Title: Riskers
Platform: PC
Genre: Action, Racing, Indie
Developer: ShotX Studio
Publisher: Meridian4
Release Date: October 17, 2017
Riskers is one of those games where I felt the need for a short turnaround for the review. I really only got the code 3 days before launch. so, duties aside, I tried to cram as much play as possible into a very small time frame.
Note: For some reason, none of the keys I set to take screenshots worked. So I was stuck scrounging for screenshots.
The story concerns Rick, a garbage man. After finding, and keeping, a briefcase full of money, his world gets upended. His brother is killed by thugs and the briefcase is stolen. This sets Rick on an avenging rampage against the criminals that did it. I’d want to note that I like the way the story bits are presented. The best I can describe them is that they’re like a comic and A-Ha’s Take On Me had a baby. They’re very visually appealing.
Gameplay, well, the trailer should give you a good idea where it’s coming from. Everybody has described it in terms relating to the first two Grand Theft Auto games. Which is fairly appropriate overall. I’m not the biggest Grand Theft Auto fan in the world though, so take that with a grain of salt. You’re running around, stealing cars, shooting up bad guys. What’s not to like?
I did, however, notice that the game is a bit slower paced than the trailer would have you believe. Especially when you’re forced to obey traffic laws. Whether that’s something not playing nice with my PC or if that’s simply how the game is, I don’t know. But it is worthy of note that you’re not exactly a one man army. Too many enemies armed with projectiles will send you back to the start of a combat mission.
If the story isn’t drawing you, there are a number of side missions as well. They range from races to combat to just about anything you can do with a car in this game. So the game isn’t too light on content, so to speak.
There are also a few little glitches and bugs here and there. The developer seems to be dedicated to fixing these sorts of things. I’m not docking it for them because of that, and the fact that this was a one-man dev team. That is hands down what makes the game impressive.
The soundtrack is pretty damn good. The thumping club music being just one notable part. I do wish the bat had slightly more audio impact to match with the guns, since you’re going to use it so much. But that’s a relatively minor thing overall.
The graphics are probably the one area where I might nitpick. The environments and cars are all fairly detailed. The same can’t exactly be said about the player character and NPCs. Many of the NPCs are hard to differentiate, which is thankfully not too much of a problem thanks to the story scenes. The most you see of any character outside of those are their head, shoulders, legs (when walking), and feet, with hands and arms tossed in if they’re carrying a weapon. The most detailed they get is when you kill them. It’s a fairly minor thing overall, but it’s worth noting. And even then, part of that is due to perspective.
Overall, Riskers is a pretty fun game. sure, there’s a few hiccups here and there, but I don’t think they’ll be sticking around forever. And it’ll probably be a nice surprise for fans of the early GTA games.
“Riskers will scratch your old-school GTA itch, with a surprising bit of flair in its story sequences.”
Final Score:
4/5
*We were provided a copy of this game for review*
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