Dirty Bomb (video game)

Dirty Bomb
Developer(s)	Splash Damage
Publisher(s)	Nexon America
Distributor(s)	Valve Corporation (Steam)
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	October 2013 [1] (Closed beta) 2 June 2015[2] (Open beta)
Genre(s)	First Person Shooter, action
Mode(s)	Multi-player

Dirty Bomb, formerly known as Extraction, is a free to play first person shooter multiplayer video game set in London after a radiological attack. It was developed by Splash Damage and published by Nexon America for Microsoft Windows, and was released in June 2015.^[3] The trailer was first released at the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Dirty Bomb was Splash Damage's first intellectual property.^[4]

Gameplay

At the beginning of a match, the player is placed on either the attacking or defending team and must complete various objectives in order to win the round, while fighting both the opposing team and the clock. The player can choose up to three mercenaries, or 'mercs', to play as during the round, and can switch between them freely between lives. Teamwork and communication are strongly encouraged during the game, hinted at by the ability to revive 'downed' players, as well as the fact that being the 'lone wolf' often leads to a short life. The gameplay is based on Splash Damage's previous titles Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Brink, such as similar classes, gameplay objectives, and certain classes having access to abilities like placing ammunition packs, healing stations, or sentry guns. The main goal of the attacking team either begins by repairing and escorting an Extraction Vehicle, abbreviated to 'EV' in-game, to a predetermined location, or to plant C-4 on a certain target. The objectives after that point are more varied from map to map; for example, on the maps Trainyard and Bridge, the attackers' goal is now to steal data cores/drug samples from the defending team and deliver them to a helicopter, while on the rest of the maps, the objectives are only to destroy various targets. Also available on each map are 'side objectives'; objectives that aren't mandatory to complete, but assist the attacking team in completing their ultimate goal. Attackers are encouraged to take advantage of these side objectives before the defending team is able to seize them. There are currently three playable game modes: Objective, Stopwatch and Execution mode.

In Objective mode, the aim is for the attacking team to complete all of the maps objectives before the time runs out. If they are unable to do so, the defending team wins. In Stopwatch mode, the mode is similar to Objective but there are actually 2 games played, one time you are attacking, and the other you are defending. The team that completes the objectives faster wins the game. It is also possible to games to draw, and overtime is also implemented where appropriate. In Execution mode, there are two ways for the attackers to win, either kill all the enemy players or plant C4 and destroy one of two available pylons. The defenders can win by defusing the C4, or by killing all the enemy players, or if the 2 minute time limit expires. It operates in a best of 12 rounds system, where the first team to win 7 rounds wins the game. Draws are also possible if both teams win 6 times. In Execution mode, there are no respawns, so if you die you must wait until the round is finished before you can resume playing in the next round. Players that are incapacitated although not completely finished can still be revived by medics, or helped up to continue fighting. After 6 rounds, the attackers and defenders switch sides.^[5]

Objective and Stopwatch modes currently have 6 maps available, including Chapel, Underground, Bridge, Terminal, Dome and Trainyard.^[6] After a game is complete, there is a voting system where the players in the lobby can vote on one out of 3 maps (in rotation), and the map with the most votes gets selected. Execution mode currently has 2 maps, Market and Overground.^[7]

Development

During development, the name changed from Dirty Bomb to Extraction and back to the original name, Dirty Bomb.^[1] Dirty Bomb entered open beta in June 2015 on the digital distribution platform, Steam as a free-to-play game. In the first release of the game the player could choose from 12 playable mercenaries. The two initial modes were 5 vs 5 and 8 vs 8.^[8] As of January 2016, there are 18 mercs available.^[9]

Reception

Dirty Bomb received positive and average reviews with a 67 Metacritic score based off 6 critic reviews^[11] and 71% on GameRankings based off 6 critic reviews.

See also

• Brink, another FPS developed by Splash Damage
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, another FPS developed by Splash Damage
• Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, another FPS developed by Splash Damage

References

External links

• Official website
• Dirty Bomb at the Internet Movie Database