Archetype Review: Let’s Play Frag Tag!

App Name:	Archetype
Platforms:	iPhone, iPod Touch
Publisher(s):	Villain
Version Reviewed:	1.0.5
Genre(s):	Multiplayer FPS
Release Date:	July 6, 2010
Price:	$0.99, 66% OFF! (was $2.99)
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Looking for a new hardcore multiplayer shooting experience? Want to have that experience on your iPhone? Well, good, because Villain has given the world Archetype, a game designed to feed that gamer need. It’s an energetic multiplayer FPS that delivers on its promise of a good, gun-totin’ time.

The game opens with a cinematic plot setup — wait, Archetype has a plot? Well, it has a scenario to explain why blue- and orange-suited troopers are playing frag tag. Turns out, we’re all supposed to be future humans in combat training to take back the Earth from aliens. Got that? Okay, good, now forget about it, because Archetype cares about it as much as you do. It will never again be relevant to your fun.

What Archetype really is, is a giant game of virtual paintball, a 10-player shooter that will hit all your LAN party buttons. You join a randomly-assigned team of up to four other players, becoming either Blue Team or Orange Team, and are placed in an enclosed, weapons-littered battleground. There, you engage in the expected first-person multiplayer romp: grab the best weapons, gun down your opponents, and respawn when you die.

It’s all executed very well. You control your soldier via a dual joystick scheme, and shoot pretty much by aiming – the game’s targeting system auto-fires whenever your crosshairs turn red. On top of the screen are buttons for swapping weapons (you can carry two at a time, one of them always your default combat rifle) and throwing grenades (find the nano grenades, they’re better).  This all plays out against a generic industrial sci-fi setting that comes off as sufficiently atmospheric.

There’s a variety of guns, from a standard semiautomatic rifle, to a rocket launcher, to a battleaxe. I preferred the axe myself (more on that in a bit), but be wary of anyone toting that rocket launcher. Luckily, the ammo of all weapons is limited, so there’s no chance of someone getting hold of a great weapon and just blazing away for five minutes.  And since weapons respawn pretty quickly, you always stand a chance of getting one, too (unless someone camps the spawn spot).

More importantly, though, is that is runs very smoothly. There’s always a performance danger when you’re trying to run multiplayer on a wireless mobile device, but I experienced very few glitches. The most common, and frustrating, ones came right at the end of matches, where I’d momentarily lose connection to the server and thus lose out on points and stats. But I was actually expecting more problems than I actually experienced.

The comparisons with Eliminate Pro are inevitable, so here it is: all in all, I like Archetype more. Better graphics, smoother controls, and no lame in-game limitations on playtime that can only be remedied by in-app energy purchases. The trade-off in Archetype is that your virtual soldier never gets better, never gets better weapons, never levels up. Everyone gets the same power level, and the only things differentiating the quick from the dead is individual skill, choice of weapons, and a heaping helping of luck. This is both good and bad; it means there’s a certain sameness to every game, but it avoids the imbalance that games like Eliminate Pro inevitably suffer.

That’s not to say that Archetype is perfectly balanced. Some things in the game could certainly use tweaks. Like the Axe, the only melee weapon in the game. It kills in a single blow, meaning that if you get your hands on one, you can cut anyone down by running up to them and swinging faster than they can gun you down. It’s an easy way to MVP.  I always find the axe, and I will continue to do so until it gets sufficiently and appropriately nerfed.

Also, in keeping the game balanced between all players, the overall experience is a little generic. Your rank is the only thing that distinguishes you from other people, and you have no way to publically display your medals. It’s possible that this game could get boring over time, without some sort of reward to egg players on once the basic play experience gets old.

So, if you like the idea of a fast, fun, straightforward multiplayer FPS, then you need to snag Archetype. While the game could use a little power tweaking and a bit more in the way of achievement and reward, it’s still a solid and fun game that will feed the hardcore gamer in you.

Our Score: 4.5/5

Archetype was available for $2.99 at the time of this review.

About the Author

Writer@Large Brian P. Hudson is an educator and freelance writer currently living in Dearborn, MI.

 

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