’ll hear, makes for a poor lead who seems hopelessly far removed from the game’s setting.
Atomic Heart's strengths lie in its well-realised, distinctive setting
However, what the game lacks in narrative consistency, it makes up for with technical prowess. Atomic Heart is often a stunning game, showcasing a raft of detail and incredible lighting with very little slowdown. Cut-scenes showcase great expressions and animations, visual effects such as elemental powers and explosions look fantastic and certain robots bear uncanny attacks showcasing their attempt to mimic human movement, but not quite nailing it. The opening, which sees you riding a boat as several events (including a machine getting stuck in a tree) proves visually breathtaking if a touch long-winded. The audio side is good, though it too suffers inconsistencies. The voicework ranges in quality, with certain characters feeling stronger than others, while the writing is borderline awful at times. However, the music is often excellent, utilising both original scores and licensed tracks to good effect. Oddly, a few contributions from Mick Gordon stick out like a sore thumb, certainly not because they’re bad, but they feel anachronistic to the setting, with heavy-metal riffs and double-bass madness not fitting in. Guns sound potent at least, and some good use of ambient sounds can heighten tension when appropriate.
In terms of gameplay, Atomic Heart proves as mixed as its other elements. Primarily a first-person shooter seeing you blow up robots and mutated nasties, P-3 acquires both firearms and powers to combat foes, which can be upgraded using special vending machines using looted resources and Neuropolymer. Shooting feels smooth and melee combat works well, with the action growing more interesting as you acquire more powers. Jet allows you to spray Polymer and then use shock, fire or ice to create a trap for foes to fall in which proves immensely satisfying. You can acquire telekinesis to pick up certain foes and throw them, equip guns with temporary elemental shots and improve P-3’s physical capabilities such as adding a second dodge. It grows the combat system into something pretty unique, where timed dodges and clever mixing of firearms and powers can win the day, even against more imposing bosses. There are a few other gameplay elements, such as driving cars and platforming, though these feel less developed than the combat.
In terms of gameplay, Atomic Heart proves as mixed as its other elements. Primarily a first-person shooter seeing you blow up robots and mutated nasties, P-3 acquires both firearms and powers to combat foes, which can be upgraded using special vending machines using looted resources and Neuropolymer. Shooting feels smooth and melee combat works well, with the action growing more interesting as you acquire more powers. Jet allows you to spray Polymer and then use shock, fire or ice to create a trap for foes to fall in which proves immensely satisfying. You can acquire telekinesis to pick up certain foes and throw them, equip guns with temporary elemental shots and improve P-3’s physical capabilities such as adding a second dodge. It grows the combat system into something pretty unique, where timed dodges and clever mixing of firearms and powers can win the day, even against more imposing bosses. There are a few other gameplay elements, such as driving cars and platforming, though these feel less developed than the combat.
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It's the structure which can let down Atomic Heart at times. Initial levels see you guiding P-3 through linear spaces with more thoughtful exploration. Here, there’s a semblance of classic survival gameplay as you must explore the area and find key items to open up more of the facility, with even a focus on collecting canisters in the most convoluted lock system since the heyday of Resident Evil. During more linear levels, this becomes a running joke that while funny at first, grows wearisome by the fourth instance. Even P-3 remarks on the tedium this can induce, but this moment of self-awareness doesn’t render it enjoyable. That being said, the more focused stages still prove enjoyable, with memorable scenarios such as a plethora of optional Test Chambers which mix puzzle-solving and combat arenas. They’re enjoyable to uncover and require some lateral thinking to overcome, including a focus on magnets.
Once you escape the initial facility, the level design is turned almost on its head, replacing tight corridors with open world exploration, hence the need for cars. Unfortunately, exploration is rendered extremely tedious by a few key choices on Mundfish’s part. Firstly, there’s a notable lack of systems, such as being able to place markers or fast travel – and considering the size of both the hubs you get to explore, this proves something of a headache. Worse still, the alarm system creates immense aggravation. Around the world, cameras can detect you and raise the alarm with nearby robots swarming your position. Coming in two levels, the second sees the arrival of airdropped reinforcements. This isn’t terrible on its own, but special Hives spew out repair bots who will fix up any downed machines nearby including cameras and reinforcements. What this results in is a cavalcade of robots that cause you to die frequently, and even if you get a handle on them, they can rejoin the fight sharpish. While you can seek out HAWK system and disable robots for a short time, it’s not enough to stave off serious frustration. Even just making it to the next story mission can be an absolute ordeal.
Once you escape the initial facility, the level design is turned almost on its head, replacing tight corridors with open world exploration, hence the need for cars. Unfortunately, exploration is rendered extremely tedious by a few key choices on Mundfish’s part. Firstly, there’s a notable lack of systems, such as being able to place markers or fast travel – and considering the size of both the hubs you get to explore, this proves something of a headache. Worse still, the alarm system creates immense aggravation. Around the world, cameras can detect you and raise the alarm with nearby robots swarming your position. Coming in two levels, the second sees the arrival of airdropped reinforcements. This isn’t terrible on its own, but special Hives spew out repair bots who will fix up any downed machines nearby including cameras and reinforcements. What this results in is a cavalcade of robots that cause you to die frequently, and even if you get a handle on them, they can rejoin the fight sharpish. While you can seek out HAWK system and disable robots for a short time, it’s not enough to stave off serious frustration. Even just making it to the next story mission can be an absolute ordeal.
There's no shortage of visual panache to Atomic Heart's utopia-gone-wrong
For those with patience, there’s a fair bit to uncover here. The main story thread takes around 12 hours to polish off, not insubstantial but a journey with ups and downs. There are a ton of collectables for the explorative, including audio recordings which detail life before and after the inciting incident here. The test chambers prove fruitful, adding considerable time to the longevity and requiring some brain matter simply to unlock, as you hack cameras to open hidden entrances. Completionists can expect the gameplay time to jump up to around thirty hours.
Atomic Heart elicits a wide variety of emotions. The world-building stirs fascination, the protagonist and writing feels cringeworthy, the visuals evoke awe and the gunplay can offer excitement, even when the open world causes frustration. As you can see, much of this experience is mixed quality: some aspects are genuinely fantastic, while others feel ill-conceived and designed to irritate. Ultimately, your patience for these rough edges will determine a recommendation here. If you can stomach a lot of inconsistencies and frustrations, you might find the positives keep you hooked. For those less tolerant, uncovering those amazing moments will likely require too much exertion to truly enjoy the game.
Atomic Heart elicits a wide variety of emotions. The world-building stirs fascination, the protagonist and writing feels cringeworthy, the visuals evoke awe and the gunplay can offer excitement, even when the open world causes frustration. As you can see, much of this experience is mixed quality: some aspects are genuinely fantastic, while others feel ill-conceived and designed to irritate. Ultimately, your patience for these rough edges will determine a recommendation here. If you can stomach a lot of inconsistencies and frustrations, you might find the positives keep you hooked. For those less tolerant, uncovering those amazing moments will likely require too much exertion to truly enjoy the game.
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VERDICT
"Despite fascinating world-building, awe-inspiring visuals and exciting gunplay, Atomic Heart is let down by dodgy open world exploration, cringe-inducing writing and too many frustrations." OVERALL: 6/10 |
OTHER GAMES WITH DYSTOPIAN SETTINGS REVIEWED
Rage 2 (2019, Xbox One)
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Cloudpunk (2020, PlayStation 4)
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