Fans of the gameplay of the F.E.A.R franchise have been eating well lately, with games like Severed Steel and Ultrakill taking heavy inspiration from the iconic game. Now, a new contender enters the arena in the form of Trepang2 (no, there is no Trepang1) and it’s a well-made disappointment.
If you’re looking for a good story to keep you engaged, then prepare to be disappointed: Trepang2 story is, virtually, non-existent. Playing as Subject 106, you are rescued from a facility by a team calling themselves TaskForce 27 and you team up with them to take down the Horizon Corporation. While there are some hints at something bigger going on and a twist that I was able to call early on, I feel the story is this game’s weakest aspect as I never really felt engaged in anything that was going on. By the time the twist did happen, I was ready for the story to be over, which surprisingly came very quickly as, if you don’t do any of the six side missions, the game is over in less than four hours as there are only five main and short missions to complete and this was even playing on the standard difficulty. Again, there are hints to something bigger going on in Trepang2, like a moment in the second mission and one near the end that I won’t spoil, but those really don’t amount to anything substantial.
None of the NPCs you encounter, outside of a few from the side missions, are that memorable, either, and mostly exist to drop very brief exposition or just be another voice in your earpiece. Even your main silent protagonist, Subject 106, feels lifeless, even after you learn about who they really are which, again, shows there is something of a story here, but it’s just not that engaging.
But, even though the story’s the weakest part of the game, the gameplay itself, I’m happy to say, is where Trepang2 shines a bit brighter. As it’s taking inspiration from F.E.A.R, the combat is visceral and chaotic with just enough chaos on screen to drive home the fact that this, like F.E.A.R, is a game heavily inspired by films of John Woo. I’ve heard the term ‘Woo Shooter’ used to describe games that take inspiration from John Woo films and, yeah, I can see that being used to describe this game.
The ‘Woo’ influence really shines with the bullet time mechanic and it’s one of the better ones I’ve played with in any game in a long while. Once activated, you can basically keep it active indefinitely as long as you are killing enemies, which I was grateful for in some missions. The melee combat is also one of the better ones I’ve played with in this style of first person action. Yeah, it’s a basic system, so don’t expect to be going all Street Fighter on your foes, but that feeling of sliding into a group of enemies, sending them ragdolling into the air, then leaping and kicking off of another enemy and unloading a swarm of lead into them, turning them into nothing more than paste is cathartic as all hell. Heck, you can even slow-down time and shoot grenades out of the air or, if you’re really feeling chaotic, grab an enemy and use them as a grenade and toss them at a group.
I will say some of the enemies are a bit annoying to fight, with the suicidal ones and the big tank enemies being the main culprits, especially the later though they do have the advantage of being an extra explosive decoration thanks to the tank on their back. That’s something else this game does well; the environmental destruction. While it’s not to the level of the Battlefield franchise, there still is just enough here to make it feel like you’re on the set of, once again, a John Woo movie, what with sparks flying, papers floating, and shards of glass raining down, depending on the location. I would’ve personally liked a bit more in the way of destruction, like being able to blow a wall up with an explosive or bring a catwalk down, but what’s here is enjoyable. There’s also a stealth mode you can activate, but I only found that useful for getting away from enemies when my health was low.
The weapon sandbox, on the other hand, is a mixed bag. Consisting of eight weapons which includes a pistol, SMG, Assault Rifle, DMR, Shotgun, Grenade Launcher, another grenade launcher that can be modified to shoot bolts (more on that in a bit), and a LMG-Minigun-Thing. While a good selection, I found myself mostly sticking with the SMG and Shotgun as they dealt the most damage and, admittedly, were the most fun to use. That’s not to say the other weapons were useless, apart from the minigun, as I did find myself switching to them or, in the case of the throwable items, throwing them to mix up the gameplay, I just found myself sticking to two weapons throughout, especially when it came to dual-wielding.
Yes, there is dual-wielding and, yes, it is fun as all heck once you unlock it, which comes very quickly thankfully. Once unlocked, you’ll be able to dual-wield all but of the guns, the minigun and grenade-bolt gun being the ones you can’t, and really cause some havoc! Being able to lay waste to enemies while spraying with the Kriss Vector SMG or outright disintegrating mooks with the shotgun is satisfying as all heck.
You can also customize your weapons, though this is another low-point. Taking the SMG as an example, you can fold the stock, put a laser on it, extend the barrel or place a silencer on it, and change the camo and that’s pretty much it. While each mod does offer a slight advantage or disadvantage, I personally was hoping to be able to put a bigger magazine onto the gun or , at the very least, change the ammo type to something else, like how you can modify the shotgun to fire incendiary rounds or the second grenade launcher to be a bolt gun, but what’s here is serviceable. You can also customize the camo of Subject 106 as well, though this feels tact on and really pointless, to the point where I ended up choosing one set of colors and never changing them at all. I feel this would be better suited for multiplayer or a co-op mode but, seeing as there isn’t any, it really does feel pointless. That is, unless you want 106 to walk around in pizza camo and carrying a gun with pizza camo and, in that case, be my guest.
Speaking of pointless, there’s also a Combat Simulator which is just a Horde mode and, to put it bluntly, not a very fun one at that. Basically, you spawn in and try to survive for as long as you can or until you get bored. Now, I’ll give it credit that, if you do die in a round, you can restart that specific round (though you’re back with the starting pistol), and that is a nice addition, but it really wasn’t enough to hold my attention.
I think the word I would use to describe Trepang2 is ‘Serviceable’. Even though I enjoyed my time with the game and have gone back to replay various side missions, Trepang2 is just that; a serviceable game. Don’t take it to mean that I hate this game, I don’t! I do still recommend this game as I did have fun playing it. I just think it could’ve just had a bit more done under the hood, so to speak.
Gaming Furever Review Scores:
Graphics: 8 - The game is a pretty looking game with some nice, if similar-looking, environments and the modeling and texture work is decent.
Sound: 6 - While the weapon sounds do get the job done, the rest of the audio is hit or miss for me, especially with the less-than-satisfactory bullet impacts.
Story: 4 - Save for a few side NPCs and a few side missions, the main story itself is not that engaging and you’ll end up forgetting it even exists.
Gameplay: 8 - Trepang2 shines in the gameplay, delivering visceral and fun combat with tight controls and fluid movement, though stealth is worthless.
Value: 8 - For $30 USD, it’s not really a bad deal, but I’d say wait for a sale at least as there really isn’t much here on offer.
Final Score: 7 / 10
Recommendation: WAIT FOR A SALE
