Hands-on with Damnation’s multiplayer

The claim to fame for Damantion has been that it’s a vertical shooter, meaning that you’re not just stuck following the path on the ground the entire time like most other third person shooters. You have to jump, climb and swing to get to higher spots on levels to take advantage of your environment. In a way, the game will make you feel like a monkey.

I got a chance to preview Damnation’s multiplayer last night and finally got a chance to see what this Steampunk vertical shooter was all about it. Hit the jump to read all about it.

King of the Hill was the first gametype of the evening, played on a map called Shaft. The game would spawn players at the lowest areas of the map and everyone had to make their to the top of the center platform to get in the King of the Hill zone.

It’s not easy getting to the center, as there’s no direct pathway. Instead, players have to climb, jump and swing their way to the center, all while avoiding gunfire from rivals and trying not falling to their doom below. A lot of the paths will require players to jump around and hang off objects. See a ladder that’s too high? Just do a wall jump to reach the ladder.

The game has a heavy focus on players climbing around like monkeys, so luckily no one will be vulnerable when hanging on a rope or ledge. You’ll be able to whip out your handgun from any position to shoot at anyone you see.

Players will have three guns at max and can replace them with other weapons found on the maps. One annoyance I had with the weapons system was that you have to hold down the left trigger in order to keep your gun drawn. Granted, it’s not like I was going to do anything else with my left index finger, but I’m just used to pressing a button once instead of holding it in order to draw out my gun in an action title.

After King of the Hill, it was time for the classic Deathmatch. This time we played on a map called Boiler Room that was smaller in scale than Shaft. Still, there were plenty of places to jump and grab onto with the potential to fall to your doom.

Another annoyance that came up was the unbalanced weapons system. The guns all felt right in the amount of power they had, but it didn’t matter, as melee was the strongest weapon in the game. I saw a lot of people running around in circles trying to punch each other. I was told that there’s still a lot of balancing to be done so hopefully a punch won’t be stronger than a shotgun blast once the game is released.

Damnation uses the regenerative health system, allowing players to run away and hide to recover health. Players would dive out windows in order to escape and recover, but since no one knew the map, I would see a lot of people diving out of a window and falling straight to their doom, making for some very funny moments.

There’s no radar, but players will have a special ability called Spirit Vision to find opponents on the map. It takes a few seconds to charge up, and once used, it will show you the position of everyone on the map. You’ll have to get up high for it to be effective and move the camera around to pinpoint where everyone is. You’re left very vulnerable while using Spirit Vision, as you can’t use your weapons or move.

Here’s the first video footage of Damnation’s multiplayer mode showing off the combat system and all the different ways you can get through the maps.

Overall, Damnation’s multiplayer is extremely fun. I love the large environments and the ability to climb on almost every object like a monkey. There are a few problems in the game though that needs to be addressed, such as the balance issue with melee.

Damnation will be out for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC this Winter and be sure to check out Dale’s preview of the single-player game for more information.