Chorus

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Chorus review
Howie Howard

Review

Shooting for the stars

Chorus is a Sci-fi action space shooter with an adventure element from developer Deep Silver Fishlabs. The adventure elements make for an engaging narrative driven, shoot-em-up story line in a wonderfully created setting. When using a higher end gaming PC with enough horsepower the 4K graphics with its ray-traced reflections and enhanced environments really shine. In fact, the visuals can only be described as being beautiful in their own dark kind of Gothic style. Using a lower end machine isn't a problem because Deep Silver has also developed the game for current generation platforms.

May I Cut In And Have The Next Dance?


The story starts out with a cut-scene that describes the main character's past as part of a cult called the Circle. It tells the backstory of Nara's experience as a soldier with the powerful group and her rejection of their desire to rule the world which also happens to bring their version of everlasting peace, called Chorus. During this time, we learn that Nara has a special relationship with a close companion that happens to be a sentient spaceship named Forsa, which is short for Forsaken. The two communicate via telepathic mind interaction. We learn about other characters such as Admiral Kardoh who is leader of The Resistance. We also find out about the evil leader of The Circle, The Great Prophet, that rules the galaxy. Nara's cinematic rendition is very exquisite and life-like with the graphics turned all the way up.

Although Chorus is a single player affair, that's okay because only one hero is necessary to win the day in this space opera. The space adventuring kind of reminded me of the old Wing Commander games that I so loved back in the day. You could also draw similarities to Star Wars, Battle Star Galactica or other space themed productions and call it a day. Well not really, because Chorus has a smooth and easy way of flying a spaceship that becomes more complex as Nara develops her mental combat skills and as she reconnects with her ship. As that happens the space-fighter will be able to perform like magic! In Chorus there is a lot involved and the only way to find out more is to experience it all for yourself. It's that good.



The story line plays out through cut scenes with the main character conversing with her ship via telepathic thoughts from mind to mind. This serves to keep the game player on the proper track in order to advance the story line. In between the mind banter there's a lot of ship-to-ship combat against various space fighters and capital ship enemies with other factions on both sides in the mix. Since Nara is the chosen one (so to speak), it becomes her task to dispatch the main antagonist enemies. This might entail taking out certain gun turrets or other equipment in order to disable the unit. The Chorus game world is large, and side-missions are offered which can be used as a break from the main action with the outcome ending with a reward. Remember, this is mainly a space shooter with an adventure element, so the main goal is to "kill thy enemy or be killed thy-self."

Rites, Wrongs, Everything Is Good In This Chorus Line.


The main character's skill set called “Rites” is basically magical in nature. I liken it as being kind of a Star Wars "force" skill set. This means that some amazing piloting maneuvers can be pulled off. The "force" or "Rites" in Chorus are geared more towards ship-to-ship combat rather than person to person combat with handheld weapons. With that said there are new skills that need to be learned and better ships weapons and upgrades that need to be obtained. One of my favorite skills is the ability to warp jump or "drift" which suddenly puts your ship right on the tail of an enemy fighter or in the perfect spot to kill a large battleship or other capitol enemy asset. There certainly is a lot here which will serve to keep the space combat moving along and quite interesting.

Ship borne weaponry is extensive and there are three main types in the game. All the different weapons have pluses and minuses. The first weapon type is a projectile based Gatling gun. The Gatling gun is a basic high rate of fire weapon and it's the easiest one to use but the damage it causes is lacking. Its best use is on weakly armored ships or gun turrets. Lasers on the other hand are the most effective at penetrating an enemy ship’s shields and they can destroy an enemy outright. Laser rate of fire is slower than Gatling guns though. Missile launcher types of weapons are best used against big ships that have heavy armor for protection. Unfortunately, missiles have limited available ammo. As the game player gains game experience playing Chorus then weapon choice based on the situation will become easier.

A Fun Time Is All That Matters In the End.


Chorus is a fun space shooter adventure that seems to fill a void in the 3D space combat genre of computer games. Other than maybe a Star Wars themed spin off game there doesn't seem to be many pure space shooters available. Fortunately, Deep Silver has the resources and the time to give fans a good game where “flying a space fighter with the intent on blasting other space fighters into oblivion” is the main objective. Chorus is a very solid game where the pluses outweigh the negatives. One negative might be that the boss fights seem to be overly difficult with some of the later ones dragging on a bit too long. The flight model is smooth in nature and might take a bit of finesse to master. Overall, Chorus is a very well-done game, and we would recommend it.


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9.0

fun score

Pros

Excellent graphics with a well done story and combat sequences

Cons

Some of the boss fights might be a bit too involved and on the long side