Renaissance Heroes Review

The renaissance vision this game presents is certainly one of its strongest points. Not only because  it uses the powerful Unreal Engine 3.0 making it look top-notch but the locations are superb — thoroughly crafted, picturesque and most of all unusual. We didn’t have a chance to make a bloody shootout in a scholar’s library or artist’s atelier before, did we? The only drawback with maps is that there are only eight of them but hopefully that will change in the future as creators plan to regularly expand the game.

Well, to be honest, the renaissance here looks a bit different from what we learn in schools. It has much of a high-technology steampunk touch but that’s what makes this reimagined world interesting. In this alternative vision Leonardo da Vinci has built a machine of great power. He wanted to use it to create a society based on logic and reason instead of superstition. However, during one of the tests the device exploded killing its creator. The priceless blueprints of the machine are now in hands of thieves and for various reasons many individuals would like to have them for themselves. The player assumes the role of one of them.

Currently, there are seven available characters — each with a unique background explaining why they search for the Da Vinci masterwork. There is, for example, a monk obsessed with an idea of fixing the church, rapacious member of the Medici noble family and a crusader brought back from the grave. The characters differ not only in their outlook and story but also in special traits they posses like extra rifle damage or additional ammunition. Although. the starting buffs are rather minor, with experience the characters level up and gain access to additional power-ups and new weapons which will transform them into more formidable fighters. Around level ten the number of choices is actually quite staggering — you can spend hours trying out various combination.

However, this system also has a flaw — the player’s skill is definitely the most important factor during fights but high-level players dominate the battlefield and the bonus power-ups and stronger weapons they posses make harvesting the newbies even easier for them. Obviously, it doesn’t mean that a level-one character cannot kill a high-level enemy — it just requires a godlike skill.

The rules of the game are utterly simple: you run around rather small arenas, collect various power-ups increasing your health and armor, and wreak havoc on as may enemies as you can — just like Quake III Arena. Even the game modes are all standard: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Seize the scroll(Capture the flag), one on one Duel and Touchdown. There’s nothing wrong with that — the fast paced, non-stop action gameplay is just as good as it was fifteen years ago. I was positively surprised to see how much entertaining old-school blasting opponents can still be and certainly do not regret dozen hours I have spent playing Renaissance Heroes. Nevertheless it does feel a bit disappointing that a modern production offers not much more than a title from late 90s. Besides, with old-school style also come old-school annoyances like camping, spawn killing and practically no team play.

The number of weapons may seem pretty limited at first glance since there are only four types of them: rifle, crossbow, rocket launcher and a melee weapon. However, there are lots of unlockable variations of these four categories differing in both stats and outlooks so that every player can choose his favorite set. Their design is also pretty cool with all these cogs and gears giving them renaissance appearance while maintaining deadly effectiveness.

From the start of the match every player has access to the whole arsenal except for the rocket launcher — it can be acquired by stepping on the golden globe. The rest of the ranged weapons is nothing extraordinary — the rifle is a machine gun and crossbow serves as a sniping rifle. The melee weapon — usually a club or a hammer — is the interesting one. Character wielding it not only can kill with a single blow but also runs faster and can throw grenades by hitting right mouse button — it all makes close combat a solid strategy.

The game has one more problem — very small community. When I logged on the server the first time there were only two games available — one of which was private and required password. Changing the server from US to Europe did not help — there were no matches available there. Consequently, I ended up having no choice about what type of game I wanted to play. Hopefully, this drawback is just temporary and with time more players will join.

Renaissance Heroes is certainly a successful comeback to the classic multiplayer shooters — it’s fast, hectic and competitive. However, here also lies the problem — it doesn’t offer much more than Quake III Arena from 1999. Yes, it has seven different characters with tons of customization options and perhaps even more coming in the future, but all in all these are just cosmetic nuances. It is fun, undoubtedly, to add a little uniqueness to your character but it doesn’t transform a standard shooter into something new. Nevertheless, piercing other players’ faces with a clockwork crossbow is still fun as hell, so if you long for an old-school action-packed gameplay, you shouldn’t hesitate to try Renaissance Heroes.