Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Matt Richards

You are Max Payne, a gritty hero with an obvious attitude problem. Somewhere along the line you found out you could slow down time. Except, you aren't Max Payne. You seem to be called El Matador, and what are you doing in South America? Oh well, there's people to kill and places to see, no need to get caught up in the details.

Overall the graphics look very nice, and even my fairly recent computer had difficulty rendering the Very High texture settings, so I made due with High textures. The engine is clunkier than it should be and requires a fairly recent computer to run smoothly. Textures are all detailed and the environments look pretty sharp. Character models, and even their animations, are also pretty smooth for the low budget feeling of the game. Once you toss in dynamic lighting, shadows, and HDR it starts looking very pretty in South America. Though this all sounds good on paper, it's not going to win any awards. Compared to today's top of the line graphics, such as Oblivion and Quake 4, you can start seeing a drop off in quality. Graphics are a long way off from being bad, though, and it is easy to become immersed in the game world.

Sadly, load times are pretty bad. I hate staring at load screens. Every time you load a quickload it takes about 10 seconds, every time you quicksave it takes about 5, and new areas take around 15-20 seconds to load. Though 10 seconds isn't that bad, in some cases you'll be loading a bit more than you should be, and those 10 seconds start to add up real quick. You'll start to get a bit irritated about the time you spend loading new areas.

It's worth noting that some effects add a lot of the game. The slow motion effects are pretty great, keeping with an almost up-tempo gameplay. The quick cut-scenes you see in mission usually have some visual flair and text that look pretty nifty too. To sum it up, El Matador is slightly above average in today's world of FPS, load times get annoying, but the effects add some flair to the world. Graphics in this title aren't going to have any “Wow!” factor, but you can appreciate them for the smaller things.


The music is a variety of very up-beat techno tunes. The music does add a bit of a twist to the game, especially in slow motion. The music slows down, giving the slow motion a surreal feel. If fast techno music blaring through your speakers isn't your thing, there's no way to really customize it other than the music right off. This detracts from the experience though. The music doesn't always fit the game, since a lot of the time you're creeping through, firing bullets at medium to long distances from behind cover. The music is almost begging you to jump in, flying around in slow motion trying to kill people in close quarters. That tactic sadly leads to your death more often than not.

The sounds are nice, again the focus being in slow motion that the whizzing and explosions all seem about twice as cool as before. Any sort real world ambiance is lacking unless you consider blaring techno music to be a good source of ambient sounds. Whether you're in a house, alleyway, rooftop, sewer, or night club turned war zone, there is no big differences sound wise. You can't appreciate the little things - like a water dripping in a sewer, the crunching of the gravel on your feet, or the creaking of wood floors. Those sounds aren't there, or at least they aren't noticeable. Even if they were present, the music is so overpowering it doesn't give you time to be a part of the atmosphere.


You fire with the left mouse button, and zoom in with the right mouse button. You move with WASD, jump with space bar, toss a grenade with either your middle mouse button or F, crouch with CTRL or C, and switch weapons via numbers or your mouse wheel. Then, slow motion is activated with TAB, or you can go into a slow motion dive with shift + a movement key. It's easy to learn and use, and once you get in the game the controls are nice and responsive.

It caught me off guard that the entire game is in third person view. I was expecting a FPS. The camera is over-the-shoulder, and you are closer to your character than in most other third person games such as Max Payne. This isn't a problem though, and you get used to the camera quickly. The only thing I think this game could have offered would have been a "lean" command, which is something that everyone else in the game can do - except you.


The game is about killing. You can't be bothered with the politics or story to drive the game. Your character is just wanting to shrug off those minor details, and get to the core. And the core is... killing a lot of people. Specifically, those evil drug lord folks who keep doing evil drug lord stuff. The story shows itself occasionally, but overall the plot of the game is pretty weak.

First thing that you'll notice is the game is unforgiving. On normal difficulty, I had to reload the mission about 15 times during the first level alone. Now, as you get better at the game you'll be loading less and less. You still end up loading a lot in some situations though. The difficulty levels warp around a lot. Some places are incredibly easy, but some areas are exceedingly hard, most noticeably boss battles. Though boss battles do offer a change of pace from shooting swarms and swarms of the little guys, they take so many bullets that it really just sucks the immersion right out of the game. Two sniper rifles to the head? The boss shrugs it off like nothing. You've got to finish the boss off with a rocket launcher. Well, that's one less drug lord to worry about.

The game is repetitive because you're fighting the same kind of people over and over. However, the slow motion breaks up the monotony. You can create some very unique situations. Jumping through windows with your SMG blaring away, or slowing time just as some poor enemy runs around the corner while you make perfect aim for his head. This game would not only be a lot less fun without slow motion, but also a lot more difficult. As you continue you seem to be fighting more and more people at once. This makes killing about 3 or 4 people in a single dive with slow motion both rewarding and challenging.

The game has some style, fairly diverse locals, and upbeat action to get things moving along. Add to that friendly reinforcements that grace you every so often, but that brings me to AI. The AI is average at best and is extremely scripted. You'll see enemies doing the same things again and again, running predictable routes, and using the same cover. This relates a lot to the quick save / reload nature of the game you run into. Sometimes you'll get to a part that is a lot more difficult than usual, and the only way to get through it is to master the movements of your enemies, since they end up doing the same thing time and time again. This lack of dynamic AI hurts the game, especially when you are looking at the replay value. It isn't a huge problem, but it isn't exactly it's finest point. To top it off, the game is completely linear and there is nothing open-ended about the game.


There is no multiplayer. There are no additional modes of play. You have a campaign that runs about the average length of any FPS, but once you finish there is no reason to go back and play it again unless for some reason you really loved the game and are willing to tread through the same exact content twice. To be honest, the fact that this game offers nothing but a single player campaign will probably warrant you to think about buying this game from the bargain bin in a few months. Unless, of course, you really want to play Max Payne 3: Killing Drug Lords In South America.


El Matador is a straight forward game, though it shows off some style here and there. The gameplay revolves around the use of slow motion and how to use it tactically. Technically, the graphics and sound blend together fairly well, but it's the slow motion that really shines. The up beat tempo of the game is also pretty fun, especially since you spend most of the game chasing people down, even if the narrow alleyways and office buildings get repetitive. This game offers some great moments thanks to the great implementation of slow motion, and there is no denying that isn't fun. Sadly there isn't much else to look forward to.

I don't think El Matador is worthy of "Coaster" status - but it isn't for everyone. If you're into single-player FPS titles and enjoyed the Max Payne style but were looking for a little more action, then this is a great pick. El Matador has its downsides, but it can be a fun, but bumpy, ride

Gaming Trend Score

67

1. Graphics: 80
2. Audio: 65
3. Controls: 95
4. Gameplay: 70
5. Value/Replay: 20
6. OVERALL:67