In recent years, the popularity of independent games on Steam has really inspired many domestic game developers and studios to try to enter the field of stand-alone games. In particular, the birth of a large number of martial arts-style games has also rekindled the confidence of many players in domestic games. However, the desire to break through RPG games and try more different game types is still very precious in this field, which also made the domestic TPS game “Gene Rain: Wind Tower” (hereinafter referred to as “Gene Rain”) attract a large number of players’ attention when it was first released.
As a domestic game with a sci-fi theme and emphasizing the thrill of shooting as its main selling point, the biggest difference between “Gene Rain” and other domestic games is that it dares to try the TPS game type. The design concept of “crossing the river by feeling the stones” makes the game look both familiar and unfamiliar, but at least it gives the developers and the game itself the courage to challenge this game type that has high requirements in terms of technology and development concepts.
Newbie TPS first experience
This is not the first time that “Gene Rain” has been released. In fact, the game was officially released in July last year. The version launched on the PS4 national server has made corresponding adjustments and optimizations for the previous version. It can be said that the current PS4 national server version of “Gene Rain” is the most complete version.
From a traditional perspective, players do not have obvious needs and requirements for the plot structure of FPS games. They only want to get a richer combat experience within a limited process, and the story background is more of an appetizer to embellish the main meal.
But for TPS games that are becoming more and more popular among players, in addition to exciting and fierce battles, players also need richer storylines to support the core goal of “why to fight”, which is also the content pursued and focused on by many TPS masterpieces in recent years. However, in “Gene Rain”, although players can get some statements about the background of the game story through a few cutscenes and narrations, the game does not explain clearly why the game is called “Gene Rain”, why the struggle between humans and artificial intelligence is here, and how the relationship, ideas and subsequent interactions between different camps are generated. This has to be said to be a regrettable part of “Gene Rain” under the grand science fiction theme framework.
Compared with the relatively weak plot setting, it can be seen that the game has put a lot of effort into combat, and it is not complicated. Players do not need to master any advanced techniques to enjoy the refreshing feeling of shooting everything. Perhaps due to the troubles in the development of technical strength, the battle scene of “Gene Rain” is basically fixed in the newly opened scene in the process of moving from point A to point B. Players will encounter surging enemies in every battle. What we need to do is to use the cover in the scene and different skills to kill them, so as to complete the acquisition of dropped weapons and equipment, strengthen our own abilities, complete the task and fight again. It is relatively simple to obtain equipment, but the game experience is very suitable for the closed loop of TPS game play.
It is worth mentioning that in the enemy type setting, Gene Rain has many remarkable features. In addition to melee, long-range shooting, and bosses with different skills, the game also provides some drones from time to time to interfere with the players’ combat. This brings a lot of trouble to players who are used to hiding in bunkers to fight, and at the same time encourages them to quickly move from one bunker to another, completing tactical actions or killing enemies in the flow.
In addition, from the setting of the gun system, which is very important in TPS games or the entire shooting game category, “Gene Rain” obviously has its own ideas and considerations. Compared with “Gene Rain”, which is full of traces of imitation and learning in the entire combat module, the “module gun” system proposed by the game allows players to adjust and combine the properties and functions of guns as much as possible. Players can use some items dropped by killing enemies in the game to modify guns. If you find it troublesome, you can directly use various standard weapons dropped in the battle as secondary weapons. In other words, “Gene Rain” provides a highly customizable main weapon system with “module guns” as the core, and also provides players with standard weapons. This combination method is very interesting and it is very worthwhile for developers to continue to explore and optimize and improve.
Aspects that need improvement
As a work that attempts to explore the TPS game theme, “Gene Rain” has many advantages that deserve praise and emphasis. At the same time, as a domestic game that attempts to make attempts in this high-level game field, “Gene Rain” also has very obvious shortcomings, and even some problems that affect the actual gaming experience of players are presented.
As a TPS game, the first thing that needs to be emphasized is the shooting feeling of the weapon. In Gene Rain, whether it is a long-range or melee weapon, in addition to the different attack effects, there is almost no feedback from the bullet hitting the enemy. If it were not for the reduction of the health bar and the burst of damage, you would often doubt whether you have hit the enemy, especially in the console version, which lacks the vibration reminder design. Not only does it make players wonder whether they have hit the enemy during the battle, but relying solely on the sound reminder, it is also difficult for you to find out that you are being attacked by the enemy in the first place.
Secondly, since it is released on the PS4 console, “Gene Rain” does not provide any auxiliary aiming settings, which makes the shooting game, which is already difficult to operate on the handle, even more clumsy, especially when fighting in the cover, facing the surging enemies moving quickly to your side, without the help of the auxiliary aiming system, it is very difficult to aim at the enemy and attack. So many times, players simply don’t want to leave the current cover, and can only rely on distance and skills to “grind to death” the opponent. This makes the game’s design idea of hoping that players can reverse and move between different covers while performing tactical gameplay seem bland.
In addition to canceling the setting of assisted aiming, there are still many problems in “Gene Rain”, including the need to hold down the L3 button to complete the running function, the slightly rough game quality, the unclear explosion particle effects, and the large number of repeated scenes. Although these problems are not fatal, you will feel the constraints of these shortcomings at any time during the game. Fortunately, the PS4 version of the game has further deepened the UI and enemy AI system, which has alleviated the defects in the experience to a certain extent.
Conclusion: Give domestic games more patience and give players more hope
“Gene Rain” is a work that is committed to breaking away from the traditional development thinking of many domestic independent games. It boldly challenges the difficult TPS type that few domestic works have set foot in. In terms of completion and gaming experience, the quality of this work is also impressive. At least the entire framework has formed a reasonable closed loop. However, the game has many flaws, and the experience is affected by major and minor problems. If the developer can further optimize and adjust the existing problems in the later operation and development of the game, I have reason to believe that “Gene Rain” will become a work with excellent core competitiveness.
Finally, I would like to give a purchase suggestion to players who are interested in this game but are still hesitant: If you are a TPS game enthusiast and happen to own a PS4 console, you can try to buy this game to experience a TPS game made by Chinese people. The PS4 version is also the best optimized version at present.
