Many gamers are unaware that there are 40 odd game developers in Australia. The fact is that most of them are working on developing titles for other studios overseas. They are contracted to perform development work for other people and don't often get the opportunity to develop their own products. Our home-grown industry also feels as though it is beginning a fight for its very own survival with the growth of developers in China and Asia who have been able to provide cut price development directly in competition with the Australian studios. This is why Auran is excited about their new title Fury and, after having seen it first hand on Thursday last week, so they should be. However, the problem with this game is not based around the concept or implementation of the design it will be with the process of review that the game has to undergo upon release. Fury is, for all intents and purposes, a game which is more like a sport than a game which is clearly defined by genre. When looking at playing a sport do you read a review of the sport which rates different aspects of the sport in scores out of 10 in order to decide whether you want to play it or not? You might play the sport or see other people playing it first and then make your decision based on a number of factors. It certainly does seem that scoring Fury with categories ranking graphics, sound, playability, etc. will highlight the extreme limitations of the review process. It just goes to show how far we haven't come in the last twenty five odd years of gaming journalism.

The notion of creating games which are like massive online sporting events is not new. One of the best original sporting concepts in gaming was the original Speedball. While Speedball was an excellent sport title it lacked from being invented in a time where there was widespread domestic internet, which may be why we see it being remade now. Where Unreal Tournament was clearly a game built around the notion of being a futuristic competitive sport it easily fitted in to the FPS category. Bet On Soldier also attempted to fit in to this category without much sales success, however, this game also slotted in to the FPS category. There still haven't been enough game releases of this type to clearly define a new genre. Most of those games already released have been placed squarely in the FPS mould of gameplay. Fury will not do that. While there are elements of RPG, elements of a persistent online world, elements of the MMO, elements of third person action games, and Fury has an extremely fast and competitive pace with either single player competition or team based competition as its focus, this cross mix of types does not help to define exactly what the game is. How do you then fit the game in to a genre and say that it is an RPG game where there is no single player story driven narrative. The character development system pioneers a class base system in which all characters are human. So, there are no differences between race. What players can then do is basically create their characters with as many different variations using the incarnation system. You can try out different types of character combinations without ever locking in your character to one set type. Incarnation allows you to play around with one type and then, in essence, redial in another one, save it, and try again. This is an excellent solution which will give players virtually unlimited amount of design permutations on their characters. I am sure this will keep players coming back for more.

The players will be able to trade, gossip, organise groups and just hang out at sanctuaries. Although, when I asked whether Auran would crack down on guilds devoted to dancing naked they said that they hadn't given it much thought. This is also where you will be allocated specific tasks called trials. Players will then have to use perform these trials in PvP games in order to unlock abilities and help to progress in rank. There will be four multiplayer types in the first release of the game. The multiplayer matches are: Fortress, Vortex, Elimination and Bloodbath. Bloodbath is your standard all-in kill-one-kill-all free for all deathmatch type game. Vortex is a 32 player (16 x 16) capture the flag type game. Fortress is an interesting massive team based battle where players attempt to capture and hold specific supply points in order to win the map. An adaption of the advance and secure type of gameplay which is common in FPS multiplayer now. I got to see the Elimination mode being played. It was an extremely fast team based game where one team basically has to kill (or eliminate) the other. As with all team games the team which plays best as a team has the greatest chance of survival. This will be highlighted in Fury as not all characters can tank and deal massive amounts of damage. Healers and other types are required to cast buffs for the group to enhance their ability to fight and survive.

Rather than advance their character by levels Fury implements a rank system. All up there will be 10 ranks for players to advance. Players will also be able to create an unlimited number of different incarnations for their characters. This means that one incarnation of your character could be a healer and the other could be a tank. Essentially you can virtually go in to battle as a different type of character every time you play. Further to this it will be possible for characters to fight outside their rank. As in, a higher level ranked character will not necessarily own a lower rank just because of their higher level. Players will be able to compete against players of higher rank and still have a chance of winning based on how they play.

Auran have gone to great lengths to customize and optimize the multiplayer matchmaking in the game. Players will actually be ranked and matched based on past performances of how they have competed. This will provide a totally dynamic matchmaking system. All of these factors help to define Fury as a relatively unique form of an online competitive action sport rather than your stereotypical "game". There will be no story based single player for this game. It will predominantly consist of team based multiplayer combat. What other games in the marketplace provide a direct point of comparison to Fury? Guild Wars, while allowing for multiplayer team based combat, also was a story based single player level grind as well. World Of Warcraft also incorporates both types of gameplay.



Therefore, how is a graphical score out of 10 going to suffice as a means for gamers to determine if the game is going to suit them? The graphics in the game are excellent. They are reminiscent of Guild Wars, however, with a new sheen from the Unreal 3 engine. Auran have done an excellent job to capture the highly detailed environments and maintain a constant frame rate. The spell effects are nicely done too. Players will be able to quickly identify different cast spells and buffs by their effects. It would have been good to have seen the engine running on one of the larger maps, say with the fortress mode of gameplay which involves up to 64 players, but unfortunately time was limited. Further to the notion of graphical aptitude What real implication does quality of sound have on a gamer who is considering purchasing Fury when they will probably be running Team Speak or Roger Wilco while playing this game at the same time. It has to be said that in general the quality of all ingame sounds now are generally excellent. We have moved beyond the days of the Commodore 64 when beeps were composed to make soundtracks for games. How will a score out of ten really provide any valuable information to a gamer deciding on whether they purchase Fury or not? Surely, we have moved to the point where it could be considered that ingame sound has reached a pretty good all-round level now. Doesn't this then make such a category in a review score irrelevant?