Atomic heart is an explosive adventure
Atomic heart
(PS5, PS4, Xbox, Xbox Series X, S, PC) Rated M for Mature
Atomic Heart is an explosive adventure through a futuristic inspired 1950s with an amazing world to explore.
The visuals of the game are a major highlight. The world created by the developers looks fantastic on Series X (tested system). The 1950s futuristic world was created, with detailed buildings complete with interiors and a huge map to explore. The futuristic robots come in many forms, complete with shiny shells.
The sound design is for the most part pitch perfect. The music is a mix of 1950s style music mixed with Russian inspiration. The music helps lend some light moments to the heavy carnage and blood seen throughout the world. Sound effects from laser blasts to explosions all sound great.
Voice acting is also well done with one exception. I found the character you play as just plain annoying. If this was done on purpose, I can’t say.
Atomic Heart has you playing Sergey Nechaev also known as Agent P-3. The game is set in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. The Soviet Union instead of collapsing has pretty much taken over the globe. Soviet robots have been delivered all around the globe and help people with daily chores, cooking, cleaning, deliveries, gardening and much more.
These robots have been integrated into everyday life making them indispensable. The only issue is these robots have gone haywire and have turned on people and started killing them. Players are dropped into the alternate timeline of this Soviet place.
The game is a first person shooter. Players can control the character with the left thumbstick and aim the ridicule with the right thumbstick. The objective of the game is to try and fix the situation before it gets around the globe. Players have the use of a special glove that can shoot shock currents, poly foam and more. This glove is a welcomed companion when the battles against robots start. Besides the glove you have access to a number of guns and melee weaponry.
The glove also lets the player scan the environment highlighting enemies, resources and more. Scanning comes in handy seeing around corners, through walls and more. As you make your way through the world of Atomic Heart you will have access to blueprints for more guns and melee weapons that the player can create. Players can also upgrade your character with more power for their abilities, new powers and more.
The glove upgrades bring back those vibes like Bioshock. Even the world itself has that same Bioshock vibe. The buildings inside and the outer world have that utopian worldgone-wrong look and feel. Players, as they explore this world, will fight different robots.
The robots have a decent variety to them. You have the standard humanoid white robots that have melee attacks and a shield. These robots move fast. The next tougher enemy is the humanoid robot wearing black that has laser attacks. There’s also robots with saw blades, large garden robots with five rotating blades, grenade launchers and more. All these robots can be scanned to detect their weakness. Once you have their weakness you can select the best weapon to destroy them. Guns in the game all control and pack the punch you’d expect.
Most of the time ammo is limited so melee weapons will be your go-to weapon. I found melee weapons had just the right amount of wait. Once destroyed you can loot the shells to get resources for upgrades. Robots in an area will alert the player easily overwhelmed when you’re not being careful. The game has a nice challenge on regular difficulty.
If you aren’t paying attention the robots can easily take you out. Even bosses offer a nice variety and challenge. Quick reflexes and strategy are the keys to success to bosses and even encounters with a bunch of robots.
The futuristic world created has some impressive systems. The game has light poles with cameras that can detect the player. These cameras communicate and alert nearby enemies to your location. In each of the game’s smaller map areas there’s hawk relays that communicate with all the cameras in that area. Those relays communicate with the hawk balloons that oversee that entire area. If you destroy a robot, repair drones will be dispatched to repair the destroyed enemies. The ground level of the world has a number of buildings for the player to explore and loot.
A cool addition is that with the glove players can collect resources from enemies, desks, and drawers by gliding the cursor over the area. This instantly sucks up the resources in an area, instead of searching each drawer one at a time. Other games like Fallout or Bioshock, exploring off the beaten path lets you discover some cool areas. The edges of the map have laser fences to show the boundaries of the game.
Players can find many bodies of dead people that have transmitters that can communicate with the player through an implant giving more back story. Testing grounds are also a true test of skills and puzzle solving. These testing grounds require puzzle solving and some outside the box thinking and are a fun addition to the game. These grounds will have new blueprints for weapon or melee attachments.
The only issue with these testing grounds and the game itself is the platforming. Jumping in the game can feel off at times and players can get stuck in between objects. I had to load my game several times throughout the game after getting stuck and not being able to jump out of the obstruction.
I have well over 20 hours in the game exploring different areas to see what I can find. If you;re looking for a 1950s inspired future full of robots and an impressive world to explore, Atomic Heart is a perfect choice. 8.5/10.