Sometimes, the first one is not always the one that sees all the fame.
Just ask Ralph Baer, who created the Brown Box which later became known as the Odyssey.
While he was the first to create home video games, it was Atari that got the money and
fame.
This is the also the case with Kill Switch.
Released in 2003, Kill Switch was a third person shooter that offered something different
than every other shooter out there, and that was making the focus of the game cover based
shooting.
Games like Gears of War and Uncharted would not exist if it was not for Kill Switch paving
the way.
Though unlike those games, copies of Kill Switch flew off the selves but instead of
into people’s home consoles they went straight to the bargain bins.
The story is a pretty interesting one.
You play as Nick Bishop, who is soldier that is controlled remotely by other people.
This is an interesting change to most shooter, as the story twists and turns as control of
Bishop is battled over by unseen parties.
Many people want to use Bishop for their own plans and you will always be wondering who
is in control and why you are doing the things you are, all the while having flashbacks to
your previous life.
The story is more interesting than I anticipated it being.
But Kill Switch is not remembered for its story but rather its innovative gameplay.
As mentioned before, this is the first third person shooter to heavily focus on cover based
shooting.
So if you are like me and tired of seeing it work its way into practically every shooter
released these day, you now know where to focus your anger.
Also seeing its first appearance in games is the blind fire mechanic.
Which is not when you take your car to get fixed by a man wearing dark sunglasses and
who uses a blow torch like it thought it would be.
But rather, you can pin yourself against a wall and shoot at your enemies without exposing
yourself.
This does two good things: 1) you can shoot and kill your enemies without getting shot
yourself and 2) you don’t have to get locked up and not be allowed around elementary schools.
So you go through the open environments that have bad guys littered all around just waiting
to come running out and meet your bullets.
The enemies themselves are pretty dumb.
They will use cover sometimes but will pop their heads out quite often and that is when
you get them.
All the environments have a good amount of barriers or pillars or walls that you can
use for cover.
It makes senses though.
The developers are not going to invent this new game mechanic and not give you plenty
of opportunities to use it, right?
The environments are varied enough too.
Some levels are standard brown urban areas but some see you on a boat amongst others.
The problem with Kill Switch is there is not enough variety in the gameplay.
The developers did a good job in creating a new way to play third person shooters but
then it seems like they ran out of ideas.
The game boils down to cover shooting here and cover shooting there.
It would have been nice to see things mixed up a little but what are you going to do.
The game should be played not just for the history lesson it provides but more importantly
because it is just a fun game to play.