Scrapland

Life

PC

From the twisted mind of American McGee comes Scrapland, a film noir-styled murder mystery set in a land of human-hating robots and technological marvels. One part Blade Runner and one part The Fifth Element, the game follows the adventure of D-Tritus, a very green but very determined news reporter who is tasked with uncovering the dastardly mastermind causing the digital demise of well-known robots. The only problem is it’s not all that exciting.

This land is your land
Unlike the open-ended atmosphere of the Grand Theft Auto series, Scrapland fails to deliver on its promise of a living world. Sure, there’s a huge city to explore and plenty of inhabitants to shoot, but there’s no depth to the world. Venture off the main path, and you will find little to do aside from shooting up random citizens and stealing their cash. It’s a great way to blow off steam, but it doesn’t make for great game design.

One of the neater aspects of the game is the ‘Great DataBase’ that stores the information of every robot in the game. As D-Tritus, you can hack the database and pose as one of 15 robots, each with a special ability. Early on this isn’t much more than a novelty, but later in the game switching identities becomes essential.

Frame-rate frenzy
While exploring the world on foot, the controls are rather spot on, but hop into a vehicle, and prepare for motion sickness. Scrapland uses an original control configuration that will confound even Halo veterans. A ‘lock-on’ feature helps somewhat but doesn’t compensate for the poor controls. Compounding this problem is the game’s low frame rate – it often dips below 30 frames per second – resulting in uneven movements and disorienting turns. The audio is just as uneven with the soundtrack switching between powerful scores and repetitive bloops and beeps that sound like they were composed on a vintage 1980’s synthesiser.

A great idea on paper, Scrapland fails to fulfill its potential in more ways than one. It’s a serviceable game, but it doesn’t excel in any regard. Had it spent a few more months in development, it could have been a gem; as is, it’s strictly bargain-bin material.

Specs:
Scrapland
Requirements: ???
Rating: 70%
Price: EUR*50

Contact: Gamestop 01 872 4305

Read More: Gamer