Coming from V1 Interactive, a small team led by one of the co-creators of Halo,
Disintegration is a vehicle-based shooter that's all about raining down gunfire from above
while simultaneously managing a squad of robot buddies,
incorporating elements from first-person shooters and strategy games in a smooth and fluid manner.
The title refers to the process of integration,
a procedure that transfers human brains to robot bodies.
The campaign follows Romer Shoal, a former celebrity and Gravcycle pilot
who finds himself in control of a small resistance group
still holding on to fading memories of their human lives.
Now Romer and his ragtag group must battle against a faction known as the Rayonne
in order to protect humanity.
The overall story is nothing special, but there's clear effort put into getting to know the characters
and the world through cut-scenes and extra dialogue options between missions.
Despite some intriguing lore, the main plot feels pretty forgettable,
although there's enough to it to keep you going.
The missions themselves are straightforward as you move from objective to objective
while battling robots along the way.
Blasting robots is fun, but encounters throughout the campaign rarely stand out.
There are a few good ideas here and there that shake things up,
including moments when you have to forge ahead without your squad
or having your weapons disarmed and being forced to rely on your team, but these are few and far between.
There are also collectibles to gather such as Salvage that's used to level up characters
and Upgrade Chips which can be spent to improve stats like damage and survivability.
It's fairly bare-bones but they’re nice incentives to explore areas
and give you something to work for along the way.
Your Gravcycle is the main attraction.
Hovering in the sky while skillfully dodging attacks as you rain bullets down upon your enemies feels great.
There are a decent number of weapons to play around with like machine guns and rockets,
as well as support tools like a healing blast or an orb
that heals targets in an area.
Unfortunately, you can’t customize your loadout,
so you're forced to use whatever equipment you're given for that mission.
This can be frustrating since some loadouts feel stronger compared to others
or are just more fun to play around with,
but you'll always be given the tools to get the job done regardless.
As you patrol from above, you're also in control of your squad, issuing commands like who to attack
and when to use abilities like grenades or a giant sphere that slows enemies.
While the idea of maneuvering your Gravcycle and controlling units in firefights
may seem overwhelming at first,
it's easy to manage since your squad is very limited in what they can do
and you’re never put in a situation that requires a lot of attention
outside of resurrecting fallen squad mates.
Most encounters simply boil down to spamming abilities all at once and repeating when cooldowns expire.
It's a tough balance to find the right amount of strategy for a game that's also trying to be an FPS, but
it would help if there was a little more involvement with your squad
or situations that require more planning.
A large portion of Disintegration is dedicated to multiplayer,
with three game modes to choose from.
The most basic mode is Zone Control, where you battle over capture points.
In Collector, you raise your score by gathering cans, which are placed around the map
and dropped by defeated enemies.
You can also deny the other team from getting cans if you pick up a fallen ally's points.
Meanwhile in Retrieval, one team tries to escort cores to a designated drop site
while the other team defends these locations.
There are nine factions to choose from,
each offering their own unique weapons and stats.
The Lost Ronin specialize in speed and are equipped with Spitfire Cannons and Yumi Rockets,
while King's Guard favors a more supportive playstyle,
allowing you to heal allies and slow enemies down with their Javelin Launcher.
There’s an impressive amount of things you can unlock
by collecting in-game currency like badges, banners, emotes, and skins.
You can buy this currency with real money if you want,
but thankfully, there are a lot of items you can only get
by completing in-game challenges.
Overall, the multiplayer is serviceable,
but the strategy elements feel like they take a backseat even more than in the campaign.
Rarely have we ever felt like targeting an enemy squad over another player was the better play,
nor has squad management made the difference in a fight.
It’s fun for a few rounds, but it’s not likely to hold your attention for long.
Disintegration is solid and does a good job with its mix of FPS and RTS elements.
The strategy aspects feel a little shallow,
and neither the campaign nor multiplayer modes really go above and beyond in any way,
but there’s still an enjoyable and interesting premise here.
Disintegration’s mashup of genres isn’t revolutionary,
but its different approach is worth a look.
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