Receiver Review

Receiver is the result of a 7-day FPS challenge done by Wolfire Games. All you have is your Colt 1191 A1 (and with the most recent updates as of this post, a S&W Model 10 revolver or a Glock 17) and an audio cassette player. A game that focuses on the gun, Receiver gives you full control over it, from the safety to the hammer to the trigger. As far as I know, it's the first game to give the player so much control over all faculties of the gun they wield.

This seemingly simple game is actually quite complex. You've got to keep an eye on your safety, reload your own gun, manage your own ammunition and more. There's a complex help menu that you can keep open all the time in the top right of your screen. You'll be needing this menu, there are a lot of controls to learn! Thankfully, it's very useful in that important controls you might want to use at that moment in time are highlighted.

This highly intricate set of controls allows you a great deal of control over your gun. This amount of control over the weapons is what makes Receiver a special game. Most games have you hit a single button to reload your gun, regardless of what kind of gun you're wielding. In Receiver, you have to eject the magazine, put it away for later use, take out a new one, put it in the gun, and cock the slide to prep for firing. Every single on of those actions has a button you need to hit. While some might simply view it as a tedious action to do a reload, the ability to do so can be exhilarating to the right audience. I myself found it extremely satisfying when I could reload my revolver without relying on the handy help menu.

The goal of the game is to collect all 11 clear tapes and listen to them with your cassette player. In order to do that, you have to explore the randomized world, and get past the killing machines that guard it. It is definitely not an easy task, as a single mistake will send you hurtling back to the starting line. Receiver makes you feel like a vulnerable human being, unlike other FPS games. You'll die in a single shock, the bullets will tear through you like butter, and that will be it for you.

With every death, there is no reviving, no checkpoints or saving of any kind. It's permadeath for your character, and you'll have to start from the beginning all over again. You have to always keep in mind how many shots you have left, when you need to reload, and take care that your aiming your shots well so precious ammunition doesn't go to waste. You'll find yourself scraping for bullets that are scattered throughout the world, and doing your utmost to conserve each bullet you have. Ammunition is hard to come by, and once it's been used, a bullet can't be reused. Receiver is a bru

The world of Receiver is a quiet place, and the only things you'll hear are the ambient music, the wind, your echoing footsteps, the sounds of your enemy moving and detecting you, and the sounds of battle. Then there's the clear tapes, which in my opinion are in dire need of an upgrade in voice acting. However, the tapes are worth listening to, as the story is actually kind of interesting.

While the gun mechanics are extremely interesting, the game itself is a little flawed. Performance is quite poor, and so lower end and even middle ground computers will struggle to play this. The level design is not inspiring, nor is the voice acting something I'd want to listen to. However, keep in mind this game was made in 7 days. I wouldn't have expected anything more than the amazing gun mechanics, and yet Wolfire managed to find time to experiment with unordered story telling in addition to creating an endless, randomized world. The control of your gun is the selling point in this game, and that one thing has kept me running through the levels many times over.

Receiver can be found at Wolfire's site. It's well worth the price for experiencing the gun mechanics, regardless of the several issues that comes with it.

8/10

This review was done using a PC Download of Receiver provided by Wolfire Games.