BIOS: Technology Means Business

Atari's Boiling Point: Road To Hell offers an intriguing blend of first-person shooter (FPS) action and role-playing game (RPG). The expansive, evolving cause-and-effect gameplay based on relationships, decisions and actions creates an addictive gaming experience and the massive continuous map (no linear gameplay here) adds a convincing gaming world. The six independent factions with which to interact, ally, or oppose provides a wide-open variety of missions, and seamless transitions between locations (outdoor and indoor) further creates a compelling experience. Having said that, the map is so huge that you'll often spend ages driving from one end of it to the other for a single mission, and there's still a number of bugs. The scale of the game is outstanding, the ability to choose your own path is really exciting (although overwhelming), and you should be constantly surprised by what it has to offer. Just don't expect a Far Cry beater.

Pros: FPS & RPG; huge map; non-linear; cause-and-effect gameplay
Cons: Middling graphics and sound; map is too big; buggy and jerky

Atari's (developed by Ukrainian-based Deep Shadows) Boiling Point: Road to Hell (Best Current Price: £14.99) is a first-person action game featuring a massive (450-square km) open-ended game world. The game was originally released in the Spring, but was so full of bugs that it generally received bad press. Atari has now addressed a lot of this criticism and patched the game accordingly, so we thought it would be revisiting to see if it's actually made any difference.

Boiling Point combines relatively intense combat in a massive and fully explorable 3D world, but the main feature of the game is its element of adventure. Unlike typical games of this ilk that walk you through a series of story-driven levels until you complete the game, Boiling Point throws you into an open-ended gaming world which can be explored and interacted in an unlimited number of ways. With similar graphics to Ubisoft's stunning Far Cry (but not as slick), Boiling Point is a very brave attempt to push the boundaries of the first-person action game - and it almost succeeds.

You play the role of ex-Legionnarie Saul Meyers and have to travel to the present day jungles of South America and battle competing factions in a brutal guerrilla war in order to rescue your kidnapped daughter. Initial gaming load times are long, but there no in-game loading times or separate levels, so the effect is a continuous world spanning hundreds of miles. To make the most of the environment, a large range of vehicles are at disposal of the player (as well as a vast array of weapons) - once you've learned to master a number of 'tasks'.

Depending on the missions you have to accomplish, some weapons are more appropriate than others (everyone in Boiling Point is packing heat). Weapons and ammunition aren't so difficult to buy or find (or simply loot from dead bodies), although used weapons will have a certain amount of wear and they will misfire. Buying weapons requires money, as does making related upgrades. At the start of the game you have the ability to drive cars, and only after you get deeper into your investigation will you be able to take test and acquire licenses to drive or pilot other vehicles.

The key to succeeding in Boiling Point is to complete a number of missions. The only problem is that the corrupt world features an array of different factions with which you can interact, and there are hundreds of diverse missions which can be played in random orders. Combined with the large map, every action you make coming back to haunt you, and no-end of people shooting at you (there are six different factions to please), the gaming freedom quickly becomes frustrating.

Towns and villages are scattered throughout the map. In typical adventure-game style you can stay in a town or village for a night to rejuvenate your body health, hire a car, buy things, as well as talk in bars with the locals. The benefit of associating with the inhabitants is that you build up a list of associates who can offer vital information and offer safe passage through faction-controlled areas. Day, night and weather elements also play a major factor. You'll need to observe the sky and look at your watch from time to times, as a missed opportunity is always a drag - as is being stuck in the jungle at night.

Your characters health is calculated from the state of several parts of his body (head, arms, chest and legs). The colour of each part changes gradually from green (fit as a fiddle) to red (get ready to push up daisies). If part of your body is injured or tired it will affect your health, physical aptitudes or accuracy. To cure yourself or retrieve energy, you need to eat food or inject some of the local 'medicine'. However, you need to watch out because using too much 'medicine' will make you addicted; the same goes for alcohol and adrenaline. Going to a bar and ordering lots of drinks even makes your vision go blurry and makes it impossible to walk in a straight line. This is one of many subtle, but neat touches...

Boiling Point's greatest asset is the freedom to roam, adding hugely to the atmosphere and the sense that you're actually in a real place. The most satisfying missions are the ones where, by examining at the situation, you can work out a clever solution rather than simply doing the expected. For instance, just because the files you have to steal are in the middle of a heavily guarded Mafia base doesn't mean you have to kill every guard there.

It's a genuinely luscious world, but the town scenes are disappointing in terms of graphics and the characters are rudimentarily presented - there's no high-end 3D modelling here. The action also frequently slows down to crawl, utterly removing you from the realism of the imaginary world. The map being so big is not actually that good a thing, since the majority of it is simply empty jungle. Although you'll spend most of your time driving between two distant checkpoints, along windy roads seemingly forever, having to go somewhere makes the destination more important.

There's still a number of bugs, too. In particular are the sound errors and random voiced and non-voiced lines. You may also find that the vehicle you are driving disappears and characters become 'stuck' to vehicles. The most annoying feature is that the game's frame rates are really low, which often reduces the action to a crawl. Very disappointing. This is a game for adventurers with high-end PCs only. [7]