This one hurts. Atomic Heart was one of my most anticipated games of 2023 based on the trailers. Unfortunately, what Mundfish have delivered here is lacking in so many ways. While the game is presented beautifully, almost every other element of the game feels clunky and poorly implemented. Atomic Heart may be one of the most highly polished turds that I have ever laid eyes on, but unfortunately it is still a turd.
Atomic Heart should have been right up my street; a narrative-based FPS that takes influence from Bioshock and Wolfenstein? Sign me up! Sadly, Atomic Heart never reaches the critical heights of those superior titles. Rather than feeling like a spiritual successor to them, it ends up feeling more like a sub-par attempt to ride the coattails of those games.
Atomic Heart is out on Feb 21st and is available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
Things start off on a high note. The game opens with a stunning cinematic sequence which requires very little interaction. It is less of a tutorial and more of a setup for the game’s world and lore. While the introduction is stunning to look at, both in terms of its art direction and graphical fidelity, and the voice acting is decent, this part of the game drags on for far too long. The exciting action set pieces which play out during the game’s intro would be far more exciting if they actually allowed the player to interact on some level.
It is at least 25 minutes into Atomic Heart before the game lets you swing a weapon. And even longer still before you find a gun. Then once the game properly kicks off, the sad realization hits you that this is a poorly written, frustratingly hollow title sporting sluggish combat and poorly designed puzzles. This unenjoyable gameplay loop is almost insufferable when it is paired with the game’s truly terrible script.
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The quality of the writing in Atomic Heart’s dialogue is atrocious. The amount of eye rolling lines got so insufferable at a certain point that I elected to play through the rest of the game with the dialogue on mute. The antagonist relationship between the protagonist and his AI glove grows tiresome very quickly and the game’s pathetic attempts at humor all miss completely.
Another bizarre thing about the game’s writing in tandem with the timing of its release; the immense praise that the game helps on the fictional infallible Russian government is unfortunate and awkward. While playing through the game, I kept expecting a twist leading to the revelation that the Russian government are in fact the bad guys. The game never goes down that route, instead implying that it is human nature which will always corrupt an idyllic society, rather than people from any specific allegiance.
This lack of commitment to condemn a government who also allegedly had involvement with the financial backing of Atomic Heart does raise somewhat of a moral quandary. Instead of outright questioning the vast power and influence possessed by a large governing body, Atomic Heart seems far more interested in licking the boots of the game’s fictional political leaders.
Although the majority of the game’s presentation was exquisite, I did encounter a few technical issues in terms of the audio. There was a particular moment during a short cut-scene and gameplay sequence that took place in a large, open laboratory. The effect on the dialogue in this environment was horrible on the ears; as if a distorted echo effect had been placed over the audio files and cranked up to the maximum value. Then the unedited dialogue had been placed back in as a layer over the incoherently muffled layer.
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Overall, Atomic Heart stumbles as it tries to live up to its lofty potential. It feels overly ambitious, and its spectacular set-pieces annoyingly consist of extended cut-scenes rather than linear player-friendly interaction. The gameplay that it here consists of janky and slow combat scenarios flanked with monotonous puzzle sequences that feel like busywork. When the cheesy, cringe inducing script is brought into the equation, the result is one of the most highly polished turds that I have ever encountered.
Atomic Heart – 4/10
Atomic Heart was reviewed on PS5 with a code supplied by Focus Entertainment.
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