Title: Raze
Developer: Juice-Tin
Genre: 2D Platforming, First-Person Shooters
Platforms: Browser
Raze is an online Flash game set in a future world where Earth is under the threat of extinction from aliens, zombies and robots. It’s quite the trio of tough contenders. Players must fight off the zombie hordes while defending from robotic enemies and out of this world humanoids.
If you took Star Trek, The Walking Dead and Almost Human, mixed them up in a blender and threw them into a two-dimensional battle royale, it might look something like Raze.
Raze cradles the player from beginning to end with its easy setup and character profiles. The minute you start, you’ll be guided through the creation of your character. You can give him a particular personality type and species (military, alien, gamer, silent, robot), as well as choose special abilities. After you’re done with that, the game will walk you through a tutorial on how to play. It’s pretty difficult to feel confused when you actually start the game, what with the lengthy pre-game instructions.
You can also customize controls to some extent. The player has the option to use either the WASD or directional keys for movement, and the 1-9 number keys select different weapons. With every character command easily in reach, it makes the gameplay fairly seamless. Thankfully, the game has a pause button. If you ever want to check your scores mid-game, all you have to do is pause and hit tab. It’s an easy way to be vain, that’s for sure.
Graphics options can be changed to tone down lag on slower internet speeds, but the game still has a few hiccups even on the lowest setting. Not to worry, however. You’ll still have tons of fun blasting aliens, zombies and robots alike as you make your way through a multitude of futuristic levels. One truly unique aspect of the game is that you can switch to the enemy side if you so choose. The heroes are fighting for the salvation of Earth while the enemy team will be working towards the destruction of it. It’s good versus evil in an all-out fight to the death.
Raze delivers on a pretty epic scale, considering that it’s a free online Flash game. The series’ creators did a good job of hashing out the controls and customizable features for players who need more than just your run of the mill third-person shooter. The greatest part of this game is the option to choose your side. Some people have an evil streak in them with a taste for destruction, so it’s nice to see the creators catering to Earth’s traitors… er, we mean “other gamers.” Seriously, though, it’s a wonderful feature, one that will hopefully be present in any sequels.