Genre: Stealth-Action
Publisher: Valve/Steam
Developer: Outerlight
Release Date: July 11, 2006

“I don’t have to answer to you, a trained assassin, for what I am.” -James Bond, Octopussy

Although the game I’m about to describe to you has nothing whatsoever to do with Ian Fleming’s infamous hero, it shares much of the same mood and feeling and thus I thought it apropos to use a clever little film quote to get you onboard. Oh my, terribly tasteless word-play has already begun, and I’m only just getting warmed up. Today, dear readers, we are looking at a curiously unique creation simply called “The Ship”. To simply describe it as a first-person shooter built with the Half-Life 2 Source engine is to be horridly unfair to its innovative nature. With that in mind, I shall explain further.

Do any of us doubt that there are rare individuals out there with enough liquid cash that they turn to absurd methods of amusement? This exact flight of whimsy is the core of The Ship: a multi-trillionaire known only as “Mr. X” has built a fleet of luxury cruise ships, for his own use as a cruel playground. Each of these vessels is elegantly decked out in art-deco design style, and they all serve as hunting ranges. Mr. X simply contracts out the “players” in his twisted game to track down and kill a single target each. The rules are simple enough: find and murder your quarry, without anyone else onboard seeing you do it. At the same time, you may also be tracked down as another target. High stakes, with commensurate rewards and penalties. Big money if you succeed, even bigger fines if you fail, and forced confinement if you’re seen in your attempts.

The Ship follows many of the same rules as we’ve seen in prior Half-Life mods like Counter-Strike or Day of Defeat, it’s just got a drastically different setting and pace. Games are played out in rounds, the server and settings browser are identical to the venerable Half-Life software, and the player set-up window is the same we’re all used to. About all that’s missing is the spray-paint tag option, although I can see how Mr. X might frown on someone being so gauche as to vandalize his priceless ocean-vessels. One does not want someone as powerfully rich and heartless as Mr. X frowning on their behaviour, so no paint-bombs allowed.

There are four play modes that the server-host can choose from, including the stalk-and-kill already described. This mode is called hunt, the others are elimination, duel, and deathmatch. All of these are somewhat similar; deathmatch is a simple free-for-all, duel is a one-on-one contest, and elimination is much like deathmatch without the re-spawns. For my money, elimination and deathmatch tend to be just a little bit too far removed from reality to function as effective play modes, not to mention their overuse in the FPS genre. That’s just a personal opinion though; I still tip my hat to Outerlight for covering all bases.

The Ship looks to rely on map familiarity, more so by far than its contemporaries. We all know that the key to success in Counter-Strike lies in knowing “de_dust” like the back of your hand, but that’s really just a tactical advantage. However, in this game you’re given your target and their last known whereabouts. Thus, if you don’t know how to get to “deck 4, third-class corridor” as quickly as possible, then you’ll spend the rest of the match wandering around like a lost sheep in need of a border collie. As of this beta-build, there are six maps, each named after The Ship they take place on. They are the Andrea Doria, the Atalanta, the Batavier, the Cyclops, the Huronian, and the Cyclops. These run the gamut from paddlewheel steamboats (the Atalanta) through to seven-deck luxury oceanliners (the Cyclops).

What is perhaps most puzzling about The Ship is that it is a stealthy murder-mystery game that wears the trappings of a FPS on its sleeve but also incorporates some sim elements as well. Your inventory is remarkable fleshed out, and just about every container you’ll encounter has some form of item in it that you can pick up and use, everything from weapons (who packs a katana in a steam-trunk?) through to books and clothing. I’ve even pilfered another man’s monocle, a sin so heinous I feel dirty even describing it. Initially, this can throw you off, as you’ll spend time exploring and looting instead of hunting and killing. It doesn’t take long to overcome this curious-pack-rat mind-set though; only one or two losses are needed before you pick up the pace. The inclusion of elements such as hunger, hygiene, or the need for social contact makes for some interesting twists too. It almost feels like you’re acting out a game within a game; I half expect to see green diamonds above the players’ heads. There are certainly dimensions to this game I was not expecting in the least; it’s anything but a standard shoot-or-be-shot title.

The Ship has a strong sense of style to its graphics, but not much else as of this moment. Source is certainly a strong engine, but at this stage of the beta at least, there is still much room to grow. Very little in the way of lighting realism or texture detail is present, and the entire game seems curiously dark. This is offset however by the beautiful art-deco ships and the vaguely cartoony/caricature player-models. I feel confident that Outerlight will polish this up to its full potential though; it certainly doesn’t feel as though it’s in the hands of amateurs.

The Ship will certainly make its mark on your gaming-radar, simply because it’s such a one-of-a-kind idea; this is the perfect answer to anyone who thinks innovative gaming is dead. I feel certain it will be a success, simply because stealth-action is a proven field with legions of fervent fans. That this game has so much cross-genre appeal is just icing on the cake. It’s currently available on Steam as a pre-download purchase, so if you’ve already got yourself set up for that sort of thing then I highly recommend giving it some attention.